Yoga   Yoga: For Health and Much More

Seniors face the life challenges of declining physical health, mental capacity and even social communication — all prime factors in making life worth living. But an increasing number of seniors in the Honolulu area are happily discovering that these declines can be softened and life quality enhanced by regular and gentle yoga exercises.

Among Honolulu-area seniors, the retired Yashimas — Sue, 59, and Wallace, 74 — are contributing to a “yoga boom.” The Yashimas are recognized volunteers of the Dahn Foundation, which shares Dahn Yoga body-brain fitness expertise with the community.

Each week, this couple jointly teaches 270 elderly, ages 55 to 92, at five senior centers throughout the Honolulu area. The classes consist of 95% women. (Men say that they are too shy to take a class with so many women.) With most facilities provided by the Honolulu City and County’s Board of Parks and Recreation, the Yashimas teach two one-hour classes, four mornings a week.

Here is what the seniors get from Sue and Wallace’s yoga classes:

1. Feeling good about themselves.

2. A comprehensive physical workout.

For more information, visit dahnfoundation.org

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Los Angeles-based YAS Fitness Centers, known nationwide for creating the hottest Yoga hybrid in the fitness industry, is franchising.

“A job is just a job unless you are doing what you love, what you are passionate about,” says Kimberly Fowler, YAS founder. “I’m looking for entrepreneurial spirits who want to make a difference in people’s lives.”

Based in Venice, California, the fitness capital of the world, what makes YAS unique is it’s “New Spin on Yoga.” The YAS class mixes indoor cycling with Fowler’s signature Yoga for Athletes® class, which was called “Zen on Wheels” by Self magazine. YAS Fitness Centers have been featured in numerous fitness and women’s magazines.

Yoga itself is a $4-billion dollar industry and yoga hybrids are the fastest growing aspect of the yoga industry. As a trend-setter, Fowler and YAS Fitness Centers are at the forefront. But it’s not only about making money.

For more information, visit go2yas.com

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Yoga is basically breathing, stretching and meditation all rolled into one. It has an incredible range of benefits for your overall health and wellness, and has been shown to complement a variety of fitness programs and treatments.

Though yoga is practiced in many formats and styles, the central goal is always balance of the mind, body and spirit. For the body, the physical aspects of yoga help increase balance and flexibilty, stamina, strength and muscle tone, and assist in weight loss and sucessful weight management.

Yoga has also shown positive results in the management and improvement of chronic conditions and symptoms ranging from asthma to back pain, from arthritis to cancer, and from heart disease to multiple sclerosis.

For the mind and overall spirit, the practice of yoga can help to reduce anxiety, stress and depression while increasing self-awareness and feelings of wellness. Yoga is a process as well as a practice, encouraging attention to one’s own day-to-day progress and condition as the mind-body-spirit connection is strengthened.

Like pilates or walking, yoga can be a great anytime, anywhere exercise. Once you’re comfortable with a sequence of poses and stretches learned through a class (or have a DVD containing instruction and guidance), you can practice them anywhere for relaxation and rejuvenation.

Yoga can be worked into even the busiest of schedules, and some people even take a ” yoga break” during the workday to relieve stress and get the blood flowing.

For more information, visit healthcentral.com

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