You can do yoga. It will relax you and help you to make millions of dollars. . . OK, so yoga won’t help you make money, but it can make you feel like a million bucks.

Specifically called hatha-yoga, this is the yoga of movement. It incor-porates concentrated breathing, meditation and stretching postures that create unison between body and spirit. Gainesville’s Silver Lotus Yoga Studio provides a place for instruction.

Being 25 and out of shape, I was nervous about the difficulty factor. No socks, no shoes and no equipment were required.

Class started with a brief explanation and comprehensive stretching.

“Only stretch as far as you can, don’t overexert yourself. The point is to relax,” said the instructor. I enjoyed the neck stretches, but splits were a bit out of my league.

After loosening up, we assumed different postures. These are the movements and positions everyone associates with yoga. Some posture demonstrations would be like, “How’d she do that?”

Even so, each posture is adequately explained. With a little practice, I was doing postures. I was impressed and relieved with how the specific positions protected me from injury.

The class ended with a meditative cool-down. I almost fell asleep.

Practicing yoga has positive benefits: relaxation, stress relief, body toning, flexibility, balance and piece of mind.

Physically, yoga will require some exertion, but it is a low-impact activity. Classes at Silver Lotus are only $6 dollars a session for students, which is well worth an hour of relaxing pleasure.

Related Links

Visit Yoga Journal to read about this growing pastime.

Read Yoga-sutra chants created in the second century A.D.