Ten years ago, the 54 year-old Master Runner from England took up yoga. Outside of posting some very impressive running times, his perennial hamstring problems have disappeared.

Yoga aims to put practitioners in touch with a state of peace, joy and equanimity that yogis insist is everyone’s birthright. Yoga helps to achieve this by encouraging practitioners to tune into their inner dialogue to realize and then lessen recurrent negative thought patterns. That’s just the sort of healing our interview subject, Joe Haddad, who grew up amid the Lebanese civil war, has realized through a regular yoga practice.

When it comes to getting older, yoga is among the best forms of preventive medicine we can invest in. B.K.S. Iyengar, one of the world’s preeminent yoga teachers and now 90 years old, says, “It is never too late in life to practice yoga.” At 68 years old, Jim Thorne, who started yoga in his early 40s, proves that point. He is a prime example of yoga’s multi-faceted benefits.

Following part 1, part 2 of the yoga sequence continues the core work of the yoga practice for runners and beginners with a series of floor poses. This group of postures is designed to achieve the optimal benefits of muscle lengthening and enhancement. Parts 1 and 2, as well as the asanas of our introductory article, complete the runners’ yoga routine.

In this first part we offer you a specialized sequence of poses designed to meet the needs and physical demands of runners and yoga beginners. Part 1 includes more demanding standing poses, which can be followed with poses from runners’ sequence part 2. Have fun and get started!

Take The Magic Step™ Yoga Program
During the past few months we have introduced you to several fundamental aspects of yoga. We explored many different yoga styles and offered suggestions on how to begin your own practice, including where, when and with whom.

More than 5,000 years old, yoga is a holistic approach to physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing. Get some insight into the rich history of one of the oldest holistic health care systems and why it is just as relevant today. You can follow the lineage of an ancient physician’s and philosopher’s practice of stress reduction back more than 2,000 years.

Part III of “YOGA – One Path, Many Styles” will conclude our little journey to welcome you to different yoga styles. We hope we have introduced to you some interesting and exciting yoga practices.

Historically, yoga has been believed to heal on multiple levels. Explore some of the many benefits yoga has to offer to combat the stresses that too often accompany modern day life. Take a detailed look at the physical, mental and spiritual benefits of a regular yoga practice.

It may surprise some to know that asanas, or the physical poses of yoga, are only one part of a multi-faceted system of Yoga. Classical Yoga generally refers to the ashtanga or eight-limbed yoga system (ashta=eight, anga=limb).

Part two of our journey to introduce you to different yoga styles will give you information about Bikram Yoga, Sivananda Yoga, Kundalini Yoga and Kripalu Yoga.

Iyengar, Ashtanga, Bikram, Integral, Kripalu, or Anusara … these are just a few of the many styles of Hatha Yogayou may want to look into when you begin your own yoga practice.

Creating a harmonious relationship with your body is part of a healthy lifestyle, and a topic currently given increasing attention. Join Uta as she shares her experiences in developing a yoga practice. We hope you will find the inspiration to make yoga part of your life, to improve your health and fitness.