Take The Magic Step advocates including yoga in your exercise regimen—even just some short stretches based on yoga positions. It can help your muscles ward off those nagging pulls and tightness that might keep you from your training. In this interview an experienced runner talks about how yoga has kept him virtually injury free for ten years!

Yoga aims to put practitioners in touch with a state of peace, joy and equanimity. Yoga also 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!

A new chapter to the Take The Magic Step® concept, Yoga for Performance introduces you to an effective mix of stretching, strengthening and stabilization asanas, breathing exercises and meditation designed for athletes and those new to yoga. In this introduction, find fundamental asanas you will need for each of your yoga routines to come.

More than 5,000 years old, yoga is a holistic approach to physical, mental and spiritual well-being. 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” concludes our little journey designed to welcome you to different yoga styles. We chose Integral Yoga and Viniyoga, because of their slow pace and suitability for students new to yoga practice. Also included are guidelines and practical answers to help you on your way to making yoga a part of your life.

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.

Classical Yoga generally refers to the ashtanga or eight-limbed yoga system, which was developed more than 2,000 years ago. These eight steps still provide the guideline for progressing towards a meaningful, purposeful and spiritual life through a progression upward, from the most external, social practices to the deepest, most profound internal processes.

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.

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.

The first of a three-part series, is an introduction to some of the more popular styles of yoga, the ones most likely to be taught in your area. Included to help you get started is a short overview of yoga and the benefits you can expect from some of these styles.