Yoga

Focus Your Energy

One of the oldest holistic healing systems, yoga seeks to integrate physical wellbeing with total self-awareness. This 5,000-year-old Eastern practice is currently undergoing a renaissance due to an increase in the understanding of how it can help the body heal itself.

Yoga’s effectiveness in treating the whole person is why it has become an essential part of the Take The Magic Step philosophy. In 2001, I first experienced how yoga can both facilitate physical and emotional healing and help students overcome stress. During the next few years, I practiced and refined the Take The Magic Step Yoga for Performance^sm routine. Designed for both beginners and athletes, it focuses on increased strength and flexibility as well as on relaxation and concentration.

Soon after practicing yoga, you may discover the inner stillness that results from the connection of your body, mind, breath, and spirit that can help you achieve a greater sense of happiness and wellbeing.

If you are new to yoga, we strongly recommend that you consult with the most qualified instructors in your area before beginning a yoga program.

Yoga for Performance<sup>sm</sup>: Introduction

Yoga for Performance^sm: Introduction

As one of the foundation stones of the Take The Magic Step® concept, Yoga for Performance(sm) introduces you to an effective mix of stretching and strengthening asanas, breathing exercises, and meditation designed for athletes and those new to yoga. In this introduction, discover fundamental asanas you will need for each of your yoga routines.

Yoga for the Right Balance

This beautiful form of exercise and healing might be something for you… I would like to share with you how you can develop and integrate a yoga practice into your training to improve body alignment and balance, as well as flexibility and strength.

Yoga for Performance<sup>sm</sup>: Runners’ Sequence, Part 1

Yoga for Performance^sm: Runners’ Sequence, Part 1

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!

Yoga for Performance<sup>sm</sup>: Runners’ Sequence, Part 2

Yoga for Performance^sm: Runners’ Sequence, Part 2

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 the introductory article, complete the runners’ yoga routine.

How Yoga Improves Your Fitness: An Interview with David Learmont

Ten years ago, the 54-year-old Master Runner from England took up yoga. Now, he talks about how yoga has kept him virtually injury free! Outside of posting some very impressive running times, his perennial hamstring problems have disappeared.

Power to the Peaceful: An Interview With Joe Haddad

Yoga aims to put practitioners in touch with a state of peace, joy, and equanimity. We find out from Joe Haddad, who grew up amid the Lebanese civil war, how he achieved healing through a regular yoga practice.

Yoga At Any Age: An Interview with Jim Thorne

It is never too late in life to practice yoga—and at 68, Jim Thorne, proves that point. A wonderful example of yoga’s multi-faceted benefits, he passes on the lessons for living and exercising that yoga has taught him.

Yoga: An Ancient Indian Science of Exercise and Healing

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.

Yoga — One Path, Many Styles (Part III)

Part III of "Yoga—One Path, Many Styles" concludes our 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. Included are practical guidelines to help you on your way to making yoga part of your fitness routine.

Benefits of Yoga

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.

Eight Limbs of Yoga

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 and spiritual life through a progression upward, from the most external, social practices to the deepest, most profound internal processes.

Yoga — One Path, Many Styles (Part II)

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

Yoga — One Path, Many Styles (Part I)

The first of a three-part series is an introduction to some of the more popular yoga styles, 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.