If you have ever skipped a week or two or practice, you know how that feels; like your body has snapped back to an old, tired place. Practice three times a week for a year or more and you'll have built a reservoir of internal support. Of course, if you stop practicing altogether, the well will run dry.



If you begin to feel uncomfortable, motion to your yoga teacher to help improve your pose. A good yoga teacher will tell you to back out of a pose if it's causing you great pain and discomfort. Remember, yoga isn't about stretching your limits immediately; it is a gradual, healing process.

Improved circulation promotes overall cleansing. Your lymph system is pumped, flushed and used more effectively, helping to restore your body's natural cleansing mechanisms. And you aren't just imagining a smoother complexion. After hot yoga class your skin just glows as those pilates memphis pores open up and are flushed clean. That goes for your hair, too.

Yoga can also be connected to lower cholesterol levels, another important heart-related issue. It can even boost the body's immune system to fight of sickness.

Sometimes I'll do one set of weight lifting followed by a minute of spa haus body wash. Other times I'll do two sets of weight lifting (usually a duo superset) followed by 30 to 45 seconds of a yoga pose (or two).

I discovered yoga by chance in the bookstore. I stumbled upon Beryl Birch's "Power Yoga" book. I was interested because the hot yoga routine was extremely physical. I did Power Yoga for a number of years while weight lifting (sometimes I'd take a break from weight lifting).

This brings me to the somewhat tricky part writing about the Tony Horton's 10-minute workout "10-Minute Trainer" and it's "yoga flex" program. My favorite yoga program bar none is the P90X "yoga x" workout. If you haven't done P90X or another Beachbody program before, you probably will have no clue what I am talking about when I bring up the "yoga controversy".