Some think yoga can only help with flexibility but the practice, which is thousands of years old, offers a host of health benefits.

“The more you incorporate the more you’re going to get from it,” said Caitlin Schaefer, yoga instructor and owner of CS Yoga and Wellness. “It’s really a practice and a discipline of self refinement. The more of the whole self, not just the body, but the mind, the heart, the soul, all of that, that you bring in, the more whole wellness that you’ll have.”

There are many different yoga practices and the level of intensity can vary drastically. Sometimes, yoga can simply be focusing on moving the breath from the chest and shoulders to the diaphragm.

“It’s going to help you out of the sympathetic [response] into that parasympathetic [response] and start to come out of that stress response that everybody’s living so much in,” Schaefer said.

Cheryl Jaworowski, a certified yoga teacher, teaches gentle yoga classes through Powell Valley Community Edudcation (PVCE).

“If you’re doing something right, you can push real hard to try to get something done,” Jaworowski said. “But oftentimes, it’s just a lot easier if you approach it gently.”

For Jaworowski’s personal use of yoga it’s about being able to continue the day-to-day activities she enjoys with ease.

Schaefer began practicing yoga in college as a way to stay physically fit and later on as a form of rehabilitation following a severe car accident. 

“I probably started practicing again, a year or two later [following the accident], I’ve lost all my strength, I’ve lost all my flexibility,” Schaefer said. “I couldn’t even reach the floor.”

It was a slow process of progressing gently, she said.

Schaefer, who teaches most of her classes at Club Dauntless, said a common question is whether or not yoga can help you lose weight. Yoga can lead to weight loss but it’s a gradual change. Regular yoga begins to take the body out of its stress state, which can lead to things like overeating, Schaefer said.

“You can go to Northwest College and search the medical journals, there’s article after article about meditation and the benefits for everything, blood pressure, stress, hypertension, cholesterol,” Schaefer said. “Same thing with yoga, same thing with breathing.”

Schaefer and Jaworowski both say yoga is beneficial for anybody willing to try it.

“If you have any sort of interest, find a teacher and a class that appeals to you,” Jaworowski said. “I would encourage an exploration and just having an open mind, and when you come to your first class, wherever it is, just wear loose, comfortable clothing. Comfort and ease is a large part of what yoga is.”