hi there
i really haven't got time to spare but i would really want to try yoga...
so i have a few questions:
#1 will 1 session a week do me any good?
#2 should i go to a instuctor or learn from a book or a friend?
#3 i have quite a temper and i would like to get that under control, can yoga help me with that?

thanx for bothering

all i can answer is number 2. i suggest taking a class first, if you go through a book or a friend you might not get the positions exactly correct and end up doing more damage then good.

videos are also good and you can probably get them free from the library.

#1 - Definitely, with a number of things. Depends on the type of yoga.

#2 - Whatever works best for you. You should always incorporate personal study if you're working with someone else, no matter what.

#3 - It can. You have to want to change, though.

thanx, your answers helped a lot

Is yoga like also meditating or is it for jes like stretching I don't get it like is it a calm r way to workout? It seems like if you jes did yoga it would take you a billion years to get fit

obviously any activity shifts the calories. Yoga though isnt very aerobic so dont expect huge results from just doing yoga. However yoga has improved my general fitness and my flexibility. Before yoga I used to nearly kneel over from a workout, after doing yoga for a month or so I tried again and found I could stay standing and keep up! Its low impact but great for your energy levels, breathing techniques and having a better relationship with your body.

I had my first class last night and was very impressed with it. The meditaion worl great and the instructor was wonderful. I agree it does something to your body. I plan to keep it up and even try pilates. I feel a bit sore this morning but nothing I can't handle. Well off for my bike ride in a bit...........m

I can answer all your questions at one time. Stretching fifteen minutes a day useing any routine out of any yoga book in any library is a cheap and effective way to become more flexable and nothing more.

If anybody was skeptical about yoga before trying it, it was ME! Let me tell you, power yoga IS a good workout. There are poses I'm Sure most of you skeptics could not perform. Beginners yoga probably won't do anybody much good physically, but you must learn techniques. Madonna only does yoga, and look at her arms!!! I like the power yoga video by Rodney Yee, about 70 minutes long and I always sweat. Of course, there are much harder workouts out there, but this is perfect for me right now.

madonna does a lot more than just yoga for her arms. I have seem some of her workouts and without doing a lick of reseach I can tell you that she is professional dancer and that counts for a lot too.
I have to wonder, Chanel, how much high level cardio and weight training have you done? The most common reason for people saying that such and such bogus exercise is good for them is because they simply do not know what feeling they are looking for and the promises made by the manufacturers remove all doubt.

I've been exercising for 9 years and will earn my degree in exercise science this year. I used to lift pretty much every day with my boyfriend, now in medical school, so he knows a lot about how the body works as well. I had a great looking body, but just not exactly what I wanted. I'm sure lifting weights is exactly what some people need, but not me. I prefer long, lean muscles where I can wear smaller clothes than shorter, thicker muscles (which do look amazing and I admire women who look like this) but where I had bigger thighs and had to wear bigger clothes. I am not influenced by the media on how well yoga works. I ran track in high school. I've danced for most of my life. I am a certified personal trainer, but do not have time due to my school now (and I am lucky that my parents currently provide me with enough money so I don't have to work during school). I mentioned Madonna because most people know who she is and what she looks like. Personally, I enjoy lifting some free weights for my arms and shoulders, but I no longer lift weights or do squats for my thighs. I'll take a spin class occasionally, use the stair climber sometimes, but I honestly have never looked better and pretty much all I do is yoga and pilates. You have attacked my comments in numerous posts, and I'd like to honestly ask you if YOU have any experience with yoga or pilates? My guess is NO. AND your fitness goals differ from mine, I am quite sure.

You get out of yoga what you put into it. I believe a combo of classes/home videos are best so that you can get proper techniques from an instructor, and practice comfortably at home. Go deeper into your lunges, focus on your technique, pull in your stomach, try the advanced moves and don't be shy. You WILL gain muscle AS WELL as flexibility. Ninja obviously does not know what he's talking about and I wish people were not allowed to post where they do not have any expertise.

Chanel, I have been very harsh in my original posts and wish I had spent more time prepareing the comments. I seriouly am not opposed to yoga or pilates though I am still highly skeptical of their more dramatic claims. The pilates tapes I have used (about six programs) gave me very little feeling and I often asked others to try them with similar results. I did yoga for years but now just stretch which I have been doing since my freshman year in highschool.
Attacking your experience was entirely uncalled for and inappropriate. I have not been "looking" for oppertunities to attack your posts. In fact there are very few people with your veiw and as my advice is often in the opposite direction I suppose I have been in too much of a hurry to spout my disaggreement to considder the veiw of your angle.
The toughts that come to my mind when I considder pilates and yoga in fact are not those who have found success through the more advanced programs (of which I confess i have tried only 2) But those who promise everything and deliver nothing, breaking the hearts of those those who expect everything and then quit (I am sure you have seen these as well). As you have already found success in your system and have the experience to know the difference I will grant you my appologies and promise to lightly tread around where I disaggree to better allow the question makers to decide what is what as all athletes must inevitably do.