Breaking Down with Gym Yoga

We opened Full Circle Yoga in west Yorba Linda 3 months ago and we are so pleased to see the community coming forth to enjoy yoga, meditation, Pilates, and Gyrotonic training in our peaceful studio. We provide a mindfulness-based fitness practice in the yoga arts for each individual to explore at their own pace. We offer a variety of classes for beginners and more experienced practitioners by modifying poses to suit the needs of the individual. We think this is best done a smaller group to give proper attention to each student, their questions on the practice, and their progress. Full Circle Yoga provides the space for a new way of exploring health and fitness in this Yorba Linda community that lately seems drawn to the big gyms and big results, often with big consequences.
Yoga became trendy in the United States in the 1960's with the hippie movement. Even The Beatles have been credited with bringing yoga to the US through their acquaintance with Swami Vishnu-Devananda, the founder of Sivandana Yoga (http://people.howstuffworks.com/beatles-yoga.htm), but it didn't hit big in north Orange County until the late 1990's, and when it did, it showed up-- at the gym.

While the gym is a fine place to be introduced to yoga-like asanas for experienced athletic people, it shouldn't be confused with the more complete yoga practice as would be learned in a certified, insured yoga studio. Yoga is really not intended to be learned in a large group atmosphere like a gym where micro-injuries go unnoticed and little instruction is provided in proper breathing techniques or meditation. In most cases, gym "yoga" is merely a series of exercises equating to no more than calisthenics. It is this type of large group activity that breeds slow injury to the public, who are then cared for by a plethora of doctors and hospitals for the years that follow.

We aim to prevent this kind of suffering with mindfulness of body and it's limitations, while encouraging personal growth and depth of peace. Yoga can be adapted to every level of physical ability, including people with sight and hearing challenges ( http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1990/cmay90/yogadeaf.shtml).
Yoga has many health benefits, and yoga can be used to complement other sports or exercise activities, but yoga that is seen AS the exercise itself, with no specific guidance, misses the point entirely and can cause great injury.