Deni Preston had been an aerobic instructor for 20 years whe she was diagnosed with an inflammation of the spinal cord.

The disease, a transverse myelitis inflammation of the spinal cord, caused a lot of nerve damage and Deni lost many basic skills like jumping, agility, balance and speed, and even had trouble walking.

"I know I was blessed by Heavenly Father and that's why I was able to recover," said Preston. "I also know that Heavenly father gives us things we can do for ourselves, one of those things for me was yoga."

Though Preston still lives with residual problems from her disease, she says that doing yoga during rehab really strengthened her. She was back to teaching aerobics two months into rehab and is a current yoga intramural teacher at BYU.

Yoga was developed in India and is a psycho-physical discipline with roots going back 5,000 years. Most yoga practices in the West focus on physical postures called asanas, breathing exercises called pranayama, and meditation.

"Yoga is about paying attention to what your body is doing," said Josie Stephens, a student and intramural yoga instructor, 23, a senior from Seattle, Washington majoring in art.

Stephens said the popularity of Yoga at BYU has grown in the last couple of years.

"Just two years ago, we only offered one yoga class, now we offer four," Stephens said.

About 100 BYU students participate in intramural yoga.

Experts say that incorporating yoga into your life will help connect the mind to the body.

"I think what's happening in the aerobics field is that we are neglecting some important components like flexibility, learning to relax, and breathing," Preston said. "As a society, we are in such a hurry and trying to be so efficient, we forget to slow down."

We are so busy thinking about the past and the future that we don't pay attention to what's happening in the present, Preston said. "We miss out on a lot of life, yoga trains us to literally focus to the present."

Some local physical therapists incorporate yoga into their treatment of their patients.

"Anytime you have trauma to an area, the body heals tight," said Rogan Taylor, Physical Therapist at Spine, Orthopedic, and Sports physical therapy in Provo. "Yoga can help to stretch out things that need to be stretched that heal tight."

Taylor said he has been using yoga in physical therapy for 20 years.

"The general public is becoming more aware and accepting of yoga," Taylor said.

Yoga does not only help with rehabilitation after an injury, it can also help with other health issues.

"A recent study at Duke University found that yoga helps to manage anger and stress," Preston said.

Experts say that while doing yoga may not have a direct correlation to weight loss, it can be beneficial to one's appearance.

"I tell people that it tightens muscles up without causing them to bulk out," Stephens said.

Doing yoga as a supplement to other types of exercise can decrease the likeliness of injury.

"I couldn't do as much step aerobics and kickboxing if I didn't do yoga as well," Stephens said. "The more flexibly you have, the less prone you are to injury."

Stevenson says that yoga and cardiovascular exercises can work hand in hand with one another.

There are not just physical benefits of yoga, there are also mental benefits.

"Yoga helps you mentally while some other exercises beat you up," Stephens said.

Preston said the best way to start yoga is to go to a class and learn all you can. She said the learning the technique is critical to avoiding injury.

"Yoga is totally internalized and self-motivated where aerobics is instructor and music motivated," Preston said.

Intramural yoga is offered in room 283 of the Smith Field House four nights a week from 7:00-8:15 p.m. One group meets on Monday and Wednesday while another meets on Tuesday and Thursday. Intramural yoga costs $25 per semester, according to the Intramural office.

After one learns to the techniques of yoga, they can practice it at home.

"We highly recommend that people purchase their own mat because it keeps them from slipping," Preston said.

Ideally, people should do yoga each day, but even doing it three times a week will also be very beneficial, Preston said.

"Yoga has brought me to be more accepting of myself and others," Preston said. "It opens your heart to everything around you through postures and vinyasas."

Copyright Brigham Young University 11 Apr 2002