A frazzled teacher cringes at the thought of grading more papers. A real estate agent worries about the lagging housing market. A business owner can't sleep because he worries about his livelihood.
Life is suffering, says the adage, but more Americans suffer less every year after experimenting with the Eastern meditative practices of qigong (pronounced chi kung) and yoga to deal with stress.
Some 15.2 million adults have used yoga for health purposes, according to the a 2002 survey by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Yoga can potentially improve a person's mood, counteract stress, increase lung capacity, reduce heart rate and blood pressure and help with anxiety, depression and insomnia, according to the center.
Penny Navis-Schmidt, a local qigong teacher who is also a psychotherapist, says the practice keeps her healthy.
'I'm a pretty type A person,' Navis-Schmidt said. 'I'm someone who really needs to do this.'
Every morning, Navis Schmidt clasps her fingers together just short of her hands reaching the floor. She pulls her body up, takes her clasped hands and lifts them over her head, brings them down and out parallel to her stomach, and then back down. The movement is repeated, and Navis Schmidt says the morning routine calms and energizes her.
By Suzanne Jacobson
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
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