YOGA FOR BALANCE AND HEALTH

Engineers used to work in Room 206. They spent their days hunched over desks, designing under bright fluorescent lights.

The desks are gone, replaced by yoga mats. Candles and covered lamps provide the lighting for a dozen women who work quietly through a series of stretches and poses.

'Breathe into it,' said yoga instructor Jill Murphey. 'Let's take the right leg and bring it around the left calf, so we go into a sort of squat.'

Room 206 is now the Barefoot Buddha Yoga Studio, one of about two dozen places in Erie County where you can learn the Downward Dog and Salutations to the Sun. The studio is located inside the Onex Building in the middle of a Millcreek Township industrial park.

Yoga certainly isn't new. It originated in northern India more than 5,000 years ago and has been taught locally for decades. But local instructors say the ancient physical and mental exercise has never been so popular.

'I've been noticing a steady increase in my classes,' said Michael Plasha, owner and instructor of Plasha Yoga at Discovery Square, 10 E. Fifth St. 'We have more than 30 yoga instructors in the Erie area, and the demand is there.'

Local hospitals are offering yoga as part of their wellness services.

Hamot Medical Center offers 10 different yoga classes at the Hamot Wellness Center and Hamot Health Connection, said Terry Seth, a Hamot yoga instructor.

'We have waiting lists for the evening classes, and the daytime classes are full, too,' Seth said.

Why is yoga so popular? John Lehrian, an Erie oral surgeon, said it helps relieve his lower back pain and keeps his abdominal muscles strong.

'A bad back goes with my job,' said Lehrian, 61, who practices yoga at home and at Hamot Health Connection. 'I saw a doctor at University Hospital in Cleveland who recommended increasing the core strength of my body. Yoga allows me to do that with no impact on my joints.'

Doctors, chiropractors and mental health professionals refer patients to yoga instructors for various reasons, said Barefoot Buddha owner and yoga instructor Karen Ducato.

Yoga's fluid moves help increase muscular strength and flexibility, and it helps decrease anxiety, Ducato said.

'The number one reason people come is for stress relief,' Ducato said. 'Most of our clients are Type A people, which surprised me. They tell me that they take yoga because they have difficulty slowing down.'

Kelly Zimmerman spent 90 minutes slowing down during a yoga class at Barefoot Buddha on Friday. It was her third yoga class.

Zimmerman, 31, has tried other exercise classes but wanted something that was going to stimulate her mind and body.

'It's a total package. It helps you connect with your mind, body and spirit,' Zimmerman said. 'It gives me a renewed spirit.'

Zimmerman can be considered the typical yoga student. Most are women between the ages of 30 and 70, Plasha said.

But Plasha and other instructors are seeing more men in their classes, and more younger people.

'I have seen an increase in men (attending yoga classes) from about 2 percent a decade ago to about 20 percent now,' Plasha said.

Members of a local high school football team used to attend one of Ducato's class. They soon discovered that yoga can be a tougher workout than they thought, Ducato said.

'We were doing these special push ups, where you keep your hands close to your body and really work the tricep muscles,' Ducato said. Football players couldn't do the moves 60 year old women could, she added.

Different people desire different things from yoga, Plasha said. Some simply want to relieve back pain and increase their flexibility.

'And that's fine. I offer classes for that,' Plasha said. 'But others have a longing to connect more deeply with their spiritual self, and a longing to reduce stress. We offer classes for that, too.'

Someone who is interested in trying yoga should ask themselves one question before attempting their first pose.

'Why do they want to take yoga?' Plasha said. 'It's the yoga teacher's job to match them up with the best style of yoga, and the best teacher of that style.'

Zimmerman said she can tell the difference in her body after just three yoga classes.

'I think I'm progressing with my flexibility, and I notice that I will now take a minute out of my day and try to get focused and grounded,' Zimmerman said.

DAVID BRUCE

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