THE SCIENCE OF SELF-DISCOVERY

Yoga instructor Lori Mahala, left, led a class in one of her Yoga Therapy Connection classes Tuesday evening. This pose is called "eagle"; in this pose, students also balance on one foot with one leg wrapped around the other.

The only sounds are a lone flute from a CD player and a dozen people breathing.

Seated on the floor, legs apart at about 45 degrees, each member of the class holds their arms out in front of them, one hand clasped over a fist, and slowly traces circles over their legs, as if they were stirring a large pot of stew. Some stir a bigger pot than others.

This is yoga. Or part of it, anyway.

The most common misconception about yoga is that it is a religion, according to Lori Mahala, who teaches several yoga classes in Cape Girardeau.

Instead, it "is a science of self-discovery," Mahala said. "You discover more about yourself and your limitations. It opens possibilities."

Hatha yoga, the kind of yoga most commonly practiced in the United States and what Americans usually think of when they hear the word yoga, has two parts controlled breathing and poses.

The breathing regimen is called pranayama, which has several uses, Mahala said.

One, it gets people to breathe more deeply than they usually do, to draw air into every part of their lungs.

Two, consciously controlling breathing acts as a regulator to yoga movements. With the students stirring imaginary pots, Mahala instructed them to inhale for half a circle, then exhale the other half.

Three, breathing deeply relieves stress. A study last year at Hampshire College in Massachusetts theorized that deep breathing causes the body to go into acidosis, or a lower pH level, which depresses the central nervous system.

Four, it helps people go deeper into the poses.

There are hundreds of poses, or asanas, in yoga.

Each has a name, usually an animal, object or person locust, lion, cobra, eagle, bow, boat, staff, mountain, warrior, hero, cobbler, corpse.

And no, none of the asanas is called pretzel. But there are some that require intertwined limbs.

Getting into most of the asanas is simple. Simple, but not necessarily easy.

In one pose, the idealized picture shows a model clasping hands behind the back -- but with one arm bent back over a shoulder and the other arm reaching upward. Mahala had straps that people in her class could grasp if they couldn't actually clasp their hands together -- which was most of one class.

But in the end, clasping the hands together is not the point.

"Yoga is a process," Mahala said. "Wherever you are is a good place to start." If a pose has to be modified so you can do it, you modify it. From there you move on.

Staying in the poses is also simple. But again, just because it's simple doesn't mean it's easy.

In fact, holding the pose is where the real work of yoga is, Mahala said.

She demonstrated the boat pose for her class from a sitting position she formed a V with legs lifted off the floor and her spine straight. Her voice wavered as she spoke to the class because of trembling abdominal muscles. If holding the legs straight was too tough, she said, they could bend them at the knees.

Mahala's classes last 90 minutes once a week, but she encourages students that consistency means more than quantity. Just 15 minutes three times a week will produce results, she said.

But why yoga?

"A lot of people come for stress relief," she said. "Some people are simply tired of going to the gym, and they've heard yoga can do strength building and provide flexibility and stamina just like you get from an aerobics class."

In particular, older people can benefit because too many live couch-bound, sedentary lives that leave them with little flexibility. "They make great strides and great progress," Mahala said. The average age in her classes is early 40s, but the oldest is 80.

Mahala herself took up yoga in 1989 to relieve a case of carpal tunnel syndrome.

The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study last year documenting that people with carpal tunnel syndrome fared better by adding yoga to what doctors prescribed.

However, some medical conditions may require positions be modified, Mahala said. For example, one of her students has a bulging disc in her neck, so she doesn't do much movement in that area.

As another example, people with glaucoma or high blood pressure may have to avoid asanas where the head is upside down. But there are plenty of others to choose from where the head isn't inverted.

Besides physical health, Mahala said, yoga has other benefits, such as developing mental clarity.

"You have to really focus or you will lose your balance," she said.

In one pose, the eagle, you balance on one foot with one leg wrapped around the other and the arms entwined and held up in front of you. In class, she tells students to find a point to fix their gaze on, and to stand near a wall if they feel they might have trouble holding the pose.

Yoga also brings up a lot of emotions, Mahala said, citing an instance where yoga gave her a daylong case of the giggles. "And in bringing out the emotions, it leads you to a place of balance."

In the balance lies joy. But you may have to move through some other emotions to get there, she said.

Spiritually, people develop expanded awareness of self and surroundings, she said, as well as a connectedness to self, other people and surroundings, which is not so surprising because the word yoga means "to unify."

"People are really seeking that unified feeling," Mahala said. "I think that's what yoga can provide."