Toronto Sun Feature

Tue, January 4, 2005
Yoga 101
All the Right Moves for 2005
By SYLVI CAPELACI, STYLE EDITOR

 

SO YOU'RE FEELING as over-stuffed as a turkey and your mantra for the New Year is to get into shape. But if jogging, treadmills and elliptical trainers are a bit of a stretch, yoga may be a solution.
 
Tracing back 5,000 years to India, yoga is rooted in Hindu philosophy. It's not just about downward dogs or bending the body into human pretzel shapes. Exercise is only one of the benefits. It's an all encompassing healthy, lifelong exploration of body, mind and spirit -- a personal journey you take on your own terms, at your own pace.
 
"January is one of the busiest months for yoga classes, says veteran instructor Monica Voss, co-owner of Esther Myers Yoga Studio in Toronto. "People have made resolutions either to start yoga or get back into it. Many are also joining now for health concerns or injuries."
 
Voss says, until recently, yoga was never associated with supporting or easing symptoms of conditions such as diabetes, hypertension or osteoporosis.
 
"Medical practitioners are now advising patients to do yoga. A lot of beginners are being sent by their doctors, whereas years ago that wouldn't have happened. Yoga was considered a fringe activity," she says.
 
And it's not just a chick thing -- more men are getting into the yoga experience. It has become a regular component in the training programs of many major league athletes. The book Real Men Do Yoga (HCI) details how the ancient practice increased the strength, flexibility and peak performances of 21 "star athletes" ranging from NBA superstar Kevin Garnett to former Blue Jay Al Leiter.
 
Today more than 300,000 people practise yoga in Canada, which translates into brisk business for clothing companies anxious to flex their muscles on yoga recruits.
 
There is little that separates yoga wear from athletic wear. The best of both worlds offers hi-tech, super stretch fabrics that are lightweight, form-fitting, breathable, moisture-wicking and fast-drying. Some fabrics have thermo-regulating and even anti-odour fighting properties.
 
Better yoga clothing brands such as T by Tension, Lululemon and Faremon avoid scratchy labels, and most companies will "flat-seam" garments to avoid chaffing.
 
Clothing details specific to yoga range from Y-back tanks you can hang onto to help you hold a pose to tops with thumb holes to prevent sleeves from riding up.
 
For a practice that began with bare feet planted firmly on Mother Earth, there is great irony in all the fashion hype and clever designing going into yoga wear today.
 
"Americans go to great extremes to do yoga while the Indians get up in the morning, take their rug outside, do their yoga and it's done. It's not a big deal," says Chicago-based designer Milijana Novakovic, who went straight from an ashram in India to CITY-TV's FashionTelevision, with a novel collection of unisex, loose-fitting wrap-around pants and skirts made from authentic colourful Indian cottons trimmed with decorative sari borders.
 
"It's not like anything else. They don't even have pants like this in India," says Novakovic, amused by today's cross-cultural exchanges. "In the west, we're adapting yoga into our lifestyles and in the east, they're building shopping malls."
 

 
GETTING STARTED
Purists eschew the marketing blitz on yoga fashion and will tell you yoga teachings promote inner beauty. So, no, you don't need the latest, greatest designer yogi outfit in the most technical fabric to get started. But yoga instructor Carmela Savoia says there are a few clothing tips to keep in mind:
 
- Wear comfortable clothes that are fitted so your instructor can see your body and check your alignment.
 
- For women, she suggests "shelf" tops that have a good built-in bra for support.
 
- Try on the garments before buying them. Do some stretches -- reach fingers up to the ceiling, bend over and touch your toes, bend from side to side -- to check the garment's comfort and flexibility.
 
- When buying short-shorts, do leg stretches to ensure you're not over exposed.
 
- Bring a jacket or snugly top to put on near the end of the class or after class when your body temperature drops. This is especially important in winter when going from heat out into extreme cold.
 
- Yoga is always practised barefoot.
- Don't use hand cream (because it's slippery) or wear heavy fragrances to class.
- Leave your jewelry at home.
- Tie back long hair.
- Practise on an empty stomach.
- Bring a towel as you may perspire.
- Studios offer mats and sanitize them regularly, but instructors do recommend you bring your own.
 
-- Carmela Savoia is a private instructor in Toronto and is also the star of two yoga videos, Tantric Hatha Yoga and Tantric Power Yoga, available at Lululemon and The Omega Centre.     

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