Students clamored for a spot in Christine Ojala’s one-credit yoga class this semester in the People’s Center Gym on  West Bank. The class, offered through the Barbara Barker Center for Dance, filled quickly last semester, as did the waitlist — it’s full with 88 students, according to dance department administrative specialist Hannah Carney.

And that doesn’t count the 100-plus students who have bombarded Ojala with emails, begging for a spot to help cope with mental and physical issues like chronic back pain and stress. “My best guess … is that I received between 100 and 150 emails [from potential students] that I turned away regretfully,” she said.

An instructor with the University of Minnesota since 2003, Ojala teaches two morning yoga sections with 25 to 30 students each. She guessed that interest in her class has skyrocketed due to the pressures of student life. “I would make a direct link to increased anxiety and the increase in enrollment,” she said.

Students taking her class write two reflection papers during the semester and Ojala said that almost all of the papers include topics dealing with anxiety and stress. “The number of cases of anxiety as well as the magnitude of the students’ anxiety has increased … by 100 percent, from what I can tell,” she said.

At the end of the semester, Ojala said reflection papers show that while students are still feeling overworked and overscheduled, they have a newfound ability to manage their stress. For students who have already registered for 13 credits, the class is essentially free or included in the cost of tuition. But those paying per credit could end up paying between $448 and $640 for the class.

For nearly four months of yoga, the price is similar to a monthly membership at CorePower Yoga in Stadium Village. While the possibility of taking a yoga class for credit is appealing to many, students also have the option to take a yoga class through the University’s Department of Recreational Sports. By purchasing a $55 Fit Pass, a gym member can attend any group fitness class for a semester.

“Last semester, we were constantly making more fitness passes,” said Meghan Edwards, a group fitness assistant at the Recreation and Wellness Center. Out of the 1,100 passes for fall semester, more than 800 went to students. While cardio kickboxing and the Latin dance class “Zumba” are both popular aerobic classes, yoga class attendance numbers are more consistent, Edwards said.

So far this semester, Edwards said they have made 1,000 Fit Passes and expect to make more in the coming weeks. The group fitness department offers various types of yoga classes with varying degrees of difficulty and style, like Hatha Yoga, Yoga Flow, Kundalini Yoga, Advanced Yoga and FitYoga.

Ojala’s class focuses on Vinyasa yoga, also known as Yoga Flow. She said this style is especially popular with students due to its movement-focused poses and exercises. She added that giving students the opportunity to take a class that teaches its participants how to properly balance their life is essential at a university.

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Up to 33% of breast cancer survivors are afflicted with symptoms of cancer-related persistent fatigue. Until recently, little has been discovered as a valid modality of treatment for reducing the fatigue and increasing the vigor among breast cancer survivors. Now, however, a recent study shows that Iyengar yoga has promise as a valid treatment that can reduce persistent fatigue.

Persistent fatigue is a crippling condition experienced by many breast cancer survivors that interferes with overall quality of life. While fatigue understandably increases significantly during breast cancer treatment, the majority of survivors eventually regain their former vigor after successful completion of treatment for their breast cancer. However, at least one-third of breast cancer survivors report feeling persistent fatigue that remains as long as 10 years post diagnosis—which indicates that this subset of breast cancer survivors is in need of targeted therapies to alleviate their fatigue.

For breast cancer patients, therapies such as exercise interventions and stress management have successfully addressed cancer-related fatigue during treatment for cancer. However, applying the same therapies to breast cancer patients experiencing fatigue following treatment does not always work as the constant fatigue causes the survivors to be unwilling and unable to participate in traditional exercise programs.

As an alternative to traditional exercise programs such as walking and bicycling, researchers have been looking at using some tailored forms of yoga as an intervention for patients with differing medical conditions. In one study involving patients with multiple sclerosis, a form of Iyengar yoga has demonstrated success in achieving positive results toward treating depression, pain, physical mobility…and fatigue.

Iyengar yoga is a traditional form of Hatha yoga that focuses on the therapeutic benefits of specific postures and breathing techniques to address specific medical conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoarthritis, lower back pain and depressed mood. It is characterized by its use of props, such as belts, blocks, and blankets as aids in performing postures called “asanas.” The risk of yoga-related injuries is minimized via the prop aids, which makes this type of yoga accessible and relatively safe for patients with particular medical conditions that would otherwise limit their ability to exercise.

In a recent article published in the journal Cancer, researchers published their findings in a comparison study of 15 breast cancer survivor patients with persistent fatigue who received Iyengar yoga for 3 months to a control sample of 16 breast cancer survivors with persistent fatigue that did received health education, but no yoga training. The purpose of the study was to evaluate whether Iyengar yoga could be used as a successful intervention toward treating fatigue experienced by breast cancer survivors.

Measurements for fatigue were made at baseline, during treatment, and 3 months after yoga treatment was completed. Other factors measured included changes in vigor, mood, sleep, perceived stress and physical performance.

What the researchers found was that the persistent fatigue experienced by breast cancer survivors who performed yoga for three months declined significantly between the baseline to post-treatment periods, as well as during a 3-month follow-up relative to the control participants who received health counseling/education only. Furthermore, the yoga test group achieved significant increases in vigor relative to the control participants.

Both groups experienced positive changes in mood and perceived stress, with no significant changes in sleep or physical performance.

The conclusion of the researchers is that Iyengar yoga as a targeted intervention can lead to significant improvements in fatigue and vigor among breast cancer survivors with persistent fatigue symptoms. Furthermore, that the patients’ yoga experience was positive enough to motivate continued yoga exercise at their homes following the study period.

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Yoga, once the pastime of contemplative types, now comes in more varieties than ice-cream. All yoga has postures, relaxation and controlled breathing as core ingredients. But some schools emphasise power and strength and can include exercises that verge on the unnatural. Headstands, which you tell your children not to do, are a favourite of some yoga devotees, as are shoulder stands (not good for all the major nerve junction in your armpit) and squats that can put huge pressure on your knees.

But when William J Broad wrote an article in the New York Times two weeks ago called "How yoga can wreck your body" he was attacked by practitioners. Yoga is now so popular, he argued, and used to get fit as much as for relaxation, that it's no wonder it is causing injuries. So should you try something less dangerous or can you minimise the risks?

The solution
The main risks involve putting your body into extreme positions. Broad cited examples of yoga positions causing strokes by over-extending the neck and compressing the basilar artery, which supplies blood to the brain. These positions also caused headaches, dizziness and loss of balance. Often, Broad said, people didn't associate their problems with yoga.

Some of the most common yoga poses, if done repeatedly and over-enthusiastically may be harmful. The chair pose in which you squat with your knees bent and back straight is meant to straighten your legs but can put pressure on your knees, especially the anterior cruciate ligament which once over-stretched is rarely the same again. The downward-facing dog pose in which you put hands and feet on the floor and form an inverted V has been credited with tearing the achilles tendon at the heel and over-extending wrists.

The idea that yoga could harm as well as heal is not new. In 1971 the Journal of the American Medical Association published a report of a man who had sat in a pose that involved kneeling and sitting on his heels (for hours a day in his case) and damaged a branch of his sciatic nerve running down the back of his leg. This caused what became known as yoga foot drop. He couldn't walk because his feet had become weak but after stopping he recovered quickly.

Yoga is credited with improving heart and lung function in older people, reducing blood pressure and doing as much to relieve back pain as to cause it. It may reduce anxiety and probably does help with obsessive-compulsive disorder. But the evidence for the benefits of yoga is plagued by small studies using different methodologies.

It is essential to practise under the guidance of an experienced and reputable teacher. If you get pins and needles or anything goes numb, stop. Be reflective rather than competitive; do not over-extend anything, ever.

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Many preach that yoga helps keep them centered, toned and flexible. The messages seem to be spreading — according to a recent New York Times article, the number of Americans practicing yoga grew from about 4 million in 2001 to an estimated 20 million in 2011.

But recent news articles have also drawn attention to possible injuries that can come with practicing yoga, such as damage to hip joints, nerves, knees and back.  Here are four tips to remain safe during yoga practice.
 
Beware of bends
Forward bends, such as Uttanasana, which involves a person standing with their feet together and bending at the hip, can relieve stress and stretch the calves, hamstrings and hips. But certain people should steer clear.
 
Those with osteoporosis could fracture their spines by bending forward, and those with herniated disks may suffer pain from these stretches, said Dr. Loren Fishman, a New York City physician who is also a yoga instructor. Fishman said those with herniated disks could do back bends instead. "It's a known physical therapy technique," he said.
 
However, people with spinal stenosis — narrowing of the spinal column that causes pressure on the spinal cord — should not do back bends, because it may exacerbate their condition, he said.
 
Fishman also added that 5 percent of people experience the opposite effects of these poses: A small number of people with spinal stenosis benefit from back bends, and a small number of people with herniated disks benefit from forward bends. "It's always best to do test these poses and see what is helping or hurting," Fishman said. "Don't just pick up a rule and run with it."
 
Individualize your inversions
"The advantages of any inverted pose are terrific," Fishman said. Being upside down can "strengthen the diaphragm, helping people with asthma, emphysema and bronchitis, and bring blood to the upper lung fields, places that are under-infused with blood."   
 
The headstand, known as Shirshasana, can lower blood pressure, temporarily slowing down the heart and calming the body. "It also gives you a different viewpoint on life, which is an added benefit," Fishman said.
 
But people who have neck or back problems, glaucoma or cerebrovascular problems should not do headstands, Fishman said.  Some people with glaucoma may benefit instead by doing poses such as the Sarvangasana, which is a shoulder stand. Studies examining how headstands and shoulder stands affect the pressure within the eyes have found that it does not increase during shoulder stands, whereas the pressure can double in less than 30 seconds during a headstand, Fishman said.
 
However, people with neck problems, herniated disks or bad arthritis should not do shoulder stands, Fishman said.  Fishman suggested a safer way for anyone to do another inversion, called the plow, or Halasana, which involves laying on your back and bringing the legs up and over the head until your feet touch the floor. The best way to do this stretch, he said, is to place two blankets under the shoulders for cushioning. Still, it should not be done by people with herniated disks or instability in the neck or upper back, he said.
 
There has been controversy in the yoga world about whether inversions should be done by menstruating women, Fishman said. Some believe that inverted poses may alter menstrual flow, leading to endometriosis, a condition in which uterine cells grow outside the uterus, in other regions of the abdominal cavity.  Fishman said he has observed menstruating women do headstands and that his advice is "if it hurts, don't do it." But there have been no documented cases of endometriosis resulting from headstands, he said.
 
Tune-up your twists
Twists, such as Matsyendrasana, a seated, half twist, can stretch the back and hips, massage the abdominal organs and increase blood flow to the spine. But they should not be done by people who have had hip replacement operations, according to Fishman.
 
"If someone twists to the side of their hip replacement, the prosthetic can be pulled right out," Fishman said. Also, people with herniated disks should make sure to twist away from the side of the disk, he said.
 
Fishman, in an effort to study yoga's impact on people with osteoporosis, developed a yoga DVD that has been distributed for free around the world. He said despite the fact that many people believe osteoporosis sufferers should not do twists, he has found that twists are not harmful. "We have 49,000 documented hours of people with osteoporosis using our DVD, and no one has ever had a fracture," he said.
 
Take heed of hot yoga
Yoga done in hot rooms, also known as Bikram yoga, has been touted for its ability to burn fat. However, people with multiple sclerosis (MS) should not participate in this type of yoga, according to Fishman, because heat can worsen the condition's symptoms.
 
Fishman recommends that those with MS do Iyengar yoga instead, as it focuses on alignment and is gentler on the body. 

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THERE is a high energy around Kathi Janssens and it’s infectious. The former world class gymnast has turned her hand to fitness and yoga, specialising in women’s health. Her newly-relaunched Discreetly Fit, teaches the unique pelvic floor strengthening technique she learnt during one of her travels back to her native Hungary.

“The technique is different from how women usually try to strengthen their pelvic floor muscles,” Mrs Jenssens, 43, of Quakers Hill, said. “Many women suffer from pelvic floor weakness but it is preventable and in most cases reversible. “The exercises can be practiced in just 10 minutes a day at home.”

The mother of one sprang into local and state prominence last year when she began the Quakers Hill Anti Mobile Tower Action Group, to protest against the planned building of a base tower by Telstra in the area. Mrs Janssens, was, however, ranked internationally in the seventies and eighties as a gymnast and was set for the 1980 Moscow Olympics before being ruled out due to an ankle injury. Her other skills include health educator, exercise therapist, international presenter and sports and fitness trainer. Mrs Janssens, who conducts her classes at various venues in NSW, will hold a free pelvic floor workshop at Hills Yoga, Castle Hill, on Saturday, February 4, at 4 pm.

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A fatal shooting (reportedly of a local gang leader, see update below) occurred in the restaurant of the Vancouver, B.C. hotel where the U.S. women's national team is staying for the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament on Tuesday night. And according to goalkeeper Hope Solo, the members of the team were only kept away from the scene of the city's first murder of 2012 by a yoga session in another part of the hotel. "Saved by our instant yoga session. Was about to walk to starbucks when all hell broke loose in the lobby of our hotel! Life is precious..." she tweeted after a man was shot multiple times, according to the Vancouver Sun.

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Proponents of the soothing art of yoga were outraged on Sunday after reading that their healthy practice was not very healthy, according to a New York Times feature story. The article, titled "How yoga can wreck your body" took up several pages of the prestigious New York Times. In it, senior science writer William Broad reported that yoga causes an enormous amount of injuries in those who practice it. Moreover, he attributed these injuries to "over-ambitious and under-taught yoga moves."The news sent shockwaves through an industry that typically teaches that yoga is the cure for almost every physical, emotional, and mental ailment. People weren't quiet about their opinions, either.

Not only were the regular practitioners of yoga upset, but so was the yoga industry, who rakes in more than $5 billion annually. Though the backlash against the article was venomous, Broad quoted doctors who claimed that they were increasingly seeing patients who had been injured from practicing yoga. He also spoke of unqualified yoga teachers. This controversy from Broad's article--as well as the injuries--may not have been quite so severe, however, had the yoga industry not billed itself as a harmless practice of postures (rather than exercises.). Though Yoga, which originated in India, is a spiritual discipline designed to merge the mind, body, and spirit of the practitioner, few Americans practice it this way. Rather, the most popular type of Yoga practiced in America is Hatha Yoga, whiich concentrates on the physical aspect of beings. In other words, the form of yoga most Americans practice is an exercise that, by its very nature, is always subject to injury.

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NEW DELHI // Despite a fatwa issued by Muslim religious scholars against a mass yoga session, thousands of school pupils went ahead and performed the exercise yesterday.

Three scholars from the state of Madhya Pradesh accused the organisers of promoting idolatry and forcing non-Hindu students to further the Hindu agenda of the ruling nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The event was organised by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the state's chief minister and a BJP member. More than 50,000 students participated, according to the state government. Their aim was to find themselves a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest gathering of people performing an aerobic exercise.

The yoga ritual is called the surya namaskar, or sun greeting, where a person bows to the morning sun in a series of postures. The state's education minister, Archana Chitnis, said during a news conference yesterday that the exercise was voluntary.

"The sun is neither saffron nor green. It has nothing to do with religion or religious rituals or ceremony," said Ms Chitnis. Saffron is a colour associated with Hindu religious ceremonies and green is a colour that represents Islam. Ms Chitnis added: "We are not imposing it. It is not mandatory for all."

A few days before the gathering, during a news conference in Bhopa on Tuesday, the three scholars, Mohammad Abdul Kalam Kasmi, Raees Ahmed Khan Kasmi and Sayyed Babbar Hussain Nadvi, urged Muslim students not to participate in an "un-Islamic" event, equating the exercise with idol worship, which is prohibited in Islam.

In Madhya Pradesh, the government has increasingly resorted to symbolic gestures that have Hindu resonance, including having passed a law this week to protect cows, considered a Hindu sacred animal. The new law imposes up to seven years in prison for someone convicted of slaughtering the animal.

In 2004, Uma Bharti, the then chief minister of the state from the BJP, banned the sale of liquor and meat in three cities, including Maheshwar, Amarkantak and areas of Ujjain, declaring them holy, Hindu areas.

Ashok Malik, a political columnist, said that Hindutva, or advocating Hindu nationalism by the BJP, was more resonant in the 1990s and early 2000s. He said that while Hindu symbolism is important to the BJP, the fatwa "played into their hands, where an issue does not exist".

Instead, he saw yesterday's exhibition as a harmless demonstration by a state eager to be noticed by the rest of India. "This is not a political or long-standing issue," Mr Malik said.

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The original context of yoga was spiritual development practices to train the body and mind to self observe and become aware of their own nature. The purposes of yoga were to cultivate discernment, awareness, self-regulation and higher consciousness in the individual. As the split occurring between those seeking physical development versus those seeking spiritual development has widened, the lack of awareness and attention to inner experience has disconnected the practitioner from his body.Yoga is meant to be a system of increasing awareness and decreasing disease. It was able to enter into the American mainstream by presenting itself as a tool with many benefits, including reduced stress, increased relaxation and greater flexibility. It has continued to grow through American gyms as something that cultivates aerobic capacity and builds strength. But many gyms that offer yoga emphasize the physical exercise without teaching the essential self-awareness that differentiates yoga from any exercise.

The "narcissism," which is not uncommon in many sports, is the result of an emphasis on exercise that misinterprets what the real intention of yoga practice is. Yes, one can increase muscle mass and decrease waist size, but that’s not the real goal. Much of the yoga practiced today has actually become the antithesis of yoga as it is meant to be.

At Kripalu, we believe in "being compassionate"; indeed that's what Kripalu means in Sanskrit. We think that through compassionate self-awareness, it is possible to have a yoga practice that goes beyond the physical.

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Simon Low is one of the founders of Tri-Yoga in London's Primose Hill and now runs the teacher-training Yoga Academy, both of which put him at the forefront of yoga teaching in the UK. A yoga teacher friend of mine described his training as one of the most intense experiences of her life, helping her develop an acute awareness of anatomy and physiology as well as a dynamic Asana practice. He runs yoga holidays in various locations, but the chance to experience his teaching in Goa shouldn't be missed. The trip takes place at the Lotus Yoga Retreat on Patnem beach with two classes a day and accommodation in beachfront bamboo huts. • lotus-yoga-retreat.com; the next 12-day retreat starts on 19 February and costs £795pp (or £370 for a non-yoga partner), including teaching, brunch, a dolphin-spotting trip and unlimited herbal tea.

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