BREATH-TAKING EXERCISE
Cheryl Tiegs made her mark posing in swimsuits before the camera. But these days the former supermodel is more likely to be found in a leotard and tights, in an environment in which the word pose takes on a new meaning. Tiegs, 51, along with a multitude of other celebrities, has discovered a magical fountain of youth in the deep breathing and graceful poses of yoga. For the past 18 months she has been attending three classes a week at Yogatopia in Brentwood, Calif.
Yoga was a challenge in the beginning, even for the famously fit Tiegs. "The first six months, my yoga mat was like a swimming pool by the time class was over," she says. "I had never worked so hard in my life." But the hard work has resulted in a sublime sense of well-being. "I no longer feel like a leaf blowing in the wind," she says. "I'm on solid ground, and I've never felt better. I have a feeling of power and strength within myself." Yoga is now "a necessity, not a luxury" for Tiegs. Could that be why she married her teacher, Rod Stryker, last spring?
Not everyone finds true love in yoga class, but there are other enduring benefits, both physical and spiritual, particularly for folks past 50. "Yoga is excellent for purging stress from the mind and the body, but it's also outstanding on a physical level," says Stryker, 41, who plans to make yoga videos with Tiegs. "Few forms of exercise benefit the whole body the way yoga does. It slows down the aging process by increasing breathing capacity and improving the range of motion for muscles and joints." Not only does it increase flexibility, it also improves balance and strengthens muscles--all helpful in preventing falls. That's important, because for brittle-boned seniors, tumbles often result in hip fractures and a subsequent downward spiral of physical and mental deterioration.
Jerry Cross, 68, is a professional photographer in Racine, Wis., whose mother, father and grandmother all lived into their 90s. "If I'm going to live that long, I don't want to be in a wheelchair," says Cross. He's determined to stay active, but a 100-mile bike ride three years ago damaged one of his knees, and a fall during a camping trip last year injured his back. Now he does yoga every day and says it helps him sleep better and feel less stiff when he gets up. "I don't think I'll ever stop."
There are as many different styles of yoga as there are teachers. In its purer forms, however, yoga (which means union in Sanskrit) is a kind of physical meditation, aimed at attaining enlightenment through mastery of the body. This is achieved by regulating the flow of breath while bending, twisting and stretching into postures, called asanas. The combination of mental concentration and physical exertion creates what enthusiasts describe as a blissful sense of oneness between mind and body, self and world.