It’s been around for more than five thousand years, its physical and mental health benefits are abundant and more than 20.4 million people in the United States use it to mediate, exercise and relax.
Yoga may seem intimidating to the inexperienced onlooker, but this week RiverheadLOCAL sat down with Aerial Fitness and Hot Yoga Studio owner April Yakabowki to discuss why everyone should try yoga.
Balance
“Too much of one thing isn’t always a good thing,” Yakaboski said, explaining that balance is an important element in a work-out regime and in life. Everyone who exercises regularly should incorporate a yoga class into their schedule, she said.
For example, yoga finds an unlikely friend in strength training, where free-weights are used to build muscle. Strength training can often involve a lot of repetitive motion, increasing risk of injury and making joints and muscles stiff. Yoga helps increase flexibility and mobility, often helping weight-lifters find new ranges of motion.
Finding balance was the main reason Yakabowski started yoga.
“I was heavy into strength training and cardio and I needed to find balance,” she said. “I fell in love with yoga.”
Relaxation
The second reason to take a yoga class is because it has the power to relax your body and mind. Some forms of yoga even use meditation in their regimen.
“If you are high strung or stressed out from work, yoga will help you de-stress and clear your mind, even if just for an hour,” Yakaboski said.
As opposed to other forms of relaxation practiced day-to-day (ex: laying on the couch while watching a favorite television show), yoga is mentally stimulating in a way that not only helps you relax, but also focus.
Healthy Habits
Attending a regularly scheduled yoga class can help someone who is struggling to form good habits by giving them a rigid structure to adhere to. Many find group exercise useful, benefiting not only from the instruction by a professional, but the energy from working as a group.
“You will be surrounding yourself with healthy people so you will be more likely to keep your healthy habits throughout the week,” Yakaboski said.
Introducing a good habit to a daily routine will often snowball into forming many new positive patterns. For example, yoga involves a fair amount of meditation and awareness of the body, giving users a jumping-off point for becoming more in tune with their bodies and aware of the food fed to them.
Detoxification
Yoga also provides detoxifying benefits to the body, sometimes providing natural pain relief.
Yakabowski explained that hot yoga, yoga in a heated room, helps your body with the decompression of the spine, opening up your vertebrae.
“It can give you relief from joint pain. It is a natural pain reliever,” she said.
Hot yoga is one of Aerial Fitness’ most popular classes.
The studio also offers paddle-board yoga, paddle-board boot camp, kickboxing, hot Pilates, high intensity interval training and spin.
For more information on Aerial Fitness and Hot Yoga Studio, located at 38 and 40 West Main Street in Riverhead, call (631) 591-3474 or click here.
Upcoming Yoga Classes
Mondays
Hot Yoga Vinyasa Flow – 9:15 a.m.
Hot Yoga Vinyasa Flow – 5:30 p.m.
Tuesdays
Aerial Yoga – all levels – 6:15 p.m.
Wednesdays
Aerial Yoga – all levels – 8:15 a.m.
Sunset Yoga Flow – Paddleboard yoga – 6:00 p.m.
Hot Yoga Vinyasa Flow – 6:15 p.m.
Thursdays
Sunrise Hot Yoga – 6:00 a.m.
Fridays
Hot Yoga Vinyasa Flow – 9:00 a.m.
Saturday
Hot Yoga Vinyasa Flow – 8:00 a.m.
Sunday
Aerial Yoga Beginners – 8:30 a.m.
Paddleboard Yoga – 8:30 a.m.
