Bodywork Bistro Living Arts Center, 3825 Iris Ave., Suite 300, Boulder, 303-413-1992, bodyworkbistro.com

Instructor: Melissa Carey, of Lafayette, who is studying yoga at Naropa University. She has been doing yoga for 15 years, teaching for about two years. She has been a massage therapist for eight years.

What is the workout? Yoga for Wellness is a yoga therapy class designed to teach students tools for healing and improving health, including injury recovery, rehab, chronic pain management and achieving peace of mind. Each class has a different focus, such as how to use yoga to heal lower-back pain. My class was about how to use yoga as a way to feel our "inner light" and combat depression in the winter.

The center has been offering this class for about two months.

What's different?

This class is more about healing and health than getting a good workout.

The Bodywork Bistro, a wellness center that offers massage, recently opened a third location and expanded to offer yoga and qigong classes, plus a health food cafe (with tea, locally sourced foods, raw foods, health tinctures). The center also offers a wide range of other resources, such as acupuncture and psychotherapy, all designed to contribute toward total health inside and out.

The center is now calling itself Boulder's first multidisciplinary wellness center, focused on preventative health care through the healing arts. The facility is not a spa or a medical facility. It emphasizes a variety of holistic approaches.

Yoga for Wellness is part of the Bodywork Bistro's overall vision -- just one tool to maintaining full body health.

"We're all focused around wellness. Even our class schedule, yoga and qigong and meditation, is all about how you can use these tools to keep your body healthy," says Jessica Van Antwerp, director of business development. "A lot of it is directly related to the rising costs of health care. Our idea is preventative wellness."

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Workout of the week: Yoga for Wellness

Joan Benoit-Samuelson wins the first women's Olympic marathon during the 1984 Olympics at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. (Tony Duffy/Allsport)

Hatha Yoga with Jan Saturday: Begins a new season with classes 5:45-7 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, 8:30- 9:45 a.m. Saturdays. $5 minimum donation for charity. St. John's Cathedral, 1350 Washington St., 303-894-0648, hathayogawithjan.com

West Colfax Martial Arts Center

Saturday: "Keep Your Kids Safe: Self-Defense and Emergency Awareness Class," 12:30-2:30 p.m. $10. 9629 W. Colfax Ave., 720-217-8643

Devil's Thumb Ranch

Sunday or Jan. 20: "Skijoring Clinic," learn to ski with your dog, 10 a.m.-noon. $30 with own leash, harness; $45 includes clinic, harness and trail pass; $10 ski rental equipment; Jan. 26: 26th annual Governor's Cup ski competition. Entry fees vary by entry and event, visit Active.com. Reservations required. 2430 County Road 83, Tabernash, devilsthumbranch.com

L-Town Nutrition

Sunday-Feb. 2: "New Year - New You 24Fit Bootcamp Challenge," four-week fitness challenge. A fitness assessment and body analysis is done at the beginning and end of each challenge to determine improvements. Classes are 6 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, 9 a.m. Saturdays. Free. Reservations recommended. 1360 W. Littleton Blvd., Littleton, 303-730-2038, e-mail ltownnutrition@gmail.com

Nomadic Yoga Schools

Sunday: "Liberate from Parkinson's with Yoga" programs in Broomfield, Thornton and Longmont. The fee for one session is $10, multi-session discounts available. Details on the website. NomadicYogaSchool.com

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Denver Post Fitness Calendar, 1/1/2013: Hatha yoga, martial arts among offerings