CLEARWATER He needed to heal.

After a Major League Baseball career, Aaron Ledesma's body needed a break from hunching and swinging, from the then-Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Colorado Rockies and the Baltimore Orioles, from hitting streaks and hitting slumps.

It couldn't take the tenseness. He played his last game in the bigs and underwent back surgery in 2001. He turned to yoga to relieve his muscles and learn to stand up straight again.

But was this the end of baseball? Part of him wanted it all back. And in 2003, even as his back still hurt, he got an invitation to spring training.

"I had a choice to make," Ledesma said. Should he keep destroying his body to pursue the only life he knew, or should he try to move on?

"Nobody trains you for life after baseball."

The former infielder already had his place in baseball history. Drafted in November 1997 as a member of the original Rays expansion team, he earned one of Tampa Bay's longest hitting streaks with a 16-game run from 1998 to 1999 before he was traded at the end of the season.

So, given the choice, Ledesma left baseball behind. He skipped spring training and trained instead as an instructor of Bikram yoga yes, that's the hot, sweaty kind in Los Angeles.

"The heat is always something I've been attracted to," Ledesma said. "My body feels like I need it."

Read more:
A former Ray and wife open hot yoga studio in Clearwater

Jane Fonda has led many public lives. There's Fonda the antiwar activist; Fonda the fitness enthusiast, grapevining her way across a studio in a tiny leotard and tights; and Fonda the actress, who has starred in more than 40 films.

Now, the 74-year-old Renaissance woman has added to her rsum by releasing the sixth in a series of home workout DVDs geared toward baby boomers. "Jane Fonda: Prime Time AM/PM Yoga for Beginners" features several short yoga workouts to be done in the morning and the evening.

Fonda talks about what inspired her to make the DVD and how she thinks yoga can help her generation be as fit as possible as they enter their golden years.

Tell me about the video.

This is a yoga DVD for beginners and older people, who have to move slower and can't turn themselves into pretzels like I used to be able to do. I wanted to make a video that I could do with a couple of 10-minute segments for the morning and a couple for the afternoon.

I started my new Prime Time label about three years ago, and I've done about six DVDs so far. There was a gap in what I had touched on; I hadn't done yoga, and this is kind of yoga marinated in Pilates rather than pure yoga.

Why is yoga good for boomers?

Yoga is good for everybody! But staying flexible and strong because yoga also makes you strong is part of the three-legged stool of fitness: strength, aerobic capacity and flexibility. Those are critical components, and they're particularly good for older people because they help with healthy joints and bones.

A lot of the DVDs that are out there are just too hard. In fact, the demographic that I'm addressing is left out of most exercise programs that are put out on DVDs these days. I would say the No. 1 most important thing for healthy aging is to stay physically active, and that's why I decided to make a video for boomers.

How has yoga become a part of your life?

Continued here:
5 Questions: Jane Fonda on yoga for boomers

By Janelle Walker For The Courier-News December 29, 2012 9:20PM

Danae Molitor (center) teaches area children a few basic individual and group yoga moves Friday at the Rakow Branch of Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin. 12/28/12 | Janelle Walker~For Sun-Times Media

storyidforme: 42337345 tmspicid: 15656944 fileheaderid: 7056899

Updated: December 30, 2012 2:55AM

ELGIN Yoga, according to 9-year-old Graham Hunt, is exercise that calms you down.

More than 40 Elgin-area school children got some calming time Friday during the first-ever kids yoga session at Gail Borden Public Librarys Rakow Branch.

Every month, we brainstorm for programs we can bring to Rakow, said Anne Bedard, a branch assistant. Yoga for kids seemed like a good activity for the winter break, she said. Kids, too, need to de-stress for the holiday.

Children can get some of the same benefits from yoga as their parents, said Danae Molitor. She teaches yoga at The Centre of Elgin and has offered a kids yoga class there for the last several years in addition to the adult classes. Bedard reached out to Molitor and asked her to bring a class to the library.

Molitor ran the children through some basic yoga poses in the Rakow childrens area, helping them stretch their bodies and strengthen their cores. During the Friday class, she stuck to animal poses such as cat, cow, stork and the ever-famous downward dog. Some visualization relaxing on a raft on a sunny day helped round out the 45-minute class.

For small children, the yoga exercises can help them focus and become more aware of their bodies and breathing, Molitor said.

Original post:
Library offers a little yoga for little ones

When apps cost money we expect big things, and this one does not disappoint. Yoga Studio by Modern Lotus provides 30 complete yoga classes rendered in HD video that you can even display on your TV if you have an Apple TV or Airplay. You can choose from 15, 30 or 60 minute classes categorized by beginner, intermediate and advanced.

And if you dont like a class, you can alter it. You can add poses to an existing class or make up your own by choosing the poses you want to practice, linking them together and even deciding how long you want to hold each pose. The class files are downloaded to your iPhone, and the size is intentionally compressed so that your phone isnt overloaded. Now you can play a class, anytime, without an Internet connection.

And as if thats not enough, you can start your New Years resolution on schedule by putting classes on your calendar. You can schedule a single class or repeat favorites every week or day.

The apps yoga pose library has more than 280 poses. with vivid images and detailed information. During class you can enjoy both audio and video as you adapt to new poses. While youre learning you can study the benefits, modifications, variations and cautions of each pose

Lastly, you choose your class environment, by selecting background music and ambient sound options. You can also pick your level of instruction full teacher commentary (for ready-made classes), just pose names or a simple chime to indicate the next pose. $1.99 in iTunes store.

Debra D. Bass

Read more from the original source:
App We Love: Yoga Studio

Haridwar, Dec 30 (IANS) Researchers at the Dev Sanskriti University here say that a holistic way involving yoga and herbal medicines can combat psychological disorders.

The researchers subjected 60 patients of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) to a combination of yoga, pranayam, recitation of Gayatri Mantra and herbal medicines. The highly revered Gayatri Mantra is based on a Vedic Sanskrit verse from a hymn of the Rig Veda.

The 60 participants were equally divided into males and females. They got 45 individual sessions of therapeutic interventions of holistic approach. Each session was of 60 minutes, with patients doing pranayam and Gayatri Mantra for 10 minutes each and yoga for 20 minutes.

The most widely utilized treatments now are pharmacological management and behavior modification, said an article in the first issue of the Dev Sanskriti University's Interdisciplinary International Journal.

A major disadvantage of drug treatment for anxiety disorders was that the relapse rate was very high, said researchers Deepak Singh, Pranav Pandya, O.P. Mishra and Pragya S. Lodhi.

Pandya is the chancellor of the universtiy. Mishra is the Emeritus Professor of psychology while Deepak Singh and Pragya Singh are

assistant professors in the department of psychology.

The "holistic approach produced significant reduction in the level of OCD", said the research paper.

"The combination of these specific techniques has collective effect on the patients and causes significant reduction in the symptoms of OCD," the university said.

"Thus, the holistic approach can provide a new strategy for management of OCD. The findings are an important exploration with

Original post:
Yoga can tackle psychological disorders