More yoga classes are geared toward specific groups

Yoga has been around for 5,000 years, but these days the practice is being fine-tuned - or, some might argue, better marketed - for specific niche groups.

There's now Yoga for Veterans. Runners Yoga. Stroke Recovery Yoga. Kids Yoga and Seniors Yoga. Yoga for Fertility and Yoga for Menopause. Dance Yoga. Laughter Yoga. And Street Yoga, for homeless and abused people, to name a few.

In Chicago, there's even a yogic elementary school, the Namaste Charter School, which takes a holistic approach to education.

"Yoga isn't about being on the mat and fitting your ankle behind your neck. It's much more than that," said yoga guru, teacher and author Mary Beth Janssen of Palatine. "Regardless of what the title (of the class) is ... we're all going. This isn't a trend on the cusp, it's gone there. It's very exciting."

The yoga practice can be customized for specific groups, making it more appealing to people who haven't tried yoga before. In Janssen's Kids Yoga class, for example, she addresses her elementary-aged students as "yogis" and "yoginis" and speeds up the pace a bit to keep their attention. She also makes sure she helps the kids focus on themselves and their strengths.

"I had a little girl, she's 8 years old, and she shouted, 'I'm a yoga warrior! I'm strong!' It was awesome," said Janssen. "They're recognizing that their body is valuable. That they have this individual spirit and it's beautiful. They're not looking at what's external, but what's on the inside."

Yoga can be tweaked for seniors by allowing them to sit in chairs rather than on floor mats. A class at a church can be made more spiritual than one in a corporate office.

Lori Punko, owner of Shanti Yoga in Gurnee, customizes a yoga class for veterans - many of whom are physically or mentally injured from their service - by doing a gentler version of regular yoga. The focus is on breathing awareness and the poses are held longer.

"It ends with guided meditation. I take them to their favorite beach or their favorite park and we hang out there for a while," said Punko, who offers the class free of charge.

Yoga is especially helpful for people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because it helps calm their anxiety, Punko said, and is now being done on some military bases in Iraq.

"I wish we had done this when the Vietnam War was over. Eighty percent of my class is Vietnam vets who are still struggling. Most of them don't sleep two hours a night," she said.

Going mainstream

Just a generation ago, yoga was thought of as a New Age practice. As our lifestyles became more hectic, yoga started spreading into the mainstream. Now it's offered at most health clubs, spas, hospitals and park districts. Parents who found a benefit in yoga then started teaching it to their kids.

"My whole family does it," said Tanvi Sharan, 9, who enrolled in a Kids Yoga class at Harper College this summer. "I like it because it's relaxing ... but some of the poses are hard."

The practice is welcoming to all ages and religions, which adds to its appeal. And some suburban yoga teachers credit the popular video game, Wii Fit, which includes a yoga component, with helping introduce it to people.

Chad Satlow, owner of Yogawerks in Barrington, said people embrace yoga because it forces them to take a break from their busy lives, and it helped calm and center many people during the recession.

"People right now are under tremendous stress, so they're turning to spirituality. And ways to de-stress. Doctors are now recommending yoga. They do yoga. Ten years ago, that didn't happen," Satlow said.

At Yogawerks, one of the most popular specialized classes is Hot Yoga, also known as Bikram Yoga, in which a class is taught in a room heated to between 85 and 105 degrees and everyone leaves soaked in sweat.

"The Baby Boomers are looking to stay young and feel good, and yoga is great for maintaining your youth and staying fit," Satlow added.

Some of the customized yoga practices - such as Runners Yoga or Desk Jockey Yoga - are taught mainly on CDs or DVDs. But there are plenty of niche yoga classes being taught in the suburbs.

Yoga for Vets, for example, is offered at several studios in the Chicago area, including Prairie Yoga in Lisle and Shanti Yoga in Gurnee and at the VA Hospital in North Chicago. Pulling Down the Moon, at pullingdownthemoon,com, offers Yoga for Fertility in Arlington Heights.

The only drawback to this new yoga-for-everyone trend is that it breeds some unprofessional yoga classes. Yoga teachers recommend trying classes at two or three different places and making sure the class is at least 45 minutes long, your instructor is registered with the Yoga Alliance (yogaalliance.org), and you're not required to sign up for any long-term program and pay upfront.

"Is the quality going to vary? Absolutely," Satlow said. "There always should be a focus on breathwork. Otherwise it's just exercise. Breath brings you into the present moment, and you can only have joy in the present moment."