[murron]

I’m a devout Catholic and went to one Yoga exercise class. I happened to mention this to my neighbor in passing, and she excoriated me that I was going against my religion. I had no idea that this was the case, and looked upon it as only a mental and physical exercise for relaxation.

[TigersEye]

I had some extreme problems with back and neck pain beginning when I was thirty years old. Chiropractors, doctors and massage therapists barely helped at all. After about four years of pain, driving me out of my carpentry career, I found a book on yoga in the library. No chanting of mantras or meditation involved as others seem to think is part of it.

It was scary at first because the slightest moves (outside of yoga) were very painful. But within two weeks my pain was greatly reduced and at the end of the book (about six weeks) I was stronger and more flexible than I had ever been in my life and the muscle spasms were about 90% reduced.

I only continued doing yoga for a year or so but the benefits have lasted more than a decade. If I were a little more disciplined and kept it up there is no telling how much better shape I might be in now.