Tone Your Body and Cleanse Your Mind Too

By CLAIRE HACK

EVERY other day, we seem to see another svelte celebrity on the cover a magazine claiming her tiny frame has been achieved as a result of a strict regime of yoga and meditation.

When she’s not designing purses and jewellery or being snapped by the paparazzi, even Paris Hilton has been known to strike the odd yogic pose.

And of course she’s not the only celeb reported to be interested in the practice. Madonna, Meg Ryan and Ricky Martin have all claimed that yoga has changed their lives, while Spice Girl Geri Halliwell attributes her current rock-hard physique to a rigorous yoga routine. Under the tutelage of Katy Appleton, her personal instructor, Geri has successfully transformed her body completely. But is yoga just for fit-obsessed celebrities?

Wendy Buttery says no. The Tyneside yoga instructor and avowed convert to the spiritual ideals surrounding the practice maintains that yoga is about something far deeper and more profound than just keeping trim. The 39-year-old, whose school of yoga is called Lotus Pad and includes classes from beginner to intermediate, has been on what she refers to as her personal journey with yoga for eight years now.

As her qualifications attest, yoga has become much more than just a hobby for her. She’s completed two separate modules of training under the international authority of the Yoga Alliance, totalling 500 hours, and is also qualified to teach pregnancy and therapy yoga.

Now based in Newcastle and North Tyneside, Wendy travelled all the way to Australia to study under the renowned yoga practitioner Nicky Knoff. Knoff herself, who has been teaching yoga for more than 35 years, studied in India under Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois, the respective pioneers of Iyengar and Ashtanga yoga.

"I knew that yoga promoted flexibility," Wendy said. "But I was also keen to understand the spiritual aspects of it. I started with a six-week course at Newcastle University and from the very first class, I knew it was exactly what I’d been looking for."

So what exactly is yoga? "It’s actually a fairly large discipline," Wendy answers. "I teach Hatha yoga, which covers all yoga dealing with positions.

"There’s also Ashtanga, which is about using breath to power through each position, and Iyengar, which concentrates on body alignment. It’s then divided up into eight ‘limbs’ that cover all the elements of being."

Do you need to memorise all these before you begin?

"The three most important limbs when you’re just starting out are asana, which is moving the body into different positions, pranayama, which is controlling breath, and meditation, which is about controlling your mind and cultivating stillness."

It’s clearly a lot more than just being able to bend and contort your body, then.

"It might sound a bit esoteric," Wendy says. "But yoga really is for anybody and everybody. From the first class, you’ll begin to understand your body and yourself. You’ll start accepting your limitations, working through them and beyond them until you no longer have any limitations. It’s about taking the first steps on a path. You can go as far with it as you want and it’s certainly possible to go further than just exercise. The more you explore, the more you’ll gain from yoga. It will keep giving to you as long as you’re ready to receive."

We all know it’s possible (with a lot of hard work) to achieve a stunningly toned body with the help of yoga – Sienna Miller and Jennifer Aniston being excellent examples – but what are the other benefits?

According to Wendy, yoga not only increases flexibility but also improves stamina and increases strength. Pranayama (yogic breathing) helps to increase lung capacity as well as the ability to calm the mind, while meditation brings a sense of peace and stillness. It’s not just about physical fitness, she says, but also mental and emotional wellbeing, promoting an overall feeling of calm and serenity.

Sharon Douglas, 34, an accounting technician from North Shields, has been taking Wendy’s Monday night class for a year now and says she feels much healthier for it.

"It’s very relaxing," she explains. "It’s something I really enjoy doing. I went on my own the first time and didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. Wendy’s a really good instructor – she’s friendly and she always makes you feel welcome."

Henny Mills, 30, also of North Shields, agrees. "I’ve been in Wendy’s class for about a year, but I’d been doing yoga on and off for couple of years before," she says. "I’ve had problems with my shoulder and yoga’s helped a lot. It’s really good for your back and shoulders and it does help you to relax." And it seems Wendy’s class is a great place to start, especially if you’re in a sedentary job. "She does lots of exercises that are good if you sit in front a computer all day," Henny, a lecturer of geomatics at Newcastle University, continues. "Your whole body is relaxed and it helps you to take your mind off work." And it’s not just for the girls, either. Wendy teaches a wide variety of people ranging from those in their mid-20s to their mid-50s, including men and, more recently, pregnant women.

At the moment, Wendy doesn’t have a permanent base from which to teach her classes. The three classes she currently runs are in three different locations. But the name Lotus Pad is significant – she says she came up with the name to inspire her to work towards having her own studio, or "pad," and once she does, she’ll call it The Lotus Pad. She also plans to increase her teaching schedule, going part-time at her day job and beginning specialised pregnancy and therapy yoga classes after Christmas. For more information and for an up-to-date list of classes, go online to: www.lotuspadyoga.co.uk

HISTORY OF YOGA

YOGA began in India, thousands of years ago, but it wasn’t until around 200AD that the foundations of the philosophy were written down in the Yoga Sutra. In 1966, BKS Iyengar published Light on Yoga and founded one of the most popular forms of the practice.

Iyengar yoga focuses on alignment of the body and is known for its use of props such as cushions, blocks and chairs.

Ashtanga (which literally means "eight limbs") is probably the most widely practised form, and was developed by Pattabhi Jois in 1948 and focuses on synchronising breathing with movement.

Top tips for new starters

WENDY also gave us a few top tips for those of us who are just starting out with yoga:

1) Join a beginners’ class – you’ll learn more from a teacher than you will from a book or video;

2) Don’t push yourself too hard – learn to accept your limitations and you’ll be able to work through them;

3) Develop a positive attitude – don’t be embarrassed and don’t convince yourself it’s too hard. Believe you can do it and you’ll soon surprise yourself.

(c) 2007 Evening Chronicle – Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.