{"id":247218,"date":"2014-04-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/yoga-gains-traction-in-uptown-as-a-holistic-workout-alternative\/"},"modified":"2014-04-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-25T07:00:00","slug":"yoga-gains-traction-in-uptown-as-a-holistic-workout-alternative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/yoga-gains-traction-in-uptown-as-a-holistic-workout-alternative\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoga gains traction in Uptown as a holistic workout alternative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vince Meehan | Uptown News<\/p>\n

In Uptown and beyond, yoga has become so popular in the past few years that its own fashion trend has formed in its wake. The holistic exercise\u2019s popularity is a testament to an increased acceptance of Eastern philosophy, combined with a renewed focus on a healthy lifestyle. Yoga studios are popping up around town quicker than coffee houses did in the \u201890s, and there is no shortage of eager students willing to practice this meditative workout.<\/p>\n

\"Christina<\/a>
Christina Heliker of Core Yoga (Photo by Vince Meehan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Christina Heliker has seen firsthand this influx of new yogis at Core Yoga, the Uptown yoga studio she manages. She\u2019s worked as an instructor there for five years, and recently had to add several classes to accommodate growing demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the main attraction of yoga is its calming effect on the body and mind,\u201d Heliker said. \u201cIn today\u2019s high-stress job market, people really want a way to decompress after work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heliker teaches \u201cVinyasa\u201d style yoga, which she characterizes as having a flow to it. Proper breathing technique is the first thing she teaches to her students, allowing them to relax and enter a meditative state, which is key to practicing yoga.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn yoga, it\u2019s all about holding poses as a way to build both strength and posture,\u201d Heliker said. \u201cWith Vinyasa, we flow from one pose to the other, as opposed to a style like Bikram, where the focus is on holding one pose, and then disengaging to start another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once calm, the students are instructed to hold poses while adjusting their breathing techniques accordingly. Mastering these varying breathing techniques has actually proved beneficial to many women in childbirth, including Heliker. As students grow more comfortable with yoga, they can bump up to more challenging poses, as well as \u201cinversions\u201d: poses where your head is situated below your heart, such as in a handstand.<\/p>\n

Heliker enjoys teaching \u201cheated\u201d yoga, which has grown especially popular recently. In heated yoga, the temperature in the studio is raised, similar to a sweat lodge, as the students go through their poses.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeated yoga is popular with my students due to the detoxifying effect of sweating,\u201d Heliker said. \u201cIt really puts you in a zone that lets you know you are working out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heliker is convinced that yoga\u2019s popularity has grown due to its low-impact style, as well as its non-invasive nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoga is for people who want to enjoy a non-pushy workout that does not involve someone screaming at you to grind out one more rep,\u201d Heliker said. \u201cThere is a serenity involved, and even a bit of playfulness that really attracts people. With today\u2019s focus on a healthy lifestyle, yoga is a perfect fit.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vince Meehan | Uptown News In Uptown and beyond, yoga has become so popular in the past few years that its own fashion trend has formed in its wake.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1081,"featured_media":247219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Yoga gains traction in Uptown as a holistic workout alternative","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}