Kirpalu? Birkam? Who thought something besides the gym would work?

Sara McCloskey
Managing Editor

Almost everyday beautiful and skinny models advertise a new diet book or cardio work out video. These exercises do not help all people to lose weight, but there is a fitness regiment that has been around for hundreds of years that is making a comeback. This not so new craze is yoga.

To explain it simply, yoga is a form of exercise. But there are many different aspects of yoga. First of all, there are many types of yoga, but the most popular (at least in our community) are Kirpalu and Birkam.
Kirpalu is one of the oldest forms of yoga and it involves working with your body by using poses to stretch and calm it instead of straining yourself.

Birkam yoga, which is also known as ‘hot yoga’ is when people do a series of poses in a 100-degree room. The heat allows for your muscles to loosen up which helps people to move quickly throughout the poses.

These different forms of yoga tend to give the same results everyone. “It really gets your muscles going and at the same time it gets your whole body moving,” said junior Nick Zanca. “You don’t necessarily need to be fit to do it, but it really helps you to get your muscles working and at the same time poses help you with your posture.”

Today, many turn to yoga for a variety of reasons. “People are looking for something deeper than just exercise,” said Kirpalu teacher Nanette Morrison. “But at the same time they want to learn to calm their body and mind; no other exercise teaches that. It’s a very stressful life we’re living in and other types of exercise do not offer that.”

Birkam, Kirpalu, whatever yoga it may be, clearly gives participants a clearer state of mind and a good work out. “I used to do everything: run, lift weights, and every type of exercise program,” said Nanette. “I needed something more than an exercise that would satisfy my mind at the same time, something more than just exercise. Yoga can be life altering.”