YOGA is about adaptation and flexibility of the mind as well as how one can achieve harmony in life, according to visiting practitioner Rajendra Panday.

Based in Rishikesh, Rajendra will be teaching a series of yoga classes beginning with the Sunrise Yoga every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7-8 a.m. and lunchtime yoga from 12.30-1.30 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday. Classes started on Wednesday at the In Motion School of Dance.

What started off as a hobby soon grew into a teaching profession for the 27-year-old native of India.

"It is a way of self-exploration," Rajendra explained. "Yoga is beneficial for those who work in an office environment and working with computers.

"The complaints are poor eyesight, wrist pain and feeling lethargic. Yoga helps to eliminate many of these complaints and gives the person an energy boost."

The word "yoga" means "to yoke" ? to establish a relationship with the environment and people who affect every area of your life.

While men tend to prefer more testosterone-filled activities, sports injuries can be debilitating. Yoga will help the muscles around the joints, strengthen the affected areas and improve the blood supply in addition to giving the tissues a gentle massage.

But it still seems there are more female practitioners than men when it comes to embracing yoga.

"Men try to suppress their feelings which in the long run can bring on a host of ailments, whereas women tend to be more open and be able to cry freely or express themselves openly. Yoga is an innocent art," Rajendra added.

Through a series of stretching and breathing exercises, practitioners will in time be more in tune with themselves and the world around them.

Rajendra says yoga is an integral component of the Indian culture whereas in the West it is more physically oriented and deals with health and a stress-free lifestyle.

Not only the hale-bodied can benefit from yoga. The physically challenged can also benefit from the stretching and breathing exercises.

"Those who are wheelchair bound can benefit from yoga, i.e., breathing exercises, relaxation and meditation," Rajendra explained. People as young as six can practise yoga as well as people who are in their 70s or 80s.

Yoga involves a series of measured exercises; there isn't the proverbial warm-up associated with the more labour-intensive exercises, so it is healthy for those of all ages."

Athletes can also benefit from yoga as it:

l Improves flexibility. The more freedom your body has to move into the positions necessary for your sport, the more quickly you can do so with less effort, strain or risk of injury.

l Improves balance. If your body is off balance and the upper half of the body feels disconnected from the lower half, your response time increases. Many yoga postures require you to find your centre.

l Increases mental focus. Many athletes will share that they play a mental game; either their mind was or wasn't 'in the game'. Yoga teaches the discipline of being present in the moment through physical postures and breath work.

l Increases strength. Yoga uses your own body as the weight you lift or hold. Many yoga postures require many major and minor muscle groups to be used simultaneously.

l Improves your mind/body connection. In yoga you learn to listen to your body through your mind and learn to quit your mind through your body.

4 For more information call the Health Co-op at 236-0336 or visit www.healthcoop.bm