Congratulations on taking the plunge! Yoga is such a great way to exercise body and mind. I did yoga with DVDs for a decade before getting around to signing up for my first real class a year ago. (And that only happened because a class started up in the church right across the street from me! I’m lazy about leaving the house to work out.) I did have a few bad habits because for years I had nobody to correct me, but I was surprised how quickly that all got worked out. I still do regular check-ins (pelvic bowl level? knee not rolling in? ears down and over shoulders?) but it doesn’t interrupt the flow at all. Have fun with this!

I love yoga. I started maybe 5 years ago with a very remedial beginner class. Then I sort of got away from it until a cozy, friendly new yoga studio opened in my town and I became a regular there. Once again, I’ve gotten away from it and my New Years resolution is to get back into a routine again.

There’s a great yoga site called “Do Yoga With Me” with tons of free classes and meditations — sometimes I’ll do this with an iPad in our empty attic guest room. Still prefer a live-human class, though.

I really liked a class I took once at the fancy spa hotel in your town! Friendly and not intimidating. Pretty sure their classes are open to all? (For a price, of course.)

My only yoga exeperience was on the beach. It was lovely until they had me, an easily dizzy, low blood pressure person, standing with my back to the ocean, bending over, looking back through my legs. Between the head rush, seeing the ocean upside down, the waves - I was very wobbly and almost fell over. Other than that brief moment, I really enjoyed it.

I keep meaning to look into a local yoga class to try but have yet to follow through. No ocean nearby so I won’t have the same trouble. I’ll pencil this in to my To Do list. Thanks for reminding me.

I do Daily Burn yoga. I think I might try something like a class, because it's more relaxing. Plus, yoga helps me with less stress and helps me feel, well.. better!

I tried hot yoga and sweated sooo much I was sliding all over the mat. I was mortified. Have not tried again but DH has expressed interest so might try (maybe) as a couples thing.

DH and I do at home - DVD - Weight Loss Yoga for Dummies with Chris Freytag. I have a friend who is a yoga instructor - she got us started and recommended this video. As long as we've done it we still listen to the instructor and I still think about what I'm doing as she's talking. I'm sure I don't have the best form but it's a good workout for the body and fast paced enough for cardio work. And we can do it anytime, anywhere without being dependent upon a class.

I've done it on and off for years. I love the stretching and getting to know your muscles and your body and the increase in flexibility. But I find I have to be super careful as I always try to do more than I should and then, not at the time, but hours or even a day later, I will come up with low back pain from a spinal twist or something else. And pigeon pose can be very tough on my knee. So I've had to learn what I can and can't do and how to modify it so I'm improving rather than injuring myself.

There are lots of different kinds of yoga too. I esp like kripalu yoga as it involves a lot of motion from one pose to another in time with your breath and is very meditative.

I love yoga. Our very good friends own a (fairly) new, cutting edge, big, gorgeous, and very successful hot yoga studio. I tried that, but sadly am not fond of sweating! I belonged to another (not-hot) yoga place that I loved, but it was a long 45 minute drive that got old after 3 months. But, yes the moves will become second nature soon enough. Just be very careful to avoid places/instructors that push you to move more aggressively than you are physically comfortable doing. Our friends have told me horror stories about clients in other places injured that way. Anyhoo, as soon as I kick this nasty cold I'm going to try another recommended place nearby, as I love good yoga workouts.

have done warm/ beginner ish level yoga at a great studio for a few years. I adore it. I have limitations and as a 57 year old just starting , its a challenge but I feel great because of my participation. Cant say most of it comes naturally and I definitive dont look graceful and flowing doing it but.... fool around with it at home, but my twice weekly studio sessions are better.

I did it for about a year a couple of years ago. The class I went to was a tough workout. It's a great core and balance workout which is so important as we age. But for me it just moved too slow and I already do a core class and a couple of strength classes..

I finally found a yoga class that works for me. Yes you can get injured doing spinal twists! I am still having issues three years later.

My yoga class is a gentle one, which means we go at a slower pace.

You need to find one that works for you.

DH does Bikram, which is done in a 105 degree room. Different than hot yoga.

I would never do it.

Youngest DD became certified in Hatha.

Many different kinds, but most important is a good instructor that will show and talk you through how to do things correctly,

There is another gentle yoga called Yin Yoga which gets you into a position and you stay there for 2 min to relax into it. The positions are designed to work with gravity as the stretching mechanism, so you don't really hold it as much as let gravity do the work for you.

If you want to try yoga, there's a nice 31 day yoga series with Adriene on youtube for free.

I enjoy yoga although I have not done it for over a year. Unfortunately the beginner class at my local place conflicted with my choir. I can only speak for myself but I am very uncoordinated and slow to catch on to physical things. My solution was to just keep re-taking the beginner class over and over, probably six times. It worked for me and I really enjoyed it! I think a more athletic and physical person could progress much more quickly!

I took classes at the community center a couple of times, but the schedule wasn't working for me. I try to do it at home, especially after a run. I do it for the stretching.

I second the Adriene videos. I like her delivery, very laid back. I've only done a few days, I tend to repeat the early ones.

Not trying to hijack a discussion, but wondering if someone who has done both can tell me: how does yoga compare with Pilates?

I've never done yoga but love Pilates and just started back today. What I most enjoy about it sounds somewhat like what I"m hearing about yoga, but perhaps without the spiritual/meditative component?? In Pilates there is an almost endless variety of exercises that are usually done slowly and carefully with just a few reps of each and you basically do get somewhat of a sense of flow throughout a session.

I have found that Pilates instructors I've had are almost always extremely aware of and accommodate students' physical limitations or issues-it's one of the things I very much appreciate.

Interested to hear comparisons from knowledgeable practitioners of both yoga and pilates.

For me, the primary difference was the emphasis on the spiritual component of yoga. Pilates focused on strength whereas yoga seemed to aim for flexibility and balance. Note to self--need to resume!

I just got out of yoga class about an hour ago! We meet once a week, but unfortunately I had to miss the last two and I could really tell the difference when we started our stretching tonight. I missed it. We do Iyengar yoga.

I like working with legs-up-the-wall the best. No worries about tipping over. I also like the pigeon pose. I have not tried Hot Yoga.

I am 62. My teacher is 60, and the ladies in my class range from 55 to 65 years old.

I did yogo when I first went to university, and I kept it up until I graduated, and then I sort of stopped. I'm trying to start it again because I need to get more limbered up. I have several DVDs and books plus mats in my sewing room. When I first started, I did it all from books, but then I found some groups to join. I also studied Vedic literature at that time and was fortunate to find many good books on the subject in the university library. I miss going to university libraries.

My next door neighbor teaches yoga, and I might consider going to one of her classes in the near future.

I've done both Pilates and Yoga. Both have their benefits. I like Pilates a lot more, though, because it moves more quickly and focuses on the core. Once the core is strengthened, the whole body changes it seems. I've done Pilates for 20 years regularly, and I throw is a yoga class every so often. Yoga is harder for me: just a lot more intense stretching (although, of course, Pilates is all about stretching too). In an ideal world, I would do both.

Nanny and Emory, thanks for the information. I will probably stick with Pilates; if nothing else I have finally found a class time* that works for me and at 60 YO I place a very high premium on the instructors' ability to work with aches and pains and twinges that I've got these days.

*And now a rant on timing: what is it with Pilates and only mid day sessions--ladies who lunch exercise indeed LOL

My daughter is a yogi who led for three years in London and Australia. She insists that her dad and I would benefit greatly from yoga, that at 70 and 77 we are are certainly not too old to begin. She has had students older than we are who began in their late 60s and have seen them work out many of their kinks, and improve balance.

She says certified yogis in reputable studios don't accept new students who are infirm, and they are vigilant about not demanding more of their students than they are capable of.

There is a great studio near me that she has taken classes with when she visits us. I am considering joining them. I can't really explain my reluctance.

To be clear, Daughter is not currently leading yoga in a studio as she just returned to the US in July after living abroad for several years. She is a teacher and leads classes for staff after school. Her experience as a yogi is limited to her three years in London and Australia.

I have medical conditions which make me hesitant to pursue exercise options. I finally made an appointment with a highly recommended chiropractor who took me from zero to 100 in a brief period of time which resulted in intense pain for a few days. Needless to say, I will be very careful to evaluate any future candidates.

If exercise is your goal I would suggest looking into Pilates. If a spiritual direction is your goal I would suggest one dumps meditation and all that leads you to think it is all about YOU and try prayer. God has bee very clear, empty minds and hearts are not what is best for us. Minds and hearts full of Him and He as our focus is what will lead to happiness. Front page of the Star Tribune last week Yoga is a Hindu form of prayer. If posture doesn't matter why won't most Protestants kneel when in a Catholic Church? God recognizes kneeling as worship to him. The question is what do the Hindu deities recognize--whether you mean it or not?

Excellent points Annie! One of my clients told me that meditation ‘makes me comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

Did yoga in my youth. I used "Richard Hittleman's 28 Day Yoga Plan" book and did the practice every day, usually took about 30 min. It took about 3 weeks before I started to notice significant improvement in my ability to do the poses. I would say it will take about a month of days before the most benefits set in. As far as Yoga being unChristian, well, it is just a form of exercise/stretching and the Hindus recognized that there was a mind body connection, so of course they interpreted it with their religion. One could just as easily keep it entirely secular or put a Christian spin on it. The "emptying" that they speak of in yoga is actually the lessening of the ego, the actual opposite of it "being all about you," which is often one of the things that keeps people from many types of spiritual enlightenment as well as the ability to heal from mental illness--the obsession with self. One does not have to do meditation to do yoga though. I'm not much for meditation, but I have found that it does help tremendously with falling asleep.