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Think yoga's easy? Prepare to change your position

Yoga instructor Sean McNallie has seen it many times. College guys, coaxed by girlfriends into joining them for a Bikram class, saunter into the studio, maybe expecting some easy stretching. An hour and a half later, they're drenched in sweat, exhausted and a little bewildered.

"They'll say, 'This is the toughest workout I've had since high school football," says McNallie, co-owner of Bodhi Yoga in Central Austin. Although yoga can conjure up images of meditation and mantras, there are endless variations of this 5,000-year-old spiritual tradition, some more physical than others.

Two types of yoga — Bikram and Ashtanga — can help not only the inner you, but the outer you as well. If you're bored with pounding the pavement on runs or hitting the gym, either one of these yoga styles can be the center of your workout routine if you do them at least three times a week. An Ashtanga class can burn more than 600 calories, for example.

Remember that yoga classes also focus on your spiritual well-being, so be prepared to hear phrases such as "Find what's bothering you and let it go." McNallie calls Bikram and Ashtanga "meditation in motion."

"I think yoga is beautiful for people who never liked working out before," McNallie says. "I get people who haven't exercised for years, and yoga becomes their exercise of choice." Many people embrace yoga because of the stress relief and the healthy domino effect it has on their lives, he explains. In order to feel good for class, students may pass on drinking alcohol the night before, consume much more water and eat more healthful foods.

"We all get stuck in patterns, and yoga helps you break your patterns . . . and breaks you out of your routine," says McNallie, who's taught Bikram for 3 1/2 years. Anyone in general good health should be able to try a beginning Bikram class as long you take it slow and not compare yourself with other students — yoga is the antithesis of competitive sports.

Bikram is a series of 26 postures or "asanas" (such as holding your leg in both hands, for example) that are done in the same sequence each time. If that sounds simple, imagine doing these postures for 90 minutes in a room heated to more than 100 degrees. The high temperature quickly warms the body and helps create inner heat, getting into the muscles for deeper stretches.

McNallie says Bikram can "change your body really, really fast." He said a friend of his recently lost more than 50 pounds in six months doing Bikram five times a week.

Like Bikram, Ashtanga yoga, sometimes called "power yoga," intensely works out the entire body. Ashtanga is a rigorous, precise system that links posture to breath. (In one of last year's many yoga trend stories, The New York Times referred to Ashtanga as "yoga boot camp.") The poses (think pushups, back bends and balancing postures), many of them more difficult than in beginning Bikram, are performed in faster sequence. Inversions, such as headstands, are also part of many Ashtanga classes, which are held in rooms heated to a more moderate temperature than in Bikram.

People who can barely touch their toes shouldn't be afraid of rolling out a yoga mat for the first time, McNallie says. "A lot of people are not really flexible, and that scares them. As long as they're trying, they're going to get the same benefits, if not more, as people who've been doing it for a long time."

And because it's low-impact, yoga can be easier on the joints than some other forms of exercise. Just be sure to listen to your body and not overdo it. If you have any pre-existing problems, such as a weak knee, let your instructor know. Many instructors will describe modifications for you, such as bending your knee in a stretch, for example. The Boston Globe reported this month that with 18 million people practicing yoga in the United States last year, the number of related injuries — muscle and ligament sprains, disk injuries and cartilage tears — has skyrocketed.

Maricarmen Le Gassick, owner and instructor at Prana Yoga, emphasizes that new students should seek out a beginning class and should already be leading an active lifestyle. Her classes will have you holding a low pushup position for up to a minute (get ready for some arm trembling), and then without pause will go right into another posture, such as a deep lunge. This goes on the entire 90 minutes of the class, with everyone breathing so deeply and loudly that it sounds like an ocean in the classroom.

"A lot is required of you physically. It demystifies that yoga is passive," says Le Gassick, whose studio specializes in Vinyasa, an evolving form of yoga that's a relative of Ashtanga. Vinyasa means "flow," and that's exactly what happens — each movement flows into another. There's no exact sequence as in Ashtanga, so each class will be different.

Although 90 minutes, three times a week can sound like a major time investment, remember that Bikram and Ashtanga work out the entire body while improving both flexibility and strength (lifting weights, for example, will make you stronger, but it doesn't do much for your stretching abilities).

Classes typically cost an average of $10 each, depending on the type of package you buy. The only equipment you'll need is a mat, which start at around $20, and comfortable clothes that stretch. If you want something less intense physically, investigate less-vigorous forms such as Hatha (classes are widely available in Austin) and Iyengar, or more spiritual-focused versions such Kundalini and Sivananda.

"I think yoga will help anyone's routine by tremendous amounts — you get benefits from any type," McNallie says.

Kathy Blackwell writes for the Austin Statesman-American.