Fremont, Hayward, Oakland, Richmond

Yoga can help reduce stress, tension, and weight

If you think yoga isn’t your cup of tea, consider this: Not only can it help improve strength, balance, and flexibility, but it can also help reduce muscle tension, stress, depression, and weight.

“Yoga is not so much an exercise, as it is a way of life,” says Sheri Clinchard, senior health educator for Kaiser Permanente in Southern Alameda County. “It goes back thousands of years to India, where it originally involved everything from how to eat to how to live your life.”

Westerners have integrated key aspects of the ancient practice to bring balance to body, mind, and spirit.

“Yoga reduces the levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, which is also related to weight gain,” says Clinchard. “Deep breathing and postures help trigger the relaxation response, which brings restorative functions to the body. It deactivates the stress response, affects mood and energy, reduces blood pressure, and alters brain waves to help the heart work more effectively.”

Kaiser Permanente offers beginning and intermediate yoga classes, gentle yoga for those with physical limitations, and prenatal yoga to help women prepare their bodies for birth.

For information and any fees, visit us online or call the Health Education Department at the facility nearest you:

• Alameda: (510) 752-9215
• Fremont: (510) 248-3455
• Hayward: (510) 784-4531
• Oakland: (510) 752-6150
• Pinole: (510) 243-4020
• Richmond: (510) 307-2210
• Union City: 510) 784-4531

 

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