Yoga is becoming the new aerobics, the new karate, the new most popular way to stretch out, limber up and calm down. "The demand for yoga is just incredible," according to Gabi Gillessen, a teacher-trainer with the Irish Yoga Association. "Lots of people are struggling to find teachers and classes are just choc-a-bloc full." Gillessen says demand has soared in the past five years, as the myth about yoga lifted. "People thought it was something to do with religion, and now they're finding out the reality, and they're also becoming more aware of how stressed they are and that they need to do something about it."
Yoga's increasingly high profile has contributed to dispelling those myths. Madonna is the best-known among the celebrity yoga practitioners, who also include Jodie Foster, Daryl Hannah and Sting. Indeed, Madonna is a qualified teacher and a great promoter of the discipline. She propelled it into the spotlight on the big screen last year in The Next Best Thing, in which she appeared as a yoga teacher. Yoga also features in What Women Want, and anyone who saw it will hardly forget Mel Gibson dressed in Lycra on a mat on the floor.
Yoga is not just an urban trend for twenty-somethings. The Irish Yoga Association has trained 150 tutors during the past 20 years, most of whom have now opened schools in all corners of the country, including the Namaskar Yoga Centre on Clare Island, or Macroom Yoga and Reflexology Centre in Co Cork. Most small towns now have health centres or gyms, and most of those centres offer some sort of yoga classes. Some community centres such as the one in Celbridge, in Co Kildare, hold regular classes.
Yoga means "union" - to yolk, or to unite, and comes from the Sanskrit root yuj. It seeks to unify the mind and body, the spiritual and emotional in us. The 5,000 year-old discipline dates back to ancient forest dwellers called "Rishis", sages who lived in the Indus Valley in what is now northern India. Observing nature and searching within themselves, they evolved physical postures and breathing exercises that stretched, cleansed and centred the body, cultivating states of vitality, clarity and focus.
There are several varieties, or schools, of yoga, built up from centuries of expertise, or developed specifically by individual practitioners. The three most popular forms taught in Ireland are Hatha, Astanga and Iyengar. Pregnancy yoga is also gaining popularity.
Rooted deep in the mysticism of Eastern philosophical and spiritual awareness practices, yoga certainly offers more than just an exercise routine, but it can also be quite physical, and that's why it's so popular. A foil for the stress and speed of life today, it is designed to focus and centre the practitioner. And who is the average practitioner?
Mel Gibson's film presents a highly inaccurate image of yoga as a purely female pursuit. This image is not borne out by the level of male participation worldwide, as more and more top-class sportsmen turn to yoga as a fundamental method of improving their general concentration and athletic ability.
The concentration benefits of yoga are highly recommended by some of the best golfers. Argentinian golfer Eduardo Romero credits his incredible comeback last year, which saw him carry off the European Masters with a 10-shot victory, to the fact that he took up yoga. He says the half-hour he spends on yoga every day has helped his concentration enormously, claiming he rediscovered his ability to focus after taking it up.
In this country, however, it is true to say that classes are so far still predominantly female. In the minority is David Byrne, a civil servant with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Having harboured an interest in taking up yoga since he was 16, David finally plucked up his courage in January this year, saying he'd "give it a buzz" to see how it went. Now on his second series of classes, he says, "I love it, it's extremely enjoyable."
A football player for 16 years, David was surprised that yoga was "much more physical than I thought. I'm working my muscles to a much greater extent," he says. "Plus there's the relaxation side," he adds, explaining that he would be known for having quite a fiery temper, that he now walks out of the class with a smile, and finds it far easier to control his temper.
Though he was concerned before he started about being the only male in the class because "well, the Irish male doesn't usually do yoga", now it doesn't matter. David also acknowledges the huge concentration benefit, of great value to him as he is studying at night for a degree.
GP Ann Donnelly took a year out to practise as a yoga tutor with the Dublin Natural Healing Centre in Temple Bar, after spending a year in the Yoga Teacher Training Centre in Belfast. "I'm absolutely delighted with my decision. It's made a huge difference to myself. I know myself better because of yoga," she says. "It's a constructive way of dealing with stress."
There is often a misconception about the various forms of yoga. All are breathing based, involving routines of a variety of stretching and flexing. That's where the similarity ends. Different schools have different objectives, and tutors stress that it's vital for people to have a clear idea of what they want to get out of yoga, and recommend people try different forms.
Classes in schools typically cost an average of £10 for an hour to an hour-and-a-half, though many schools do deals for £50 to £60 for an eight-week series of classes lasting an hour to an hour and a half.
Irish Yoga Association: tel 01-4929213; e-mail iya@eircom.net; www.homepage.eircom.net/iya