Yoga to Go

FORT WASHINGTON, Md. -- It's Saturday, and the party's getting started, so everybody hits the floor -- flat on the floor.

Sunlight streams through tall windows while candles flicker in the fireplace, and incense floats on a slight breeze. It's quiet, except for the hypnotic Native American flutes on the stereo and the soothing voice of the "yoga lady."

"Inhale and exhale," Jana Long intones. "Lift your legs up slowly," as dozens of pedicured toes point skyward. "Now lower them, slowly, almost to the floor, and lift again. Uh-oh, I can hear feet hitting the floor," Long sings out as the women around her stifle giggles.

OK, so a yoga party is an unusual way to make merry, but it just might be the next big thing for those who want a healthy alternative to the typical hung-over-the-next morning kind of party.

"I've done yoga birthday parties, yoga cocktail parties, yoga bridal parties, yoga book-club parties," says Long, a Baltimore yoga instructor. "What I teach are relaxation techniques and ways to use yoga to manage the everyday stresses in your life."

Long is part of a yoga "trendlet" appearing in places such as New York and Los Angeles. Matthew Solan, senior editor at Yoga Journa l magazine, says yoga parties are yet another manifestation of yoga's growing popularity. "After Sept. 11 especially, I think people are looking for more in stress reduction and maybe something that will touch their spirituality, allow them to look inward a bit," Solan says.

There's no doubt that yoga -- an ancient system of breathing and stretching exercises that also embraces philosophy, spirituality and mental discipline -- is flourishing in the USA. Thanks in part to celebrity devotees such as Madonna, Sting and Oprah, three quarters of health-and-fitness clubs now offer yoga, more than double the percentage in the mid-'90s. It's been introduced in prisons and public schools. Yoga teachers held open sessions in Central Park after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. You can even buy yoga stuff at Target.

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