DrRic's Antiinflammatory Lifestyle?

A guru of mine popularized the phrase "antiinflammatory diet".  Essentially a whole food mostly plant based diet.  It goes with the concept that in the millennium, most disease has at its roots a form of inflammation.  I contend that there is more to inflammation than just bad nutrition.  I teach my patients that to get back to the "wholeness" of living disease free.  In my treatment plans and lectures, I write prescriptions of changes to cosider in solidifying your ability to withstand the challenges that face every decade. 

Thinking                 T
Eating             =      E
Activity                  A



You can have good TEA and increase the chances of living until 90-100years old with very little medicines and disease.
You can have bad TEA and allow every bad gene known to the human species to express itself.  It doesn't matter that everyone in you family tree has been without illness or early death.  Living a full catastrophic life (as John Kabat-Zinn refers to) without remorse will only screw up the brilliant actions found in your DNA to live/fix/avoid danger. 

Good TEA consists of;
1-allowing the brain to let go of unnecessary reactions to our environment.  When I have patients come to my office for the first time, 50% will have an elevated blood pressure and state they don't like doctors.  This is probably an evolutionary reaction trained from when you grew up and expected every visit to end in a shot.  Rational thinking should help you figure as an adult you can say you don't want a shot-but subconscious fear is a learned behavior hard to break.  Furthermore, if sitting in a small office, waiting for a stranger and having someone know your "insides" makes the fight or flight/sympathetic system turn on and manifest a fast pulse and high blood pressure......imaging what being late for work, forgetting your lunch, getting billed improperly, having someone tail gait you at highway speed, or just getting bullied or intimidated.... does for your pressure.  It is well documented that most heart attacks in the world occur on Monday morning.  This would be where "thinking" part of TEA is involved but it's more of developing a way to let go of analyzing every millisecond of every encounter and possible outcome.  Doesn't mean live like a hippy from the 60's in a commune but it does mean you have to invest in changing that "teenager-like" reaction of thinking irrationally and letting emotional tornadoes blossom from every stress event.  (I remember someone with anxiety pushing me to come up with a treatment plan for them but "they didn't want pills, didn't believe in psycho therapy and don't have time to practice mind relaxing......this dude needs a referral to Dr Bob Marley)
2-giving every cell in the body the basic building blocks of what they need to perform duties of existing.  Those of you who remember science can picture a cell and its center called the nucleus.  Within the this center, DNA does its magic of replicating for 90 years, cutting out bad genes that look like cancer, conducting the orchestra that takes place to chemically breakdown any toxin that you happen to ingest, recognize and kill any invading virus or bacteria that isn't helpful and keeping you moving/feeling/thinking happy and loved.  Eating crappy food/alcohol/overindulging will tip the scale from "living till 90" to "just getting by" at 20, 40, 60 years and usually when the "Ferrari" is given low quality gas, it's engine will run but performance will be worse than a "Yugo" and it's engine will soon fail. 
3-movement, outdoors, laughter, breath/heart stimulation are all so embraced by your body.  Everyone feels good when they are maintaining some form of activity...even the infants.  If basic brain of a newborn feels joy in kicking feet and moving fingers....what more do we need to prove that stagnation is a bad thing.  I remember watching this kid in the airport waiting for a flight-zoned into his computer.  Didn't move a muscle including his eyeballs for hours......yet there was expression of movement with his left ankle/foot.  It was nervously moving like it alone was on 5 red bulls. (The tell tale sign a police officer looks for in the admission of guilt via body language-this kids' leg was "hiding something")  It was fascinating that his eyes and ears were getting stimulation but his body was trying to express its need for activity..... and he was ignoring it to continue pleasuring his eyes and ears.  This 3rd leg of "DrRic's Antinflammatory Lifestyle" has it's challenges in that most people think of exercise as that feeble attempt at going to the gym and getting personal training from college years.   "Goin to the Gym" is just one of an infinite form of movement activities.  Instinctual activities that have been in existence since the dawn of man are walk and swim (biking was developed in the last few centuries)  There are well established activities that have been utilized by ancient cultures like tai chi or yoga (and the cool thing is they take care of steps 1 and 3).  Info mercials develop every 6-12 months- a new fitness machine guaranteed to change your life (until the next new fitness machine is purchased to replace the now basement delegated "lifechanging equipment")  I believe it is cheaper to hire a guru/coach who can listen to your wants and needs and use experience to develop a sustainable series of activities you had no idea were out there.  How is a patient with limited experience supposed to teach himself a sustainable method of living to turn around a failing body?....the Internet!!! (yeah right!)   While your at it, teach yourself a degree in medicine and the human psyche so I can start sending you some referrals.  Finding an activity you can embrace forever is possible on your own but takes alot of experimenting and direction that most humans don't have patience for (especially if you are unhealthy to begin with).

Bad TEA consists of the Standard American Dream (work alot of hours, make alot of money , you are #1-everyone else is beneath you!), the Standard American Diet (1 in 3 are obese and dying slowly) and the Standard American Pastime (TV)

Not everyone is ready to adopt this antiinflammatory way of living (click here to see a video describing DrRic's Antiinflammatory Lifestyle).  It takes big commitment to initiate and a strong will to continue.  In my opinion, making a change a little at a time is more difficult than being "all in".  When someone shows me the signs that they are invested in "flipping over" to a better way of living, I give everything I can in planning and give them the best "coaches" to initiate and complete the plan.  If they are being dragged in by a spouse, sitting with arms crossed and no intention to listen I try not to waste my time in preaching to deaf ears.  What I know for sure is that everyone will "flip over" whether now or later at deaths door.  If they aren't ready to "flip" now, it's ok I 'll be around for a while to help when it happens....it will happen.

Why can't I get a hold of my doctor?

 

 

I remember when just starting residency in '91, clinic days were limited to 6-8 patients daily.  The model was to make sure the new guys weren't overwhelmed with learning the process as they developed interview and exam skills.  Most important was to give enough time to take the patient case (all written down on paper) and present it to the overseeing doc/teacher.  By the time 3 years passes, most of us in Family Medicine can see patients every 10-15 minutes.  It seems this was the perfect balance of getting the biggest concern diagnosed (impossible to only have 1 medical concern especially medicare aged patients!) and being able to bill medical insurance and break even.  Most family medicine clinics don't break even with seeing patients.  In fact, over the last 20 years, when a bill goes to insurance, I usually see 3/4 of a reimbursement.  Inflation is about 3% annually and yet medical reimbursement decreases every year.  You see it on TV/Internet....spending cuts across the board for reimbursable medical expense by the government for medicare.   What medicare pays for and denies usually is followed by all the medical insurance companies.  Ultimately, medical office have to be really good with cutting corners and saving money. 

So how do primary care medical clinics survive?  They are usually large groups of several hundred doctors consolidated to save on administration and staff fees....."safety in numbers".  Another popular option for young graduates is to join a hospital group.  Hospitals have deep pockets and can help the neophyte doctor float for 1-3 years with base salary/malpractice coverage while s/he builds up a following.  Hospitals know that if the doc orders tests/therapy or suggests surgery, BINGO.....lottery payment!!!!!  Medical insurance reimbursement is procedure oriented so if you order a procedure it pays much better than keeping a person healthy with health education, lifestyle change and community/family bonding.  It is very rare to see a primary care doc in a solo practice.  There is no time to see patients in clinic, review and make decisions on test results, visit patients in the hospital, maintain a business (gotta pay for the multitude of staff necessary to maintain medical records, phone calls and scheduling/billing).....or answer phone calls personally 6 phone calls daily =1 extra non reimbursed hour in the clinic.  More economical to have the phone staff return the call with a preprinted answer.   Then there is the poison of malpractice insurance increasing every year regardless of excellence of practice......I have been in practice for 20 years with no cases of suit but have to pay the same amount as a high risk-new graduate that has a fraction of my experience.  (Maybe I should practice with abandonment!!!)  Na....its not in my nature.

So now I have a private practice (solo) but it consists of tedious evaluation to identify weakness in the plans my patients have to get old and stay healthy.  My "booked up" day is equal to 6 -8 patients.  I have to laugh......its like watching 6 TV shows or 3 movies regarding comparative time spent-not the entertainment.  The medical decision making is easy, with the training I have been privy to, diagnosis and planning is a breeze!!!  (thanks Andy Weil)  The challenge is making sure the teeny weeny reimbursement I get from medical insurance (remember I get 3/4 of what I charge) pays for the roof/staff/utilities/malpractice and my paycheck.   (yes....my paycheck is exactly the same as what a new graduate gets fresh ....out....of ...residency!)   No ....medical insurance says all docs are the same.

The only way I have found to maintain the balance between giving excellence of care and not going bankrupt.  Working a second job.  Here is the irony I was contemplating on the way to an interview 2 days ago.....I give excellent care with a knowledge base I have painfully paid for out of my own pocket to make people successful with healthy lifestyle change.   I also am outstanding in time management when I run the immediate care centers I work for to supplement a "just barely getting by" private practice.   (patting myself on the back) - I can run circles around the younger guys that are complaining "why are the patients in the waiting room and not in the exam rooms" (yet the neophytes are just sitting there not helping the front desk/triage folks!!!)  Primadona pansy-grab a chart and do some work!!!

 Yes....this means to be efficient at my second job.....I have to see patients for one diagnosis and get them out of the room in 10 minutes!!!!   I have to be the doctor (in immediate care clinic) adding to the burden of society illness that I (in private practice) am trying to fix.  What a polar opposite life I lead!!!   I feel it is going in one direction though.  You would think if I healed the world and made everyone successful at lifestyle change.....no one would be sick and the immediate care clinics would go out of business.  Ain't gonna happen.....not everyone is ready for change and too many millions that are leading an unhealthy life.

Like scooping water out of the hole you dug at the seashore......the ocean is too large to bail out of your little hole.   I will be "scooping out" for a long time so who can answer phone calls?!?!

Should I get a check up?...I hate going to the doctor!!

 

“Your office makes no money but continue referring patients for tests and procedures….”

“Every patient you see should walk out the door with a supplement…”

“You need to be seeing more of these coughs and colds per hour, oh btw this guy just has a possible brain bleed so just give him an antibiotic….”

“She only had double vision, a swollen face, blood shot eyes, and couldn’t stop crying, why didn’t you send her back to work….”

“We want you to encourage major lifestyle changes in chronic disease sufferers but can you do it in 15 minutes……”

Doctor Innanoutinfive is paid per patient diagnosis.  An insurance company decides how much the diagnosis will be reimbursed.   Doctor speeds up visit by writing a drug solution that has been found to “reverse” the diagnosis and ignores patients other complaints.  Drug company pays for studies that say their new drug can be used with less side effects than their previous drug that just ran out of its patent.  FDA gets ½ of its expenses paid for by drug companies and approves drug by a fast track before human trials.  Doctors sued by patient's surviving family given wrong diagnosis, delay in referring to specialist, wrongful harm from prescribing "aggressive" new medicine.  Malpractice premium increased to cover “bad” doctor.  Doctor has to see more patients to pay for higher malpractice. 

Lady doesn’t like doctors so refuses to go.  Lady cooks the way mom taught her all daily meals on a budget from local ethnic grocery.   Lady works 1-2 jobs but maintains marriage and raises kids through state school.  Lady attends funeral for kids that died from chronic disease before age 70 diagnosed and treated by Dr Innanoutinfive.   Lady lives to 90 years, natural causes, never takes any medicines.

 

Doctors are prescribing "snake oils" that dont get you healthier, cost the government alot of money and avoid addressing the real cause of disease........this is true quackery!!!

 

Get Nutrition Education

Sun Tzu says Know Your Enemy
(DrRic says the modern food industry can be your enemy)

A basic premise in success.  It is also a concept with making a lifestyle change that is imperative before starting any exercise program or fad diet.  Science is awesome with the information being revealed on how macro nutrients effect emotion and metabolism.  I think some people are still in the dark ages when it comes to initiating a change.  I hear of people just cutting out lunch or breakfast hoping to sustain this form of "fasting" for 2-3 months.  (It takes about 2-3 months to see effective lasting change)  I don't know about you but for me to refrain from a ritual is hard over the course of just 1 day.  How to expect keeping it up for weeks?   No matter who you are, human nature loves ritual.  We develop daily rituals and even if bad, they make the day go by faster.  Breaking ritual and changing goes against our DNA and the brain will send all kinds of chemical signals into the blood stream when it wants to get back to the old way.  Craving, irritability, poor sleep, anger, depression.....all can be felt during times of lifestyle change. 

Some of these signals can be "modified" with the right choice and timing of nutrition.  Science has helped figure how food can cause damage but also how food can be used to control damage.  This information is out there for you to find and self educate but one has to be well versed in research and sifting through all the internet crap out in cyberspace.  At the time of this blog, I searched on google for diet and 486,000,000 hits came up.  By the time you find the correct study out of this search, your time on earth would be up.  Short cut your efforts and increase the chance for success in making a lifestyle change by enlisting the experience of someone that reads through information like this for a living.  Registered dietitian's, research fellows, scientists all have to keep up to date so why not pick their brain.  Not to boast but I spent 2 extra years of post graduate training with Andrew Weil just to be "comfortable" with talking about nutrition since your average doctor only gets about 2 weeks in medical school.  How are we supposed to teach about a topic we no nothing of?  Hint: we're not, it is just bypassed and substituted with prescriptions or surgeries.  Hippocrates said let food be thy medicine and although archaic, still a basic concept in making sustainable lifestyle change. 

At First Health Associates I have the luck of bouncing questions off of Tom Jordan, a registered dietitian.  He has a passion for changing lives and runs our wellness department.  He has alot of success stories with weight loss patients in addition to his love of marathon running.   It pains me when I have to write multiple prescriptions to young people in order to control disease.  On the other hand, I feel great when Tom tells me they were able to stop meds with lifestyle change in only a few months!

Don't do it alone, weigh the odds in your favor.  Going cold turkey is soooo 1960's....it does not work for the majority of Americans who try it.   Making a change in life is not supposed to be a annual thing.  The Saguil Approach is to initiate a change, exercise then overload, prepare for hitting the wall then re-establish new goals and power through.  I see a repetitive failure in people that Push Crash (as Aimee Weber our exercise physiologist put it)....driving the body/mind too hard and suffering severe consequences that force abandonment of the entire effort.  I feel that having someone to be accountable to will act as a 3rd eye to make sure goals are not too extravagant, methods are trustworthy and most of all you don't waste money! 

Re-restarting an exercise program

With the coming new year, there is an inspiration to begin something new.  Resolutions are usually made to fix something that needs fixin.  So guess what is the number 1 thing in the US?  According to a small article out of Journal of Psychology this month-#1 goal is weight loss.  The study showed how greater than 50% will maintain the resolution for 4 weeks then the numbers drop steadily with a minority of well wishers continuing up to 6 months.  It is fitting that weight concerns are at the top of any wish list seeing how 1 in 3 Americans are obese (followed by the usual high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high sugar).  This speaks to that "spark" of an idea for getting back to high school weight always floating around somewhere in the frontal lobe of most US citizens.  Along side the thought bubble is the self defeating notion that "it's too big a task".  This negative feedback loop of failure to maintain change will become the dominant idea in greater than 50% of Americans who embark on the quest to look, feel and perform better in the New Year. 

The Saguil Approach to stack the odds of success in favor of the metabolically challenged well wisher is simple; Invest!!  Unfortunately, this 6 letter word has been associated with "stealing" in the last few decades beginning with vitamin/snake oil pushers, car salesmen, real estate investors, home mortgage officers, and wall street firms.  Taking away the greasy outer layer of this nugget of an idea will yield the essence of what I am proposing.  Taking something of value, placing it in a safe spot and increasing it's value with time.   Try now to translate the idea of 'value being monetary' to instead being in excellent health.  Imagine a pill you take 1-2 times a day that would insure a permanent high, no clouding of judgement, improved physical endurance and a perfect digestive system guaranteed weight loss without any side effects!  I think that most people would at least try the pill hoping for a way into a life that is only thought to exist in fiction. 

Investing in a lifestyle change is tough.  Where to start?  All my patients have "been there and done that" whether a virtual program or membership.  I see the frustration in going through another round of the "same ol failed routine" but the challenge is try not to generalize.  A DVD box set of changing exercise routines will probably be the same technique in a different package every year you order it.....there is only so much a charismatic trainer can do via recorded media.    A hired teacher/trainer is totally different experience.  You have a personal coach that cannot be paused, you have someone that dynamically changes the program based on what they see your likes and tolerances are.   Essentially, there is a human being paid to specifically fit a program into you and not the other way around.  A sustainable lifestyle change is one that you will want to do daily, one that will provide a sense of accomplishment and one that will leave you feeling like you are missing part of the day if not performed. Sounds too good to be possible?  Maybe, most people hit a plateau and stop making gains....at that point, revisit an expert and redesign another program to catapult to the next pinnacle.  Nothing lasts forever but if brainstorming with someone who 'changes lives for a living' increases the chance of you keeping a resolution.....it is worth the investment.

The next argument is affordability.  I will end the debate this way:
-solution B; don't make a lifestyle change, work as is, pay bills continue with unhealthy living, accumulate diseases, have a retirement fund but poor health, burn up the fund paying for medicines, surgeries, therapy or visits to every specialist in the doctor alphabet after you get on medicare.  Be well known by the ER staff not for the company you owned but for the frequent visits to the department...it will be a bad sign when the ER attendings call the residents in training to take a look at you and behold how a text book disease looks.
-solution A; give up something you love now in order to pay for the beginning of a change, maintain the change, reevaluate the next path to a pinnacle, get used to not having so many material things, love healthy food, embrace exercise, improve work performance, see the beauty of your immediate family, scale down the house, get a clean bill of health from your doctor to travel to Mt Everest in your late 60's, do volunteer work teaching the next generation how to work and live all the while keeping happiness in your heart. 

The 2 solutions are at opposite extremes with a large grey area between but should suffice for assisting in the picture of where most of my people who make excuses end up.  Postponing change will lead you to pay in the end with your health followed by your savings.  So where to start?  This should be where your health care team jumps in.  If your doc has helped to change lives in the past, he will have a collection of names and ideas from successful and charismatic facilitators.  The range will be from meditation gurus to exercise physiologists, to registered dietitians, lifestyle coaches, instructors in ancient practices like Qi Gong, Yoga, Tai Chi...even to other doctors who may serve as the first stepping stool to improve suffering before your journey.  Bottom line is it will take a few attempts.  One failure just means you are closer to a success. To exclaim you have tried that and it doesn't work is just setting you up for solution B.  Don't feel bad if in group B; western medicine does work to control symptoms but usually at the price of getting farther from the cause of your problems.  I cannot tell you how many times I used to see patients on medicare coming in with a long list of medicines often with interactions to each other because no one physician knew who was supposed to monitor the list.

This New Year, commit to making a change, seek out someone who has helped others, set the intention of where you want to be in 6 months, 12 months, retirement.   Don't sweat the details of the whole journey, just take some baby steps.  Martin Luther King said "you don't have to see the whole staircase, you just have to take the first step".

Should I see a specialist? pt 2

So lesson from last time -"trust your gut feeling when someone hands you a bogus answer".   I expect my consultants to give an expert opinion on a diagnosis, then I expect them to get back to me.  Used to be in the 90's a phone call would be made after an evaluation and plan created.   I understand with low insurance reimbursement that docs have to move patients like cattle to pay the bills, call me old fashioned, I still expect when the door is closed, full attention to whom ever I send for second opinion . 

Here is the flipside:  my patients know I spent extra time after family practice residency in a sports medicine fellowship.  There are a handful of teaching centers in Illinois that many graduates apply for but only few get in.  Most of us in primary care sports medicine are dedicated athletes or just love the musculoskeletal part of healing/health.  I think it's fantastic to know how to prevent asthma attacks with changing shoulder and upper back strength or improve post partum sex with pelvic therapy.  (It aint just knowing how to test for an ACL tear or pop a shoulder back in)   Anyway.....I remember taking a state written exam one year with a bunch of docs, saw an old friend who graduated a year ahead of me.   I was psyched about my sportsmed fellowship and mentioned....."you should consider it as well for more clinical experience"  (your average family medicine residency entails 3 years of training and most programs offer 1 month of orthopedic assisting in surgery or a sports medicine rotation").   His reaction was "a sprain is a sprain".   I honored his opinion but thought to myself, no way am I going near his clinic with any body ache, sprain, tear or dismemberment.  It's good to know first aid, RICE and how to write a note for work/school ...but......spending 4 weeks with splints/narcotics and a pending second opinion vs just 1 week with a handicap when the injury should have been rehab-ed from the start is a gia-normous waste of time!!!!!  On top of that, after 2 weeks of time off the body has now deconditioned, gained a few pounds, developed constipation and drowsiness from the meds plus a little reactive depression from not being able to exercise.  My job as a doc is to help compress the time frame of healing.  Every case is a little different, every personality with its individual desires, every brain has its own tolerance to pain so not all treatment plans fit each person.   (I scoff at hand-outs that say do this 20 repetitions 3 times a day as the sole basis of "rehab")  It does make a difference to see a well trained doc for the symptoms suffered.  

Obviously I cant speak enough for the specialty of primary care sports medicine.  Even if you aren't an athlete, kinesiology/musculoskeletal medicine/disease pathology all play into designing the best way to get someone to optimal health.  (ie....if I have an out of control diabetic who is obese, I wont just say "lose weight by starting a walking program" ... I'd get physical therapy involved, make sure his/her nutrition knowledge is maximized for her activity, then steer her toward and exercise physiologist for brainstorming a sustainable fun calorie burning activity.)   True sports medicine looks deeper than just exercise injuries.   So how to choose a doctor:

1-Primary care sports medicine fellowship trained (just ask the office if the doc completed a fellowship)
2-Orthopedic surgery is different in that all specialist can "cut".  I like sending my patients to an orthopod that has trained specifically for the region of the body involved.  (ie.....one of my favorite shoulder guys is Tony Romeo from Rush/White Sox,  most young grads have gone through enough knee scopes that they all know about ACL/meniscus repairs-so for the knee guy I go for the best bedside manner, hand injuries still go preferentially to hand surgeons.)   A must for any of my "Pods" is good bedside manner.  There used to be a magnificent hand surgeon that worked down the street when I was with CDH.  His talent in the OR was famous.....so was his anger.   Dude used to throw sterile instruments to the ground and have a tantrum if everything wasnt perfect.  I guess thats ok if he is looking out for you but I dont use healers that hurt inside or outside the office.
3-Chiropractic physicians have excellent training around Illinois so I like the ones that listen in and get the true dynamics of the patients pain.  The chiros I use have turned pain/function around faster than patients going through conventional methods.  Dr Joe Musolino in my office does great work, graduate from National University in Lombard.  Great communicator with me and physical therapy and this is what gets people better fast-coordinated efforts between all providers.   You have to research training and experience and see how they are active in the community.   Just like medical schools, if the chiro school has been around for years and continues to expand curiculum, probably a good school.  On the flipside, I spoke with a DC that took care profighters in MMA, he just wanted to refer patients to me for writing scripts of anabolic steroids, saying alot of docs he refers to do it for him.  (obviously fell into the dark side of healing for the glory of rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous.....doesnt have to be that way-see my pics!)
4-Medical Acupuncturists are powerful in their own world of healing (and have been for the last 2500 years)  When combined with conventional healing, I consider bringing them in like calling a left handed pitcher to a tie game.  For any injury that has plateaued or if an athlete needs to get better fast for a fight, game or match in 2 weeks-call in the needle doc!   I originally studied medical acupuncture at UCLA to see if I could speed up healing while waiting for the physical therapy HMO referal to be approved.  When I used it, it worked like a charm, sometime the patients would get better and not need therapy or surgery second opinion any more.  Ahh...unfortunately, insurance caught on and discontinued covering acupuncture as a benefit so I had to retire my skill.  (Only bring them out for special cases like in getting my pro MMA fighters to relax before a fight....see my pics!)

 

So if you are injured at work, in a league event, or during training; dont be embarassed to ask your provider what kind of training s/he went through.   If it seems like the injury is taking longer than expected, seek out one of us (see above) and get better faster!!!!  A "sprain is not just a sprain".     

 

Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center

Illinois Gynmastics Association Bravo Meet

Chris Chelios ex-Chicago Blackhawks

David Reid Gold Medalist 1996

DonWilson martial arts 1990's

Sean Murnane Chicago Bears

Felice Herrig Bellatore Fighter (the non athlete is Julian from B96 morning radio show jumped into the pic as he was leaving my office)

 

Yoga....ain't just for Girls!

 

(DrRic the Teacher)

 

     Why is it that when I advise "you should try yoga", the immediate response is, "I'm not flexible"!   I did mention "consider yoga" to one of my patients drafted by the Chicago Bears and he comment, "I want to be able to do some of the things you do" ........................"when I get older" (eeyowch!...this turning 50 business sucks)  Truthfully, yoga as a form of movement/exercise is one of the oldest forms of healing.  The true beginning of all martial arts stems from humans trying to stretch and move "energy channels" on the body that would maximize their health.  (This was before medicine and surgery....before Einstein, Newton and Aristotle)   Tai Chi involves stretching things called meridia's.  There's 12 that go up and down the front and back of the body that correspond to the positions you see in classic pictures of Tai Chi or Qi Gong.     Although time periods apart and a continent away, yoga as well uses Indian based energy channels and moves chakras with poses you see in classic pictures ....the same ones that are now the rage with most wellness centers, healing clinics, sports teams even churches and businesses.  I see practitioners trying it once and immediately professing great feelings of health and release from stress.  After my first Meditative Yoga class at Northwest Community Hospital Wellness, I had been over to get my ID picture taken and a lady approached me and said she attended the class and she felt the most positive response in pain relief from her fibromyalgia in years. 

   So the reason I bring this up is unfortunately if you attend any yoga class, the majority of participants will be women.  Some haters would say women choose yoga because they are naturally flexible so opting for an "easy" sport they can excel in is natural.  Or it's a nice way to get an hour work out if you don't want to sweat.   Or it's a good way for someone that isnt athletic to start learning about flexibility before they begin a real sport.  ( I have actually heard these excuses from men)   I politely say "you'd be surprise at what it entails.  Yoga is a combination of balance, flexibility and strength.   My ex-olympians from Cirque Du Soleil-La Nouba knew the value of having all three; imagine a male body builder pushing an object over head equal to his own body weight.  Seems easy right?  Now how about if he uses one hand; and is upside down!  Regarding the sweat, well there are some students who sweat during practice, then there are some that don't push too hard-both can be in the same class, not to mention Bikram Yoga this multimillion dollar world wide chain of studios all designed to keep you focused on the instruction in a room heated to 105 (anyone remember wrestling practice?)  Finally, professional athletes usually go to yoga after maximizing on their individual sport in hopes of getting an edge ahead of the competition. 

     From the mountain tops I say...... at 50 I have competed in body building, run marathons, climbed mountains, finished triathalons but the most rewarding (just like that lady who approached me) has been yoga.  I learned the concepts and essentials of yoga from Total Body Yoga in Illinois and was taught the deeper concepts and health benefits from Deepak Chopra/The Chopra Center in Cali.  Yoga grounded me to understand that practicing medicine wasnt about getting rich, it was about service to others.  It helped me with all my years of practice and study get through the helplessness of not being able to do anything while my mom slowly died from a terrible cancer.   As my mentor/classmate Davidji points out to me, when you feel you dont have time for yoga, it is probably the one thing you should be doing before healing the world.   So as a species I say, those that are the most inflexible, the most "relaxation response-lacking", the most muscle bound, top heavy (chicken legged), the most testosterone based/adrenaline addicted individuals that think grounding has to do with electricity are the ones who need the practice of yoga the most.  All a neophyte has to do is find a local studio, contact the teacher, explain your curiosity and try it.   9 times out of 10, you will feel the same benefit that a fibromyalgia sufferer had after countless years of no help and taking one class; the same benefit I experienced after seeking multiple adrenaline sports to satisfy my "man-liness" (from competitive shooting to rock climbing to racecar driving.....all pale in comparison to the lasting effects I get when I finish the last pose of the class-svasana!)   The effects of yoga are truly like a drug, and when you get addicted to it, you lose addictions to food, alcohol, caffeine, TV......without taking one prescription or attending one counseling session!

    I used to warm up my powerlifting routine with a few yoga poses, now I use a few powerlifting movements to warm up for a fulfilling class of yoga.   I can still sharp shoot, drift a car, dyno a rock ledge and break boards............but then again, yoga tells me I dont have to.   It ain't just for girls.

.....how to start?   Usually once a month, studios offer "community class"- to give back to the locals and entice others to come and socialize.  Most places offer your first class for free as well.  Call and ask about which class/instructor would be good for beginners.  Ask about shower facilities if you decide to check out a lunchtime class.   Be prepared to pay for renting a mat/towel (or just buy your own at walmart or target).   IMHO the hottest of hot yoga is not for beginners (I began with Bikram and loved it but the intense heat scares off some of my patients that are on the fence) , especially if you take medicine for blood pressure.  There are so many "classic" practices and modern hybrids that it would take forever to list.   I teach a meditative yoga practice at Northwest Community Hospital Wellness Center and I often teach meditation classes/topics at Bodhi Prem Yoga.   My goal with guiding people to make lifestyle changes is always embrace sustainability.  Weekly yoga practice in a studio (open class or private) is wise until you are comfortable to practice on your own.  Once you get hooked, you can usually purchase memberships or a block of studio visits to cut back on price.  Average "drop in fee" is 14-19$, cut that down by 3$ if you buy in bulk.  Enjoy-Namaste!