To build some muscle while doing your cardio, try circuit-training and body-sculpting classes that roll resistance and aerobic training into one continuous routine. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. None of these types of classes is inherently better or worse than others; it depends on where you’ve been and where you want to go. “If you used to run track or play basketball, you should probably try something like a high-low class, which entails a lot of running and jumping,” she explains. “On the other hand, if you aren’t a dancer or a ‘movement’ person, I wouldn’t recommend a funk or a hip-hop class, at least living arts stress relief yoga for beginners not initially. it’d be confusing and you probably wouldn’t get a good workout.”

the original lyrics are stress deconstructed and reassembled at will by a rapper riding shotgun on the groove. fitness is a good thing to have in your life. the instructor--a striking woman dressed in an oversized black t-shirt and baggy black sweatpants, with a shock of braids tied up overhead--glides effortlessly to the right in an intricate sequence of hip-hop dance steps. the 30-odd students behind her mimic each move to a t. “turn it, turn it!” she yells, and everyone reverses field. “grapevine! do it!” only by screaming into a handheld mike can she momentarily raise her voice above the music. “grapevine, grapevine! one more, one more! five, six, stress seven . . . whe-e-e-e-e-e-e-w! all right!” after 10 minutes stress of this, the instructor stops the tape. by now her students are sweating rivers and sucking wind, but they appear to be having the time of their life.

©2003 www.yoga-stress-meditate.com All rights reserved.