Wendi Joiner said she found an unlikely relief for her asthma -- yoga.
Joiner, first-year medical student, said she began going to yoga classes three years ago when she lived in Dallas. She said it increased her lung capacity, allowing her to use her inhaler less.
"Before (yoga), I was not an athletic person at all," she said.
Joiner attends Ashtanga Yoga on Campus Corner. Ashtanga is owned by Andrew Eppler, who has practiced yoga for about 13 years.
Eppler said yoga is beneficial for strength, balance and purification. And statistics show more people are catching on to the exercise.
"On the physical level, it helps everything," he said.
Yoga is also good cardiovascular exercise, Eppler said. He said it is as beneficial as running or aerobics without stress on the legs.
Heather White, fitness coordinator at the Cleveland County YMCA, said yoga classes have increased nationwide.
White said a 1998 report in Idea Source, a fitness magazine that follows exercise trends, showed 53 percent of health clubs offer yoga.
"That's even above water fitness," she said.
The Huston Huffman Center offers one class that has a limited class size of 10 to 12 people, but at least 30 people have expressed interest, said Karla Smith, coordinator of administrative operations at Huston Huffman.
Yoga can increase creativity in already creative people, said Steven Beaver, the owner of The Real Deal, a Norman health club.
"The more stretched out and relaxed you are, the more your mind is able to do," he said.
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