Scott Anderson, Ph.D.

During my most recent “get-fit” period, I started wearing a heart rate monitor. I was curious if monitoring my heart rate would help answer why I tended to fall away from keeping aerobically fit. Within this first training session, it was clear that I had a lot to learn, and a long ways to go. A few minutes into my usual run/walk workout, my heart rate had bypassed the low-intensity zone, blown through the medium-intensity zone, and was deeply into the high-intensity zone. What to me felt like a typical, not-too-intense run/walk was in actuality, quite an intense workout. And this was not an isolated experience. Over the coming weeks I found that most of my go-to workouts were actually fairly high intensity, even though my friends and I would consider the activities and their pace to be pretty moderate. I found that I tended to train almost exclusively in the high-intensity zone. While the high-intensity zone can be great for seasoned athletes, it’s not a great place to restar...

Over the past twenty-plus years, many yoga students have shared their frustrations about building overall fitness. While everybody that I’ve talked to has recognized the importance of fitness, particularly aerobic fitness, many have shared tales of frustration and thwarted goals. I’ve long asked myself: Why does a population of committed yogis and yoginis have a difficult time maintaining aerobic fitness? Certainly it’s not for a lack of discipline, nor for a lack of knowledge. It seems to me that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to what keeps many of us from enjoying optimal health and vitality. I have come to believe that how many of us have pursued fitness is part of the problem. There are various ways to develop heart-healthy fitness, yet many of us struggle to stick with a routine.   I’ve talked with so many yogis and yoginis who have found paths to fitness that they enjoy, yet they seem to find themselves falling off the wagon again and again. I’...

Linda Mundt is an Alignment Yoga faculty member, and is beta-testing our new initiative. Here are her thoughts after a few weeks exploring our program: Scott’s campaign for aerobic fitness for those of us with loose joints struck my fancy, and I immediately volunteered to be one of his “guinea pigs.” I have never been able to take on an aerobic challenge without crashing and burning, meaning getting so sore and tired that it’s days or weeks before I can try again. But I do find that yoga allows me to feel good consistently. Adding to the complexity of becoming aerobically fit is my age. Nearly 69, I now have arthritis and low back pain, making running, walking, and treadmill work painful. Swimming is possible but I dislike the chlorine and don’t really know how to swim. Possibilities filled my mind: What if it’s not all downhill for my body? What if I can create a fitness I’ve never had? If I can do it, probably others can too. What a tremendous challenge. In the first tw...