However, in the interest of writing a well-rounded informative article, I suppressed my skepticism, and tried to do a little un-biased reportage.

So, just what is yoga? According to the official site of the International Savanna Yoga Vedanta Centers, www.sivananda.org, yoga means “Union.” The site states, “Although many people think this term refers to union between body and mind or body, mind and spirit, the traditional acceptance is union between the Jivatman and Paramatman that is between one's individual consciousness and the Universal Consciousness.”

As I read this, I began to hear a sitar playing in stereophonic sound behind my eardrums. Images of John Lennon and Yoko Ono flashing grins and peace signs kept coming to mind.

Is it clear now why yoga has to fight for credibility? Its ideas are a little difficult to follow. I needed to find someone who could take this old yogi master-ese and cut it into palatable niblets.

That’s where Personal Trainer and Yoga Instructor Steve Elbogen with Fitness Network in Ocean Beach came in. “What yoga is, is flexibility. It's a mind-body event," Elbogen said. “The breathing is critical in yoga.”

As I spoke with Elbogen, who has been an instructor for more than a decade, his succinct definitions and sensibility brought me back down to earth.

“It takes you to that calm, spiritual place,” he explained. “Yoga gets you there quicker than any spiritual method I've seen yet. Some surf and get there, some of us do yoga and get there …people use religion to get there, some use poisonous substances to get there. Yoga just happened to resonate well with people."

Just when I thought I had this yoga thing down, I learned from my Google-searching fingers that there are many different kinds of yoga. Sivananda Yoga is just the ideas from one slice of the big yoga pie. There are all kinds of schools of yoga. To name a few, there's Bikram Yoga, Hatha Yoga and Kundalini Yoga.

Bikram yoga is unique because it’s practiced in a heated room. You sweat like the dickens, but, apparently it helps you get rid of toxins, and cleanse better than yoga at room temperature.

I’m sure any yoga enthusiast will cringe at my next broad, outsider’s summation, but they’re all fundamentally the same kind of exercises, give or take a few beliefs and postures here and there. Overall, breathing correctly and postures that promote the alignment and union of body and spirit are the bread and butter of yoga.

According to Sivananda Yoga Vedanta, practicing yoga correctly is through lots of “propers”-- proper exercise, proper breathing, Proper relaxation, proper diet (vegetarian) and relaxation.

But does it work? Jim Kallett, Director of Bikram’s Yoga College of India, San Diego, has been practicing yoga for over 10 years. He began his career working a high stress job in the film business, but due to the high stress environment he was marinating himself in daily, he started to develop degenerative arthritis and compression and degeneration of the discs in his spine. Ultimately, he ended up in the emergency room, and later referred to an orthopedic surgeon who gave him three crappy options: (1) surgery, (2) ongoing cortisone shots, or (3) physical therapy and a neck brace.

Kallett saw a chiropractor a few times, which helped temporarily, but said conventional medicine had no real cures for him. “I basically considered that the end of my life as I know it,” he recalled. Kallett found yoga and never looked back. “Six months later, I was pain free.”

Certified in 1997 as a Bikram Yoga Method Instructor, Kallett now teaches people from all walks of life. “I see truck drivers, doctors, judges, lawyers, housewives,...every kind of occupation,…a fireman,” Kallett said. “Really, it’s amazing now how much people are understanding and preconceptions are breaking down.”

Still, yoga has its skeptics. Kallett isn’t fazed. Instead, with his other- worldly, wisdom-soaked acceptance, he waits at the apex of understanding, to welcome those who open their minds to this better way of living. “They live in negativity. Look what we’re faced with. It’s hard to blame them.. Turn the news on. It’s discouraging; it’s depressing,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with having your outlook on life when you do it with an honest heart and for the right reasons—that’s the best. Yoga is a means of achieving that.”

For more information on Yoga classes in San Diego go to:

 http://www.sdys.com

 http://www.sandiegoyoga.com

 http://www.radyoga.com/schedule.html

To learn more about yoga go to:

American Yoga Association: www.americanyogaassociation.org