My family and I have done yoga for a long time. It's something we all enjoy. My parents, Jim and Sue Anne Parsons, have been teaching yoga for over 20 years. My sisters, Emily and Jessica, and I have been raised with yoga as a way of life. We just released a yoga DVD and it's been a learning experience from start to finish. Now our final product, "Yoga By Teens" is complete and we're very proud to present it to you!
    
In the "Yoga By Teens" DVD, Emily, Jessica and I teach a 40-minute yoga class using some of our favorite poses together in a flow. Emily and I take turns teaching and Jessica, who has Down Syndrome, is fully included in the entire class and does some teaching as well. I think it's great that yoga is something people of all different levels and abilities can do.
    
Yoga is from India and was created more than 6000 years ago. Hatha yoga is the physical yoga we use in the DVD. The word hatha is made up of two Sanskrit (classical language of India) roots "Ha" which stands for the sun and "Tha", the moon. The word yoga means to join or unite. So, hatha yoga is the joining of opposites.
    
Even if you think you've never done yoga, you probably have. Yoga has been used in many gym classes in preparation for sports activities. While getting ready for a dance class, many teachers use yoga poses to stretch and warm up your body. In my theater classes yoga was used as a focusing and centering technique. Yoga even helps in singing, because the diaphragmatic breathing is the same as singers use.     
    
In the making of our DVD we decided which yoga poses we wanted to teach and how we could address different levels of flexibility. We wanted to add some history about yoga and use some fun Sanskrit translations. So we put together a script, which included lines for each of us. E. Bonnie Lewis, our acting mentor, helped us block and stage each scene and we rehearsed for several months.
    
Adding music was our next step. My Dad introduced us to Steve Miles, his guitar teacher, who also is a composer and runs his own recording studio. Steve wrote original music with varying tempos that compliment the flow of the yoga class.
    
When it was time to start filming we decided that Candice and Benito Dungo were a good match for our team. They are a newly married couple, who are attending the Brooks Institute of Photography. Benito has majored in Visual Journalism and Candice in Digital Imaging. They were full of enthusiasm and ready to take on our project.
    
We then researched locations that would be ideal for our shoot and selected the Elings Park Amphitheatre. From there, we began filming. Starting at 7:00 AM, for the best lighting, we were on set, in costume and ready to go. There were some challenging moments, with lots of retakes, but for the most part we had a really good time.    
    
During the video we teach supine postures, as well as many different standing and seated poses. We demonstrate how to use the diaphragmatic breathing and show how to use yoga props, such as blocks, blankets and straps.         
    
Not only does yoga keep me fit and healthy, it helps to find out what's going on for me on the inside. I've learned that if I ask myself what I need to know, I'll get a genuine answer. It has helped me to trust my intuition.
    
After I do a yoga practice I feel more energized. It makes me aware of my body and my breathing during the day. If I do yoga at night, I'll feel more relaxed and ready to rest. I like that yoga can help me in so many ways.
    
It's a good idea to think about what you'd like to get out of yoga. Do you want a good work out or need a relaxing time to become more centered and relieve stress? What I love about yoga is that you can receive benefits for all of these things. Depending on what you personally want out of yoga there are different styles for each. There are postures that will give you an awesome and hard workout or you can try a more gentle approach that will teach you to let go and relax.
    
Whatever your goals, my advice to someone interested in starting a yoga practice would be take a class, buy a book or a DVD and learn some poses. Then, try it on your own. You'll gain a lot of knowledge that way and you'll learn a lot about yourself in the process.
    
If you are interested in yoga and would like to attend our class just for teens we will be offering a 6-week session starting Friday, September 22, from 4:00 - 5:00 PM. The cost per single class is $10 and the series is $54. (Classes held in Santa Barbara)
    
For more information on classes and to order the "Yoga By Teens" DVD visit our web site at www.yogabyteens.com and or call 1-800-736-1670.  10% of all proceeds from classes and DVD sales go to non-profit organizations benefiting teens.