Medical doctors are starting to discover what people have always known, that some problems in our physical body are interconnected and related directly to our stress and subconscious mind.

Catherine Gordon, who teaches her own yoga classes off on Union Street, said yoga can help relieve things like back pain, stress, fatigue and anxiety. Yoga has the power to do this all while strengthening muscles and aiding in weight loss.

“We store emotions in our body and even memories in our body, in places like bones and joints and organs. People get severe chronic pain, anxiety and high blood pressure and medical doctors are just now discovering what we have always known — that our body reflects our subconscious mind,” Gordon said.

Doctors are even wondering if yoga cures bad breath because it affects the digestive system in a positive way.

“It just makes you feel good, Gordon said. She started teaching yoga in Selma a year ago when she moved to town from Marion.

For Gordon, who grew up running and dancing, yoga seemed something too strange and “out there.”

“But one day I just decided to try it,” Gordon said about trying yoga for the first time in Costa Rica. “Immediately I was hooked.”

When she returned home to Alabama, she said she was miserable with a busy workload and college courses

“I just had to do something,” Gordon said. “And then I remembered how good doing yoga made me feel.”

So Gordon continued going to yoga classes several years and then became an instructor.

“I know a lot of people in Selma don’t know a lot about yoga but the response has been incredible,” she said.

She even taught a class for old golfers, some even smoking on their way into the class.

“And I could still tell at the end of the lesson that the yoga really made a difference, I could tell they felt different than they had before,” Gordon said.

Gordon teaches three classes a week out of her home and offers private lessons as well for groups and individuals.

“Don’t be afraid to try it and don’t be intimidated. You don’t have to be perfect or be the perfect weight or think you have to have a certain belief system. It makes you feel great,” Gordon said.

One misconception that people have about yoga, Gordon said, is that it is a religion and although some people make it one, it very much isn’t. She said it is totally a physical exercise but it is good for emotions and mental health.

Even with the misunderstanding that yoga is a religion, Gordon said the majority of her classes are women over the age of 50.

People come in for specific needs like aches and pain, stress and tension. Others are looking to change their exercise pattern,” Gordon said. “It’s a great way to cross train.”

She said that one hour of yoga is like a mini vacation.

“For one hour you can just relax and breathe and just focus on your life while in peace.”

Call 375- 5649 to get information on yoga classes with Catherine Gordon.