Profiles in Yoga

How one family found their bliss

After a hard day at work, the last thing Martin Abrams wanted to do was meet his wife, Amanda, and their children—son Sam, 8, and twin 6-year-old daughters Sophia and Allegra—for a family yoga class. Yoga was not Martin’s idea of fun—or even exercise. “Working out to me meant sweating and sore muscles,” Martin says. “In yoga, I thought, people just sat around breathing ... it didn’t make sense.”

Amanda knew better. “I thought this might be a fun way for everybody to do something together,” she says. “And I thought Martin should give it a try.” Soon after the reluctant husband arrived at the 6:30 p.m. class, he saw his kids giggling as they twisted themselves into Cobra and Tree poses. He watched his wife smiling and relaxed, and found his own tensions dissipate as he began to breathe and open up. Yoga started to make a lot of sense. “It was like an ‘a-ha!’” Martin says.

Since the 4-week class ended, Martin and Amanda have continued an informal home practice. Often they’ll practice together after the kids are in bed. “It’s helped make us a little friendlier to each other,” Amanda says. “In the past we’d both be running in different directions.” Through practice, “We can actually relax and enjoy each other’s company.”
On Father’s Day, Amanda bought Martin a book on yoga for golf. He began incorporating the poses into his pregame warmups. “My shoulders have greater range of motion, which gives me more power in my drives, and I feel more relaxed on the course,” Martin says. The result? “The best golf season I’ve had in 7 years.”

Martin’s Key “Guys, don’t buy into this idea that yoga isn’t a real workout. It’s great for a lot of things, including flexibility ... and that will help you in any sport.”
Amanda’s Key “Yoga is an ideal family activity, because everybody can get something out of it. To get your family to try it, present it as a way to spend some quality time together. You know everybody will feel so great afterwards that you’ll look like a genius for suggesting it.”