Ericpaul Clark has been taking yoga classes for several months. He had earlier spent time in jail and a psychiatric hospital after abusing drugs. Today, he says he no longer uses drugs and is looking forward to a better life. Yoga helps keep him calm.

“I have rather a bad temper, and I’m afraid that if I really get angry I might do something dumb that will cause me to go back to jail. When I do the stretches you know,  exposes it relaxes my muscles and just makes me feel more comfortable.”

Green Door offers free, weekly yoga classes to help Mr. Clark and others deal with their problems and become more independent. Most of the students are poor. Many are homeless or in temporary housing. Social worker Miranda White says a lot of them do not exercise, but yoga gets them moving, even if they are sitting down.

“Their patience for doing any type of exercises is minimal at first, but once they’ve gotten involved with yoga, I’ve seen this love for it.”

On this day, Clarence Marble is attending his first yoga class at the center. He found the class was difficult.

“I had to pull both my legs up with both my hands.”

He says he hopes yoga will help him lose weight and ease his depression.

Studies have shown the helpful effects of yoga can ease a number of mental disorders. They suggest that yoga helps reduce tension, ease depression and lessen the signs of schizophrenia. People with that illness can see things or believe things that are not real.

Ernestine Jackson takes medicine to control her schizophrenia. But she says yoga helps her in several ways.

“It helps you get your self-esteem together, and most of all, it helps me with peace of mind.”

Social worker Miranda White says that is something these people really need.

“It’s a moment for their bodies to just relax because if you’re homeless, or if you’re struggling with symptoms of hearing voices or depression, it’s hard to find a calm place within yourself and your environment, and  a lot of them you can see it in their faces.”

Megan Davis is a specialist in yoga therapy. She says learning yoga helps her students feel more in control.

“Especially the breathing techniques, really invite people to not be reactive, so it comes up when you’re having a craving (strong desire) for drugs, for a drink.”

That is helpful to Charles Bradley, who suffered a mental breakdown as a result of drug use. He has now been clean of drugs for a year.

“You don’t always have to go running back to the, you know, substances  that  make you feel good. You can make yourself feel good just by doing something as simple as breathing.”

Mr. Bradley started taking yoga because he wondered about it. Now he thinks yoga plays a major part in turning his life around.