Diane Farr USA TODAY YOGA Article

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Diane Farr beats stress with yoga

By John Morgan, Spotlight Health

With medical adviser Stephen A. Shoop, M.D

On Loveline Diane Farr often balanced the very male perspective of co-host Adam Corolla with feminine wisdom. Now the former Roswell cast member achieves balance through her practice of yoga.

“I moved to LA seven years ago and I was having a hard time getting focused or centered,” Farr says. “It’s a big change moving from New York. Some friends invited me to come to a yoga class and I thought that was hysterical – just the thought of me going somewhere and bending my knees in weird positions.”

But she went.

“I went to a women’s class just to try it and I ended up going for about a year straight,” says Farr, who will star in WB’s upcoming fall show Like Family. “And at some point during my practice of this I said to my friend, ‘Oh, this is why people go to church’ because I had this amazing sense of peace.”

So profound were the benefits of yoga to Farr’s wellbeing that she continued to study yoga and this year even traveled to India to live at an ashram.

“At the ashram everyone has to contribute,” Farr explains. “The first morning someone told me, ‘You’re going to teach yoga,’ and I told them I didn’t know how to teach yoga but they insisted that I would be just fine.”

Farr was not only fine; she excelled as an instructor, teaching a mix of Kundilini and Hatha yogas. And while she only teaches a few friends privately now, the actress recommends yoga classes for everyone.

“Just take a class,” Farr urges. “It can be as physical as you like or as spiritual as you like it doesn’t just have to be just one or the other. I think a lot of people worry they’re going to have to start chanting ‘hare Krishna’ or they’re afraid to start yoga because they’re concerned they’re behind the learning curve.”

“But people should know that 90% of the time you’re doing yoga your eyes are closed,” Farr adds. “No one is judging you. It is the one activity that you are not competing against anyone.”

Health twist

Farr is joined by millions of people all over the world who have discovered the benefits of yoga. . . .