BOW, N.H. (AP) Combine Twister, paint-by-numbers and the ancient Hindu practice of breath control, meditation and poses, and you get Yoga by Numbers.

The approach complete with a numbered mat was designed by a Boston woman whose own health scare inspired her to put yoga in reach for people with physical limitations, tight schedules or other roadblocks to traditional practice.

The oversized yoga mat is dotted with big, numbered circles that look like the target in a rifle scope. The accompanying DVD gives true yoga beginners those who wouldnt know an up-dog from a Chihuahua a step-by-step roadmap to learn the poses at their own pace.

Elizabeth Morrow was an athlete, a skier and soccer player who, two years ago, found herself hospitalized with a right lung full of blood clots, the lower lobe completely collapsed. When she was strong enough to start exercising again, she found even the easiest of yoga classes too taxing. She didnt have the stamina for an hour, couldnt hold the poses the way the instructor wanted.

So, the 32-year-old started thinking of ways to make it easier, more convenient and even more fundamental than the myriad DVDs already on the market.

I was thinking about a paint-by-number kit where you dont need to be Picasso or van Gogh, you just follow what they tell you and youll come out with something, she said.

The DVD tells users exactly which circle to put their hands and feet in and allows for advancement to more challenging poses.

Yoga by Numbers has been compared to Twister, the popular game with giant colored circles, spinning wheel and crazy, cross-limbed poses. But Morrows cool with that, even when it comes from critics.

I think its awesome when they have that reaction because to me, that means they get it and they know how to use it, said Morrow, a certified yoga instructor.

Morrow has sold to people who live far from a yoga studio, those with tight schedules who need to squeeze in practice whenever they can, and people with health conditions.

Link:
New mat maps out yoga moves