Starting Saturday, May 4, area residents are invited to view the majestic Gateway Arch from a whole new perspective as they participate in FREE weekly morning yoga sessions on the Arch grounds. (While the event is free and open to the public, participants are encouraged to make reservations in advance at ticketsforthearch.com.) You'll also receive free parking at the Arch Parking Garage.

In the chance of inclement weather this spring and summer, attendees can check the Gateway Arch Facebook page at Facebook.com/GatewayArchNPS for cancellations.

The one-hour classes will take place every Saturday morning at 9 a.m. through Sept. 28.

The classes will focus on beginning and intermediate yoga exercises that are perfect for beginners looking to learn the fundamentals of yoga, as well as the more experienced yoga enthusiasts who are looking for a free way to relax and connect with nature.

The classes will be led by experienced South City YMCA yoga instructors and the classes will combine posture and breathing, and focus on strength, flexibility, stamina and deep relaxation of the mind and body.

For more information on the yoga sessions, visit http://www.gatewayarch.com or call 877-982-1410.

The Gateway Arch and the Old Courthouse are part of Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, located on the riverfront in downtown St. Louis. The Old Courthouse is open daily year-round from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Gateway Arch is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., except during the summer months, when extended hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. The Gateway Arch and the Old Courthouse are closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day. All programs are FREE of charge and open to the public. Programs and events at the park are made possible by the generous support from our cooperating association Jefferson National Parks Association and Bi-State Development Agency. For more information about programs and events, please call 877.982.1410.

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Free outdoor yoga sessions under the Gateway Arch

When people are in pain, the last thing they may think to do is exercise; however, health and lasting relief come from fixing or maintaining the root cause of pain. Building strength and maintaining flexibility will help keep even progressive conditions manageable.

Still, no one wants to make pain worse, so a gentle approach is the most logical. Yoga is type of low-intensity exercise that uses stretching poses and focused breathing and can be done almost anywhere.

Yoga may have gotten a new-agey sort of rap, but it's no passing trend. Nearly 11 million Americans practice yoga, and the effects it has on the mind and body have been documented.

Yoga doesn't just stretch muscles. It also stretches all the soft tissues in the body, including ligaments and tendons, increasing range of motion and improving posture. Yoga can also provide benefits for those suffering from chronic medical conditions, from asthma to arthritis.

The meditative aspect of practice helps train the mind to focus on the body and be more aware, while the physical poses help to build strength, flexibility and balance.

Breath To Relax, Refocus

The human body has what's called a sympathetic nervous system, which fires up in response to stress and can create tension and intensify pain. Natural instincts stimulate fight-or-flight survival modes, which respond to pain by taking short, rapid breaths that create more stress for the body and can actually irritate inflammatory conditions like arthritis and fibromyalgia.

"The best way to unlearn chronic stress and pain responses is to give the mind and body new, healthier responses to practice," wrote Dr. Kelly McGonigal, in her book "Yoga For Pain Relief."

The cornerstone of yoga is slow, focused breathing. Mastering controlled breathing can calm the natural nervous response, breaking the destructive pattern and relaxing the mind and body while inputting fresh oxygen into the blood.

Boost Body Awareness, Focus

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Yoga strengthens mind, body; ousts pain

Have you ever tried yoga? It's not just for the thin, fit and athletically-built. Just about anyone who can breathe can practice yoga to some extent and reap its many benefits. We'll prove it. In this series, U.S. News talks with people who are changing the face of yoga.

Carol Royal is a nana to three (going on four) grandchildren and lives in Wilkesboro, N.C., a small town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She's certified to teach several yoga specialities, and she also has fibromyalgia. This syndrome is unique to everyone who has it, but the main symptom is widespread pain in the muscles--muscles that stretch and strengthen while practicing yoga. Royal found yoga almost accidentally. In fact, it was more like yoga found her. She was coping with pain through meditation, and wanted nothing more than to take her practice outside in the yard on a bright, sunny morning. But for several days, every time she tried outdoor meditation, she could only sit for a minute before her pain acted up.

"I said to myself: 'Body, look, what would it take for me to be able to sit here comfortably and meditate, and do this for myself?'" Royal says. "And immediately, surprisingly, I started moving. My body started doing these simple, easy, flowing stretches. And then I was able to sit comfortably for much longer than a minute!" Royal continued these stretches for a few more days before realizing she was practicing yoga. "I knew nothing about yoga whatsoever, but my body had led me in that direction."

And the rest, more or less, is history. Below, Royal continues her yoga story with U.S. News. Her responses have been edited.

First, could you explain what fibromyalgia feels like?

It feels bad. There are so many different areas of the body that fibro affects--like your mood, nervous system and obviously your muscles. In my case, the muscles feel very tight and tense all the time. So, the gentle stretching helps soothe that pain of the tight muscles. With fibro, you also feel achiness in your muscle fibers, kind of like you have a slight flu all the time. You have to be really careful if you do too much activity or stress the muscles too much because that causes them to go into severe pain. After you've overdone something, the pain is so intense that the only thing I can compare it to is like waking up after surgery. It makes you sick to your stomach.

Luckily, it's only gotten that bad for me three times. With fibro, the more I practice yoga, the more the pain limit is lifted. Say, if I'm in a space where my fibro pain is almost out of control, like an eight or nine on the scale, and I start the yoga practices, the pain level goes down to a two or three pretty quickly. It's amazing.

Besides pain management, how else has yoga affected your life?

My sleep has improved. With fibro, sleep is a big issue, but I've learned techniques that help. For example, if I'm awakened with pain, I know how to practice deep breathing and try different methods to calm my muscles. This helps the pain, and then I can get back to sleep.

And basically, I'm just feeling so much better than I did 20 years ago. I play better. My heart is always full of love. It's all because of finding yoga and breathing practices.

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Yoga with Fibromyalgia: Carol Royal's Story

Expert from The University of Texas MD Anderson explains benefits of yoga and styles for all fitness levels

Yoga is a beneficial exercise for both the body and the mind, and a regular practice can help people maintain a healthy weight and an active lifestyle, two traits known to help prevent cancer.

Some styles of yoga include postures and movements that may get your heart pumping, said Alejandro Chaoul, Ph.D., assistant professor in MD Andersons Integrative Medicine Program. And if your heart rate goes up for an extended period of time, you can count it as exercise. In addition, yoga is a mind-body practice that guides the body through a series of breathing exercises. These activities can help relieve stress and improve your overall health.

Other health benefits of yoga include increased flexibility, improved circulation, improved mood, increased balance and better sleep. There are many different styles of yoga to choose from based on fitness level and goals. Hatha yoga is a popular style that follows well-known methods for doing certain postures and breathing. It can either be very gentle or intense, depending on how its being practiced. Below is a list of other styles of yoga.

1. Ashtanga or Power Yoga is a more athletic style of yoga. Its fast pace gets the heart rate up and helps the participant lose weight.

2. Kundalini Yoga has a strong focus on meditation. It promotes proper breathing and chanting. While it may not increase the participants heart rate, this type of yoga can improve mental clarity and flexibility.

3. Bikram Yoga is also known as hot yoga. It strengthens the body through a series of physically challenging positions in a 105-degree room with 40 percent humidity. This exercise makes the participant sweat and relaxes his or her muscles for a deeper stretch and workout.

4. Tibetan Yoga focuses on controlled breathing, simple movements and meditation. This type of yoga can improve sleep, lessen fatigue and reduce stress.

No one style of yoga is best, Chaoul said. Its more important that you find a class and type that works for you.

To learn more about the MD Anderson Regional Care Center in the Bay Area, visit http://www.mdanderson.org/bayarea.

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Yoga: Build a strong body and mind

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Editor's note: In the Human Factor, we profile survivors who have overcome the odds. Confronting a life obstacle -- injury, illness or other hardship -- they tapped their inner strength and found resilience they didn't know they possessed. This week, we meet recovering drug addict Vinnie Marino, now one of the most sought-after yoga teachers in Los Angeles.

(CNN) -- Vinnie Marino grew up in the 1960s and says a "restlessness" drew him to reading about Buddhism, practicing yoga and eating a vegetarian diet.

But, while in high school, he also found drugs. After dropping out of college, he moved to San Francisco, where, he says, "My first week there I was introduced to shooting cocaine." Eventually, heroin helped calm his "crazy cocaine brain." He stayed in the downward spiral for years before fighting to get clean.

Here are five questions for Marino:

CNN: You started doing yoga as a teenager when you were living in New York, but you didn't really get serious about it until you moved to Los Angeles. What happened?

Vinnie Marino: When I lived in Manhattan, I would jog around Washington Square Park, dreading each lap. I was never a good jock, but yoga just felt so intense. There was a soft side and a strong side to it and a spiritual feeling around it. It really felt like it embodied my whole thing.

So I started going to a few vinyasa flow and power flow classes in Los Angeles. There was music at some of them, and it was really physically challenging. It just kept calling me back. I didn't dread it like, "Oh, no, I've got to go the gym tomorrow." I know people who love the gym, and they go, and it's a great thing for them. That was just never my experience, but with yoga, I was excited about it, and I just kept on doing it.

CNN: You weren't sure if you could make a career out of it, though. Then came a pivotal moment. What was it like teaching your first class?

Marino: I did a lot of teacher trainings. I was studying Iyengar Yoga, and I just resisted teaching as much as I loved it. A friend of mine was teaching at a gym in Hollywood, and he said there were like three students that came. It was in an air-conditioned room at seven in the morning. He said, "I'm going away. Will you please teach for me?" I said, "Absolutely not. I will not. Cannot." He said, "I'm going away. You have to teach for me." So I went and did it.

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Former addict's relief and release through yoga

Published: Wednesday, May 1, 2013, 12:01 a.m.

"Be kind to yourself," Paul MacNaughton told his yoga students. "Karma yoga is compassion for the body, compassion for the mind."

The teacher leading a yoga class in an airy studio at Everett Community College's new Fitness Center on Thursday wasn't on the floor. He didn't move his body like a snake would, or a cat. The yoga poses he could demonstrate he did from a seated position in a mobility scooter.

With his arms and his measured voice, MacNaughton gave precise instruction and gentle encouragement. Motions and positions he couldn't do were demonstrated by his wife, Diane Brooks. From a yoga mat at his side, she is a partner in teaching.

MacNaughton, 64, has bone cancer, which is believed to have metastasized from prostate cancer first diagnosed in 2006. The cancer was discovered in February after an MRI found the cause of excruciating pain. A 4-inch tumor was found on his sacrum, a bone at the base of the spine, which had fractured. A later scan found a small tumor on a vertebrae.

In March, MacNaughton underwent three grueling weeks of radiation at Providence Regional Cancer Partnership in Everett. He was bedridden for more than a month.

Bone strengthening and hormone treatments are now aimed at slowing the cancer's spread. Recovered from radiation's exhausting effects, MacNaughton returned to the EvCC classes he hadn't been able to teach in months.

"It's healing for me to have this work. The people here have been so nice about it," MacNaughton said after Thursday's class.

Brooks said her husband is being helped by pain medications managed by a palliative care doctor at Providence. They have asked the hard questions, and have been told MacNaughton may live a year or two, depending on treatment.

"I feel that practicing yoga has helped me to have the willingness to face mortality, life purpose, these big kinds of things," MacNaughton said. "Yoga is especially good at helping us to follow -- destiny is too strong a word -- to follow our best nature."

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Practicing yoga keeps his focus on life

Have you ever tried yoga? It's not just for the thin, fit and athletically-built. Just about anyone who can breathe can practice yoga to some extent and reap its many benefits. We'll prove it. In this series, U.S. News talks with people who are changing the face of yoga.

Ryan Gambrell works in marketing in San Diego, where he also surfs, bikes, golfs and participates in triathlons. The 29-year-old tacked yoga onto his long list of activities after he injured his back a few years ago and wanted a gentle return to athletics. At 4 feet 2 inches tall, Gambrell struggled to do various poses at first, but he stuck with it. "I started getting the hang of it and challenging myself," he says. "As my flexibility got better, even poses that seemed impossible became more possible over time." Below, Gambrell shares his yoga story with U.S. News. His responses have been edited.

Why do you practice yoga?

The core muscles that yoga builds are pretty essential for my active lifestyle, and I also find that it helps me with my spinal stenosis. That's a common condition with little people, and it basically applies pressure to our legs and causes numbness and pain. It's something I've lived with my whole life, and I've found that through an active lifestyle, I can manage it without having to resort to surgery, which is always a huge plus for me. The pain and numbness directly correlates with my posture, so the more active and engaged my core is, the fewer problems I usually have with my back and my legs.

How has yoga improved your flexibility?

In one class, we'd always end in crow's pose. For me, that was the yoga position--like the black belt of yoga. I would always try to follow along as the teacher gave instructions, but I knew there was no way that my knees were ever going to rest on the back of my elbows because of the way I'm shaped. But I would always just kind of sit there with my hands on the ground and shift the weight between my palms. And then one day, after going for maybe two or three weeks, all of a sudden we were doing the pose, and I looked down, and my feet were off the ground. I was like, "Woah!" and then wound up face-planting. So I got up, shook it off and tried again. After that, I was pretty hooked. I was only planning on doing yoga for a little bit until my back got better, but now, it's one of my regular activities.

That's awesome! Is crow your favorite pose?

I don't know if I have a favorite, but yeah, it'd probably be crow's pose. Upward dog tends to loosen me up, and I feel all my muscles working in warrior II. And of course, these are modified versions.

Has someone been teaching you these modifications, or are you figuring it out on your own?

I think the trick is just getting to know what your body can do. I've been hopping around yoga classes; I don't really have one that I go to regularly. I've definitely found some people who have shown interest in trying to figure it out, but I realize they can't spend the whole class with me. So I kind of take what I can from that class and apply it the next time I go.

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Yoga as a Little Person: Ryan Gambrell's Story