The video was filmed in 2003, but Bhat, who teaches several yoga classes at locations throughout Santa Clara County, including the Cupertino Senior Center and the Indian Community Center, was too busy to edit and release the video until this year.

The video program is designed to be gentle enough for older people, particularly those with arthritis and osteoporosis. Throughout the workout, Bhat urges viewers to listen to their bodies.

"Seniors have certain limitations," Bhat says. "It's totally different than teaching youngsters. Some of my senior students say they have gone to yoga classes and hurt their backs and knees. They should only go to senior classes. All their joints are fragile."

Bhat says the regimen is also strenuous enough to give seniors a workout that she says can improve what ails them.

"Osteoporosis happens due to lack of muscle toning," she says. "[In the video and in my yoga classes for seniors] we do weight-bearing exercises using only body weight. The muscles strengthen, and the bones get stronger."

Laurie Laughlin, a San Jose resident who attends Bhat's classes at the Cupertino Senior Center, volunteered to participate in the shoot. A yoga novice, Laughlin demonstrates beginning-level postures in the video.

Laughlin, who is an avid tennis player, appreciates the increased flexibility she has gained since she began taking yoga with Bhat a year and a half ago.

"You get enough of a workout, and it makes you feel good afterward," she says.

Bhat says yoga's pleasant after-effects are more than just physical. She incorporates deep breathing (pranayama) and meditation to relax both body and mind.

"All ailments are psychosomatic," she says. "Every symptoms has an emotion behind it."

Sunnyvale resident Pradeep Joshi, who is also the director of senior services at the India Community Center, participated in the video. He says Bhat has had an impact on the people who take her classes.

"Many of the seniors who come here are immigrants, who may have enjoyed good jobs. When they come here, they can't get jobs because they don't have U. S. experience, and they become dependent on others," Joshi says.

Joshi says that Bhat's classes, which are free to the center's members, boost students' mood by giving them a spiritual and physical workout.

"Vasanthi scrupulously follows Vedic knowledge," he says. "Yogis prescribed the postures to ensure that the person practicing them maintains good health and keeps the doctors away."

Along with Yoga for Seniors, Bhat released four other DVDs this year: Yoga for Everyone, Yoga for Children, Weight Loss Program with Hatha Yoga, and Yoga for Back Pain.

For more information, visit www.vasanthayoga.com. The Cupertino Senior Center is located at 21251 Stevens Creek Blvd. Cupertino, CA 95014. For more information about Bhat's class or the center, call 408.777.3150. The India Community Center of Sunnyvale is located at 285 N. Wolfe Road, Ste. 102. For more information about the center or Bhat's classes, call 408.245.2737.