Mission creep

Health | Is yoga the latest way to improve mind and body or the newest path to Hindu enlightenment? | Clint Rainey

"Relax. Stretch out now, slowly."

On cue, seven limber torsos unknot from their pretzeled poses with synchronized-swimmer exactitude, flattening out and fully occupying thin mats in the dim, mirrored dance studio.

"Now, let your body go. Feel it relax. From your head, down your arms, to your fingertips, slightly curled and light."

The bodies grow still and stiff, arranged like cadavers atop parallel tables in a morgue.

"Now open your body up. Open up your mind."