Yoga for martial artists?

Several years ago a college classmate and good friend of mine began emailing me about the fitness benefits of yoga.  Yoga?  Fitness?  I mean, really.  Any self-respecting martial artist knows that the only way to train is to crush boulders with your feet and chop down oak trees with your bare hands, right?  What possible good could come from sitting cross-legged on a mat or striking strange poses with unpronounceable names? 
     But recently I got the same yoga-as-fitness message from my physical therapist, who had spent a couple of months keeping my body intact before and after my training for an important martial-arts tournament.  Since I had maxed out my authorized PT visits, she suggested that I give yoga a try.  It would help with my stretching, she said, but it would also improve leg strength and balance.
     Still a rabid non-believer, I went to my local Senior Center, which happens to offer a very fine -- and free! -- yoga class.  I figured I'd try one session, confirm my doubts, and go back to the no-pain-no-gain training methods that I had learned more than 40 years ago.
     Confession is good for the soul, they say, so here's mine: I found that yoga is a highly demanding mode of physical activity that has challenged me in ways that I never expected.  The stretching methods are gentle but effective; and what could be better for those of us who are now closer to 70 than to 60?  But my real shock came when we tried a few of the fancy poses.  The first pose I learned, Warrior 1 in English, is what most martial artists would recognize as a forward leaning stance.  You get a great stretch, and if you hold the pose long enough your quads begin to quiver.
     Then we moved on to Warrior 3.  Mere words can't describe the challenge of Warrior 3, so I thought I'd insert a short video in today's post.  Yes, the woman who demonstrates Warrior 3 for us has been at this for quite some time.  And, yes, she's a lot more flexible than most of us old folks can ever hope to be.  But what impresses me most is the power she possesses in both legs.  Trust me, you don't execute Warrior 3 unless your length strength is way up there.  Take a look at the following short video.  Then think about adding yoga to your martial-arts comeback.
         Warrior 3 pose     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PjcQJjOvBc