Stressed-out commuters got a peaceful surprise as they boarded an Israeli bus on Tuesday: A yoga instructor with a microphone coaching them how to breathe correctly and guiding them through exercises that can be performed while sitting down.

Although there is no scientific evidence proving that yoga enhances fertility, couples are trying the practice to improve their pregnancy odds. Fertility yoga teachers say their programs relax reproductive organs, and help people cope with the anxiety of infertility.

In addition to influencing phys-ed curricula, the national teenage yoga trend has yielded a new book plus increased attendance at private studios. Participants use the exercise technique to fight stress, attention-deficit disorder, depression, and weight gain.

A new “Yoga Ed.” program that presents the ancient practice without any religious dimensions has been adopted by more than 100 schools in 26 states; to date, over 300 physical education instructors have been trained in the method.

Technology has given birth to many so-called "cures" to aging, ranging from cheek implants to "Skin Caviar"; an Atlanta man, under the name Mr. “Happy Face Yoga” is teaching a method that seeks to achieve the youthful look with natural means.

Baba Ramdev, one of India’s most popular yoga teachers, attributes his fame to his secretive lifestyle, favoring simple breathing exercises over difficult poses, and taking controversial stances against global corporations and Western medicine.

Just as the popularity of organic foods has led mainstream companies to expand into the market, yoga is attracting the attention of big-name corporations, even as longtime yoga-based businesses, such as Yoga Journal, see their profits rise.

Cy-Yo is a new holistic cardio workout that incorporates cycling and yoga. Developed by Curt Dalton, the program is divided into 10-40-10–minute segments of the two practices, but also melds yoga breathing and visualization techniques during pedaling.

Laughter yoga, a sidesplitting new fitness phenomenon that’s part traditional yoga, part improv, and all silliness is spreading. Instructors who trained in India with the man who invented the style now instruct practitioners from California to Connecticut.

A sign of yoga’s growing cultural significance, Yoga Journal, a magazine that helped shepherd the practice from its early New Age associations into the mainstream, was purchased yesterday by Active Interest Media, a firm that also owns Vegetarian Times.