DAVID ALBERS

Celena Marshall demonstrates eka pada viparita dandasana II, or one-legged, inverted staff pose.

DAVID ALBERS

Gigi Felicetta demonstrates the sirsa padasana yoga pose, which translates to headstand with scorpion legs.

DAVID ALBERS

Corey Terzo demonstrates vasisthasana, or side plank pose.

DAVID ALBERS

Albert Kleiner in the side plow yoga pose, which is called parsva halasana in Sanskrit.

DAVID ALBERS

Alan Lowenschuss demonstrates lotus in handstand, which is called padmasana in adho mukha vrksasana in Sanskrit.

DAVID ALBERS

Francesca Vanegas demonstrates the yoga pose called crooked-sage, or astavakrasana, in Sanskrit.

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NAPLES — Editor’s note: Do not attempt advanced poses without proper instruction. This story is not intended as a complete yoga program. As with any new exercise routine, consult your doctor (and, in this case, a yoga professional) before starting.

They make it look easy, but it’s not.

The teachers pictured below have been practicing yoga for 13 to 47 years, and now, after decades of work, they’re able to fold, hold and bend their bodies in this way. They’re quick to encourage others to try yoga, but also to caution people to take their time: Don’t rush into advanced poses, they say. Start at the beginning and work your way there.

“People are going to look at these pictures and they are going to say, ‘Forget it — I can’t do yoga,’” says Francesca Vanegas, a local yoga teacher who educates aspiring teachers. “My advice is, get away from the picture. It’s taken 18 years for me to do this, so don’t look at this and say, ‘Oh, I can’t. Put in the 18 years and then come talk to me.”

Yoga was developed by spiritual leaders in India as a form of exercise to relax and calm their bodies and prepare for meditation, explains Albert Kleiner, who has been teaching yoga for 42 years. If their bodies were uncomfortable, their meditation would be disturbed, so yoga helped prepare.

“You should exercise in such a way that you feel comfortable in your daily life, no matter what you’re doing,” Kleiner says. “Yoga will do that. It balances you.”

So why twist yourself up like a human pretzel, or spend time with your legs above your head?

Challenge yourself. Overcome your fears. Develop your mental focus and your physical strength. That is why these teachers practice advanced poses, they say.

“Getting to the point where you can do advanced poses is like an epic adventure,” says Alan Lowenschuss, who teaches classes and yoga teacher training classes. (Full disclosure: I’m taking his course). “Yoga requires time, changes in your lifestyle and courage.”

And once you can do them, it’s a sign that your body is in good physical shape, Lowenschuss adds.

Besides, it’s fun.

One-legged, inverted staff pose

Sanskrit name: Eka pada viparita dandasana II

Celena Marshall: “Backbends are unfamiliar, challenging and out of our comfort zone as opposed to forward bending, something we do everyday. Bending backwards corrects posture and opens your front body including your heart. It’s very rewarding for your body, heart and mind.”

Headstand with scorpion legs

Sanskrit name: Sirsa padasana

Geralynn “Gigi” Felicetta: “Headstands are known as the “king” of asanas (poses). Inversions increase blood flow to the head, stimulating the brain, sensory organs and thyroid, pituitary, and pineal glands. ... They also help one to develop concentration and balance. On a physical level you strengthen your respiratory, circulatory and musculoskeletal systems.”

Side plank pose

Sanskrit name: Vasisthasana

Corey Terzo: “Doing more challenging poses reminds me how important it is to stay connected to the basics. While practicing this pose I kept falling back. It wasn’t until I went back to the basics, remembered my foundation and stabilized my bottom hand that I was able to reach for the sky and express my heart fully with confidence.”

Side plough

Sanskrit name: Parsva halasana.

Albert Kleiner: “In this pose the spine becomes more elastic and the colon is exercised properly and elimination will be complete and the bowels free, and the practitioner will win the price of health.”

Lotus in handstand

Sanskrit name: Padmasana in aho mukha vrksasana

Alan Lowenschuss: “I had been practicing yoga for about five years before I was able to do this. My goal when I began hatha yoga was just to be able to sit in lotus, which itself took months. I injured both knees in the process. Then to do a handstand away from a wall literally took years. So it was a long process, and a fun one.”

Crooked-sage pose

Sanskrit name: Astavakrasana

Francesa Vanegas: “Doing advanced poses, especially inversions where you go upside down, helped me to face my fears. ... Yoga will help anyone face their fears, and most of all, realize that most, if not all, of our fears are illusions.”

■ ■ ■

Geralynn “Gigi” Felicetta, 52

■ Teaches hatha yoga, also a physical therapist and acupuncturist

■ Has practiced yoga for 32 years, a teacher for 18

■ Teaches at Bija Yoga, 1250 U.S. 41 N., Naples and offers private classes, 619-698-1766

“Everybody’s body is different and everybody starts where they start. You can put 100 percent into a very basic posture and receive 100 percent. ... Know where you’re at, stay there and breathe into it.”

Alan Lowenschuss, 38

■ Teaches hatha yoga

■ Has practiced yoga for about 13 years, a teacher for eight

■ Teaches private and group classes as well as yoga teacher training classes, Sunshine State Yoga Academy, 592-0898, allow-ah.com

“Yoga is play. It’s creating more beauty in your life and creating play in your life. It’s fun to explore the body, because the body is amazing. And also you overcome fear, because a lot of the advanced poses require overcoming our sense of ‘I can’t do that.’ You get to the point where you realize you are more powerful than you believed.”

Albert Kleiner, 74

■ Teaches classical yoga, also offers neuro muscular massage

■ Has practiced yoga for 47 years, a teacher for 42

■ Offers classes at Bija Yoga, 1250 U.S. 41 N., Naples, 417-0642

“My advice is to become totally aware of every part in your body and to find the areas that need improving to balance the body. If you do a forward bending pose you should do one to the reverse. I find in my own life, that balance in my body means a feeling of balance in my whole life.”

Celena Marshall, 29

■ Teaches yoga flow, with Ashtanga influences

■ Has practiced yoga for 19 years, a teacher for six

■ Offers classes at local studios, 273-5995, truly-yoga.com

“Being an advanced student is not a final destination but a process. It includes mediation and stillness, and meditation in movement, on and off the mat.”

Corey Terzo, 33

■ Teaches Anusara-inspired yoga

■ Has practiced yoga for 14 years, a teacher for six

■ Offers classes at local studios, 898-0772, coreyterzo.com

“I tell my students, ‘The advanced version of every pose is to lift the corners of your lips’ and not take anything too seriously. Yoga is not a goal, it’s a process. The goal is to celebrate and find the pleasure even in the most basic actions.”

Francesca Vanegas, 53

■ Teaches Raja yoga

■ Has practiced yoga for 18 years, a teacher for eight

■ Teaches yoga teacher training classes, Florida Yoga Institute, 9480 Corkscrew Palms Circle, Suite 6, Estero, 303-4002, flayogainstitute.com

“Today, people go to yoga to get six-pack abs and tight buns. Embracing yoga is much more than that. It helps me stay rooted to my body.”