Yoga - True or False

When friends and Yoga students look at my physique they often ask, "You only do Yoga? You dont lift weights or do another kind of exercise?"

They ask because, at 49 years young, I am slim, muscular, flexible, have amazing endurance, loads of energy, and put most the 20 and 30-somethings to shame.

No .. I dont do cardio or lift weights, and I am not double-jointed or 'naturally flexible'.

In fact, I hear so many falsehoods about Yoga that I decided to set the record straight .. so here goes.

True or False: You have to be flexible to do yoga.

My inner-Yogi's first responce is: "Flexibility is a state-of-mind". More down-to-earth, "No", you do not have to be flexible to do Yoga. In fact, being stiff can be a good thing in Yoga because it keeps you from over stretching.

Yoga is a gradual process that teaches us to return to our natural bodily movement, the natural fluidity of youth. It has taken us time to get out of this condition, so takes time to get back in - which is how Yoga also teaches us acceptance and patience.

With a weekly Yoga practice, both strength and flexibility develop naturally and evenly throughout the body (and mind). After all, we cannot be flexible without strength, and we cannot be strong without flexibility.

True or False: Yoga is aerobic.

The exercise and fitness industry has convince people that in order to be in good shape or to loose weight, they have to do cardio. Straight-up: This is incorrect.

Nonetheless, for those who feel the need to 'burn', Yoga does have a healthy, evenly paced routine that promotes power, fluidity and amazing endurance.

Ashtanga Yoga, 'Power Yoga', 'Flow Yoga' and Vinyasa Yoga are all new - and very Westernized - froms of Yoga. They are geared towards Americans who are convinced that exercise must be strenuous.

So, "Yes", some forms of Yoga are aerobic. In a typical Ashtanga class, for example, you will begin with 15-20 minutes of, well, Yoga's version of a squat thrust. But instead of a squat thrust with three parts (standing, squatting, thrusting), Yoga's version has a nine-point squat thrust that is followed by another version with a 17-point squat thrust.

After this warm-up, the session begins, so for the next 30-40 minutes each pose is 'threaded' by another Yogic squat thrust. Even the cool-down portion is intense, starting as it does with a Headstand that leads into a back roll and Shoulderstand. In all, Ashtanga Yoga is a 90 minute routine to satisfy even the most hard-core, cardiovascular craved gym fanatic.

True or False: Yoga is not exercise.

For many years I taught Yoga in gyms (not 'gym yoga'). Even there, with the air conditioning set at 62 degrees, students would walk out of class dripping with sweat. Much to the amazement of many gym-goers.

Sports Specialists and physicians all agree that "optimum health" is defined as: strength, flexibility and endurance.

Lifting-weights brings strength, but limits flexibility. Running on a treadmill brings endurance but limits flexibility. Yoga has all three. So, "Yes", Yoga is exercise, and through numerous studies over the course of several decades, is proving to be the "best" exercise for every age. In fact, unlike many other exercises, Yoga is meant to be done for life. I dont see many 90 years old lifting weights or running, but I see lots of 90 year olds doing Yoga that even a 20 or 30 year old cant do.

True or False: I have too much energy to do Yoga.

I hear this one a lot .. students going back to the have-to-have-cardio mindset. If you have too much energy, working out at a frantic pace does not remove that energy, it just exhausts you. Yoga finds that middle ground.

One of the reasons so many think that Yoga is not exercise is because the poses are done very slowly. In fact, the point is to "flow" from one pose to the next - without jerking of straining. Try doing that in a bench press.

And it is that state of fluidity, that movement with breath, found in Yoga that helps you to balance out all your energy. Too often, people either have "too much" energy or "not enough", or feel "tired yet energized". Yoga is that middle ground, that balancing point that shows us how to have energy when we need it and when we dont, to slow it down.

True or False: "Yoga is religious."

Because Yoga is rooted in Indian culture, and India's cultural religion is Hinduism, many mistake Yoga with religion.

Yoga poses define natural bodily movement, and because every human being on the planet has a body, Yoga is simply the "owner's manual" - teaching us how to move the body and how to maintain health in the body.

Unfortunately, gym yoga or fitness yoga is not the same as Yoga taught in a shala or "studio". The reason for this that Yoga is taught only as an exercise, and like most exercise, never teaches proper body alignment or breath coordination. A gym yoga class is simply aerobics with Yoga poses.

Which is why Yoga is best done in a shala (a Yoga studio) because there - with a well-trained instructor - it can be taught traditionally, with all the proper foot and hand alignments, breathing exercises, physical and internal organ manipulations that bring about the total package that is Yoga.

And it is the 'total package' that many confuse with religion, because Yoga makes us feel good about ourselves, not just physically, but emotionally and intellectually as well. That sense of a 'higher power' that some may experience in Yoga class is simply their own sense of self-centeredness.

So, get past the preconceived idea that Yoga is religion and take a real Yoga class, from a real Yogin, then you can see for yourself that Yoga was specifically designed for optimum lifelong health and fitness.

Om Peace!
Yogini Valarie Devi