I’ve never done yoga, and only have a couple preconceived notions about it.
It appeals to me on the level that stretching and doing contortions and holding positions that require a degree of strength and felxibility sounds painful and therefore invigorating.
It repulses me on the level that people talk about it opening up energy channels and removing toxins and connecting mind/body/spirit. California-style mumbo-jumbo bullshit, dig?
It always repulsed me more than it appealed to me but now that I’ve heard that people are doing a sect of Yoga called Bikram in which they do the Yoga in 100 degree heat. . .thereby INCREASING the pain/pleasure part of it – and undoubtably helping you get a great sweat going for a while – I was thinking I might try it out a bit.
Now, there’s a bikram place near where I live.
Can you find yoga centers (bikram or otherwise) without the mumbo-jumbo?
Does the amount of mumbo-jumbo differ center to center?
Anyone know how much of the mumbo-jumbo goes on with the Bikram sect?
I will, eventually, actually go there and try a class and judge the mumbo-jumbo levels for myself, but just looking for opinions/experiences beforehand.
I’ve done Bikram yoga, plus a couple of other forms - it’s less energetic than others as it’s basically about getting into a series of 26 poses and holding them, but you do them at a very high temperature as you mention. This is supposed to make it easier to stretch your muscles and allow you to go a lot further.
Depends on what you are wanting to get out of it - I am not at all lentilburger, and so don’t do it to centre myself or anything, but I do find that an hour and a half of intense concentration on what your body is doing is very relaxing and helps my brain shut off from the rest of the day. Also, a really good stretch helps with my running and weights, as I am not very diligent about a full stretch after those.
Warning - it is very hot, meaning you sweat absolute buckets - far more than I ever thought possible. Make sure you drink a lot of water and bring many towels. The other implication of this is that you have to look at yourself in the mirror the whole time to balance and check positioning, while you are sweating buckets. Frankly I don’t want to have to see that!
The sweating of the buckets is what appeals to me.
Believe me, I can imagine a lot, too. When I cycle at the gym, I need to put two towels on the floor or I make a puddle, while completely soaking through my socks, shorts and t-shirt.
Yes, 90 minutes of concentration while sweating sounds good.
Typically, you don’t get a lot of mumbo-jumbo with traditional yoga to begin with. The instructor has the class go through a series of poses, some in rapid succession, and you will get a good workout. True, you will be told, at times, to do things like “breathe through your spine”, which are patently impossible, but that just means they want you to concentrate on the breathing and imagine the breath as it goes down into your body.
You will not be given a dose of Hindu or Buddhist religion, nor will you likely be told you have to swear off meat. However, at the end of class the teacher will usually say Namaste, which is Sanskrit for “The sacred in me salutes the sacred in you.”
This thread really makes me miss yoga…maybe I"ll quit my gym and go back to it.
Yes, I’ve done a lot of yoga. A lot of times you will say a long drawn-out “Om” but that’s just a word to focus your breath. Mostly yoga is about the body, and not directly about the mind or spirit. (Indirectly is what it’s supposed to be.)
Also, different people have different ways, so shop around!