Yoga as being separate from the practice of Hinduism is actually a fairly recent thing:
It wasn’t until the fifteenth century that physical exercises as a part of certain Hindu schools of thought began to be developed in any significant way. It wasn’t until the early twentieth century that those exercises began to be widely practiced, and it wasn’t until the mid-twentieth century that people began to think of them as something entirely separate from the rest of Hinduism. This of course proves absolutely nothing about whether the physical exercises have the health effects that their advocates claim, but it certainly is true that historically yoga was closely tied to Hinduism until quite recently.
I can’t speak for others, but my yoga teacher (German woman teaching in the UK) was absolutely all about the physicality and none of the spirituality. Her method was Power Vinyasa and she did absolutely zero woo. She told the new-agers who turned up that they could meditate with the spirit all they liked but she wasn’t there to guide them. Instead it was 90 minutes of sheer sweaty hell, and I’ve never been so fit in my life. Also she had a fine ass. Oh yes.
There is a class at my gym that is essentially yoga without religion. They basically put Bjork or something similar on and talk you through poses. It’s a fun class, and it is actuall physically pretty tough, but not really exhausting. I doubt my cardio or strength would improve much if that’s all I did.
Had you bothered to read the thread, you would have found that there are plenty of yoga classes that don’t bother with the woo and will kick your ass. For like the third time, most yoga isn’t about that. It’s excellent exercise. I challenge you to take a Bikram yoga class near you. Then tell me that yoga is a woo filled easy play time.
Why don’t you ask someone who has experience with it about the benefits?
I had a year or so where I did a LOT of yoga. I couldn’t tell you if there was woo or not, because the classes were in Mandarin. It was harder work than I thought it’d be- some of the positions require serious sustained muscle control. I developed muscles I never knew existed, especially around my back. While it isn’t the same as a cardio or weight workout, it is a lot of work and I certainly felt good after doing it. It was a challenge that was also relaxing.
I think most gyms and the like offer physically-focused yoga. Most yoga instructors are probably going to use a woo-ish vocabulary but not necessarily be peddling “woo.” I mean, “breath through your bones” is basically a poetic way of saying the fairly mundane “think about your breathe.” While the vocab may be there, it’s not really focused on magical thinking on higher powers- it’s more like meditation. But then, there are people out there who find simple meditation too “woo” for them. It just depends on what works for you.
A smaller proportion of American yoga programs are tied to a larger religious program.
Taken to the extreme, yeah, it probably can be unhealthy. So can distance running and weight lifting. Likewise, you can indeed get injured in training- same as every single other exercise regime on the planet. Have you never head of a novice runner busting their knee? It happens. Yes, it is trendy. So what? Is the only valid fitness program the one that will be exactly as popular in 2025 as it is now? I don’t think anyone is claiming that yoga is the ONLY or even the best way to be fit. It just happens to be one that has widespread appeal at the moment.
I’ve done yoga (not Bikram–that hot shit doesn’t make much sense. Physiologically, all I see is a lot of discomfort and a little water-weight loss.) It’s okay exercise, but would be better if any of my instructors could actually tell me clearly what I was doing wrong, what body part I need to work on to do it right, etc. instead of all the feel-good, mystical crap these people were born spouting.
I’m going to try one more time. There is no woo in Bikram yoga. None. Bikram himself said, (paraphrasing) “there is a wonderful religious aspect to yoga and it would be great if you found it but my technique has nothing to do with that. It’s a great exercise.” There are many, many yoga practices that don’t involve woo. Most have none or very little of it.
You said that you would sign up for a yoga class with “just exercise and instruction.” I gave you one example of one but you, of course, backed off. There are many, many others. Call some studios around town and ask. Many yoga instructors feel just like you (and I) and think that the woo is ridiculous.
You’re the one spouting crap. Just because some instructors spout crap doesn’t mean that all or even most do. I was put off on yoga for a long time for the same reason. If you’re really not spouting crap and want to give it a try. Call some local yoga studios and I guarantee that you’ll find classes that are right for you with very little effort.
I don’t personally care if you try it or not. I can see now that you’ve made up your mind on a sample size of two despite many people here telling you that there are loads of examples to the contrary. You said that you’d be interested in trying one of them but obviously you were being disingenuous. Most yoga classes are of the type you claim to be seeking and it would be trivially easy to find one.
Well, as long as we’re having such a civil conversation, let me ask you what the benefits of working out in a deliberately hot room are? I ask because it smacks of woo to me, which is why I’m not inclined to try it. Sure, you feel uncomfortable, and sure, you enjoy a temporary water-weight loss, but what are the other benefits? No woo, now.
You’re being a trifle obtuse. Two is a tiny sample. Try calling a few more and saying “I’m not interested in the spiritual side of it - I’d like a class that concentrates purely on the physical aspects”. If they say that’s not them or start getting woo, ask them to recommend someone else.
Alternatively just try Pilates. It’s absolutely physical and zero woo, but in my experience nowhere near as challenging as yoga.
P.S. WarmNPrickly it’s neither about CV or strength in the normal gym sense, it’s primarily about flexibility and building core muscle strength - and I can vouch that it’s insanely effective if you stick at it.
The heat makes you more limber which can reduce your chance of injury. It raises your heart rate so that you get more of an aerobic exercise. It feels good. If you think that I have any kind of woo beliefs, you are barking up the wrong tree in the wrong forest.
Hot yoga is definitely not for everyone. It might not be for you and I certainly don’t mean to imply that it’s the right or best way to practice yoga.
Seriously, there is no harm and very little expense in just trying it. Bikram has little to no woo. It’s designed that way. It’s the same set of postures in the same order no matter where you take it. The teaching dialogue is pretty much the same everywhere too. Many of the teachers will walk around the room and give corrections and explain what muscles you should be engaging. In full disclosure, I have had the occasional teacher mention that a certain pose is good for the endocrine system or some such bullshit but even then it was a minor part of the 90 minute class.
You might find the answer on Bikram’s website … or you may want to buy his products, attend his seminars, take his teacher training, or travel around the world to worship his grin. Or not.
It sounds like you are more comfortable in cooler climates- the kind of guy who prefers a brisk fall day to a sultry summer afternoon. I’m the opposite. Nothing makes me happier than hot baths, saunas, and blazing hot summer days. Sweating feels good to me, and heat just doesn’t measure as discomfort. Thus a hot workout is more appealing and satisfying than a room-temperature one.
Actually I like the hot–much prefer summer to winter, much prefer a day ten or twenty degrees above seasonable to one ten or twenty degrees below, etc. But when you get above the 90s, which is where I understand Bikram Yoga to go (I’ve heard above 100), I draw my own personal line.
I do like working out in cooler temperatures. In fact, I’ve devised a workout that takes advantage of that: I warm up in a comfortable temperature, then cool the room (either AC or by opening the windows) while I work up a sweat with various exercises, some derived from that yoga book I bought. Works much better (for me) than going to a gymn listening to some ignorant person rant about concepts he either doesn’t understand or cannot articulate.
We totally agree on this and it’s the reason that I avoided yoga for so long. I knew that I liked the workout but I hated the “imagine you are a butterfly flying towards the sun” shit. Eventually I realized that there was a lot of yoga out there that didn’t have that.
My husband always poo-poo’d yoga as being not a proper form of exercise. He’s the type of person who refuses to count walking as exercise, and is gearing up for Special Forces selection, so he’s very physically fit. He and a bunch of his Army buddies took a yoga class. It kicked his ass. It lacked any form of woo and engaged muscles he rarely used.
If you want to try out a more serious form of yoga, do the P90X yoga.
I had nothing against the "breathe into the stretch " or “imagine you are breathing into the joint” or even “breathe into the joint” but it annoyed me when she added the word “literally”.