5 Things That Separate Yoga From Fitness Workouts
No matter how hard we teach people about the deeper aspect of yoga, a majority of people outside the yoga community think of it as a trendy fitness mantra. While there are several frustrating misconceptions about yoga, nothing frustrates me more than a comparison with Zumba or aerobics. Although it's great that people make yoga a part of their fitness routine and I can very well understand that it's the motivation realize that for many beginner yogis, still sometimes it annoys to see so much emphasis on the physical benefits of yoga because it offers a lot more than that.
Here's a small list that I want to share with everyone who thinks of yoga as a fitness regime:
1. Fitness is never the goal, it comes as a side effect. Believe it or not, but it's true. Most people start taking a yoga class with the physical fitness aspect in their mind, but soon they realize that there's a whole lot more than physical fitness that they're gaining from yoga.
2. It is all about balance. Yoga is not just about balancing yourself on one foot or one hand-it's about the overall balance of your body. It you're extra energy, it can help you in consuming it. If you've extra fat, it can help in burning it. And finally, if you can't balance yourself on one foot, it can help in doing that too.
3. It suggests you to dig deeper. By yoga you understand how our body moves. You get an opportunity to understand how our muscles work and engage the tiniest muscles of your body in yoga practice that remain either underused or overused due to our everyday lifestyle. For properly understanding the way your body works you need to understand the effect of various thoughts and stresses on your body - because the stress caused by those thoughts tenses the muscles and affects your body in many other ways. Yoga helps you not only in controlling your muscles and thoughts but also in understanding the effect of your lifestyle on both these things.
4. It doesn't just give you a better body, it makes you a better person too. You may argue with this point because it seems a bit far-fetched and also because the 'fitness regime' image of yoga isn't yet gone completely from your mind, but it's a fact that you'll accept once you start practicing yoga. A complete yoga practice includes meditation, self-study and ethical observances-and it was developed for revealing your true self and not just a healthier body.
5. It can change not just you, but also the world around you. Yoga is about connections and its emphasis remains on the connection between your body, mind, and breath. But at the same time it's also about your connection to the world around you. According to yoga philosophy we impacts the people and things in our neighborhood because we're connected to it on an energetic level. It's a unique and beautiful concept that sets yoga apart from other fitness workouts.
Here's a small list that I want to share with everyone who thinks of yoga as a fitness regime:
1. Fitness is never the goal, it comes as a side effect. Believe it or not, but it's true. Most people start taking a yoga class with the physical fitness aspect in their mind, but soon they realize that there's a whole lot more than physical fitness that they're gaining from yoga.
2. It is all about balance. Yoga is not just about balancing yourself on one foot or one hand-it's about the overall balance of your body. It you're extra energy, it can help you in consuming it. If you've extra fat, it can help in burning it. And finally, if you can't balance yourself on one foot, it can help in doing that too.
3. It suggests you to dig deeper. By yoga you understand how our body moves. You get an opportunity to understand how our muscles work and engage the tiniest muscles of your body in yoga practice that remain either underused or overused due to our everyday lifestyle. For properly understanding the way your body works you need to understand the effect of various thoughts and stresses on your body - because the stress caused by those thoughts tenses the muscles and affects your body in many other ways. Yoga helps you not only in controlling your muscles and thoughts but also in understanding the effect of your lifestyle on both these things.
4. It doesn't just give you a better body, it makes you a better person too. You may argue with this point because it seems a bit far-fetched and also because the 'fitness regime' image of yoga isn't yet gone completely from your mind, but it's a fact that you'll accept once you start practicing yoga. A complete yoga practice includes meditation, self-study and ethical observances-and it was developed for revealing your true self and not just a healthier body.
5. It can change not just you, but also the world around you. Yoga is about connections and its emphasis remains on the connection between your body, mind, and breath. But at the same time it's also about your connection to the world around you. According to yoga philosophy we impacts the people and things in our neighborhood because we're connected to it on an energetic level. It's a unique and beautiful concept that sets yoga apart from other fitness workouts.
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