6 Yoga Myth Understandings
Myth #1: It’s all about the breathing.
Truth: So there might be more truth to this one than myth but it’s not what you’re thinking.
“For life is breathing, and if you breathe well, you will live long on earth.”
We get that and we agree with it. Whether you’re thinking about it or not, breathing is happening in the body and how you breathe can have a big impact on the quality of your workout and the quality of your life off the mats. Control your breathing and you control your body. So the focus we pay to the breath, we do to help you improve your breathing technique so you can get the most out of your workouts.
Myth #2: I have to be flexible to do yoga.
Truth: We love this one. It’s like saying you can’t go to the gym because you don’t have a six-pack. Stretching releases tension from the body and the mind. Although, during our Power Yoga classes, we don’t spend a great deal of class time on stretching, stretches are incorporated within the flows and as with anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it. You would be amazed at how quickly flexibility comes as a result of habitual practice. Flexibility is an ability we are all born with but most of us lose it. Our muscles atrophy and joints settle in to a limited range of motion. The reason we work on flexibility isn’t to be able to touch our toes, but instead to help prevent injury and back pain, enhance our ability to perform physical activities of all sorts, improve our posture, and increase blood supply to our muscle tissue. Admittedly though, it does feel good to be able to touch our toes! Just one of the awesome byproducts of a Yoga practice.
Myth #3: It’s a girl thing.
Truth: It is definitely a Western world idea that Yoga is more for women than it is for men. If you went to India, there are more male yogis than there are female ones. After all, the most famous Yoga teachers are men. I think that idea came from the fact that Yoga is for inner peace and mind-body connections.. and that’s were we lose most men. The mind-body connection is just another wonderful byproduct Yoga gives us. It doesn’t take long to realize that it takes tremendous strength and focus to move through all the yoga flows and poses. Most professional athletes incorporate Yoga into their workout regimen now to help give their bodies the support and strength it needs. We’ve found whether male or female, Power Yoga attracts and speaks to the athletically inclined.
Myth #4: There’s too much chanting and gongs
Truth : The sound of the gong can recalibrate the physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies and raise your energy frequency. Gongs are amongst the oldest and most important musical instruments of South East Asia. Although the benefits can’t be denied, there are no primordial gong baths in a Power Yoga class. Power Yoga takes an athletic approach to Yoga deriving from Ashtanga Yoga, including lots of vinyasas and vigourous flows. Get ready to work hard and work up a sweat.
Myth #5: It’s a religious thing
Truth: This is the best quote we found to put it as simply as possible.
“Religion is not contained within Yoga, Yoga is contained within religions.
There is a lot of religion and spirituality woven into a Yoga practice but when you choose Power Yoga as the type to practice, you will quickly learn that the focus is more on the physicality of the asanas and the magical workout that the poses provide.
Myth #6: You can’t build muscle or lose weight doing yoga.
Truth: Yogis have highly developed muscles. It takes a lot of discipline and repetition to grow into our own practices and master our bodies. In Yoga, it’s all about lifting our own body weight which creates all the resistance we need to shape and sculpt long, lean, defined muscles. The different yoga poses work our muscles in different ways. Ways we’re not accustomed to in conventional workouts. Most Yoga poses require you to work in opposition which creates resistance in the body and makes your muscles work harder to stabilize and support you through the poses. When you build muscle, you burn fat. The wide variety of asanas and flows also help raise the heart rate which make it a cardio workout and a fat burning one all at the same time. Best of both worlds really. Within a 60 minute class, you can be sure that you will you be using almost every muscle in your body. Keep in mind, you cant get these kinds of results with all Yoga styles. Your best bet is a Power Yoga class.