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Frequently-asked questions about Yoga
Many benefits: Yoga is not a religion, and can help people who suffer from many medical conditions
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span class="inline inline-left">Many benefits: Yoga is not a religion, and can help people who suffer from many medical conditions. One of my regular students came up to me the other day after a class, and asked: “Is yoga stretching?”
There are many ways to answer this question. What it showed me, however, was that yoga remains a mystery to many, even to regular practitioners.
So in this issue, I’ll address some basic frequently asked questions about yoga and hope this will help clear some misperceptions.
1. Is yoga a religion? No, yoga is not a religion. Although yoga came out of ancient India, it is not a form of Hinduism.
For over a century it has been practiced by Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, atheist and agnostics a like (some of my students and fellow yoga teachers are devout Muslims, some are women who wear Islamic headscarves).
There is a certainly a spiritual side to yoga, but you don’t have to subscribe to any particular beliefs to benefit from it.
Yoga allows you to have a “take what you can use and ignore the rest” approach.
Meditation, which is an integral part of yoga (and often thought of as a Buddhist practice) is beneficial but you don’t have to do it either if you don’t feel a connection to it, at least in the beginning.
The same goes with chanting. So, if your yoga teacher chants “Om” at the end of the class because it is part of her discipline’s tradition, it doesn’t mean you’re worshipping someone else’s God.
And you don’t have to sing if you don’t feel like it. I usually tell my students to just enjoy the vibration.
2. I’m not flexible, can I do yoga?
Of course! Some people avoid yoga because they think they will never be able to touch their toes or do those backbends and roll up into a shoulder stand.
How silly! In fact, if you feel you can’t possibly do yoga, then more likely yoga will be helpful to you. Yoga is a process and a journey. The key is consistent practice.
3. I am not young/ I have chronic medical conditions (asthma, high blood pressure, etc). Can I do yoga?
Yes, yoga isn’t only for those healthy people you see at the gyms or studios. For many years yoga has been used to treat people with various medical conditions. People with all kinds of physical, mental and emotional problems, elderly people, people with years of chronic disease, people in pain, people who are depressed, all have come to yoga to seek help.
Yoga has been used successfully on schizophrenics and on children with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism. Wheelchair or bed-bound people can practice a modified type of yoga for their needs and abilities.
There are people in their 80s and 90s who are still doing yoga, and, chances are, if you keep your yoga practice consistent you might reach that age and still be doing yoga.
People with special conditions need to seek a special yoga therapist, however, so it is not recommended that they attend a general yoga class. So, talk to a dedicated yoga studio at your place to see whether they have a teacher who is qualified to teach yoga therapies to address your problems, because not all teachers are.
4. Can you lose weight with yoga?
Well, this is a question that often puts me in a dilemma. I don’t want people to start doing yoga with unrealistic expectations they will lose weight after a couple of weeks.
Having said that, of course, yoga has been known to help people lose weight, especially some more dynamic types of yoga such as asthanga or power yoga or bikram yoga.
Practicing any type of yoga will build strength, but some types may not raise your heart rate enough to make them the only form of exercise you need to include in your weight-loss regime. It depends on the type of yoga you select and how frequently you practice it.
In order to lose weight you must eat healthily and burn calories by doing exercise that raises your heart rate on a regular basis. If yoga is your primary form of exercise, take a dynamic 90-minute class at least three times a week.
In addition, the longer you practice, the more you cultivate a mindful way of living. This means you’ll start looking at how you treat your body, what you put into it as this affects your practice too.
Then you become drawn to more healthy and nutritious food without any elements of self-denial. Believe me, it’s much better than dieting.
5. Is yoga just about stretching?
Yoga does involve stretching your muscles, but it is different than just the warm-up and cool-down stretches you do at the gym. Yoga places importance on alignment. This means how you touch your toes is more important than whether you can actually touch them or not.
Most yoga poses are not stretching an isolated area but rather involving the whole body in both stretching and strengthening. Some yoga styles use the technique of vinyasa or flow where there is movement from pose to pose with an awareness of the breath.
And last, but not least, here’s one of my favorite questions:
6. How come I always seem to fart in yoga class?
Passing gas while practicing yoga is actually very common. You’re moving your body in ways that will stir up your belly, which is good for you.
Farting is perfectly natural, (I’ve had students do it in my class, and I’ve done it also as a student and — ahem — while teaching).
If you happen to do it, just pay attention whether it has caused an effect in the class. Acknowledge it casually or light heartedly — or even apologize — if it seems to bother or disrupt the flow of the class.
But chances are nobody will notice, or if they do they will choose to ignore it, as I’m sure that has happened to them too.
If you have any questions, however embarrassing, just write to me, I’ll be happy to address them. Namaste.
— JP/Devi Asmarani
