Is Yoga Just Stretching?
November 5, 2011 by admin
Filed under Yoga Articles
Question: Is Yoga Just Stretching?
Answer: Although yoga involves stretching your muscles, it is a whole different ballgame than the few warm-up stretches you might do at the gym. Let’s look at a few of the ways yoga is different:
- Yoga places emphasis on alignment, meaning that how you are touching 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 involve the whole body in both stretching and strengthening.
- Many of today’s most popular yoga styles are vinyasa/flow. This means there is movement from pose to pose with an awareness of the breath, making this style of yoga very fluid.
- Asana, or the physical practice of postures, in only one aspect of a yoga practice, albeit the most well-known one these days. Even if you only engage in yoga through asana practice (an excellent place to start), be aware of the eight limbs of yoga.
