Yoga
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Yoga is several different forms of exercise, meditation and physical discipline that originated in India. What most westerners think of as "yoga" is actually only one variety, "hatha yoga". Hatha yoga consists of long, slow stretches, and is known to help dramatically with flexibility and stress. It revolves around several "positions," held for varying lengths of time, along with deep breathing. There are a variety of health claims presented about yoga, such as alleviation of stress-related and cardiovascular problems, including asthma and heart disease.[1] Some of these claims are substantiated; there is research to support the effects of yoga on alleviating chronic back pain.[2]
However, yoga is also said to "restore bodily fluids" to the upper parts of the body, since gravity forces them to drain to the bottom of the body (why standing upright doesn't provide this benefit is an exercise left to the reader). Also, it is supposed to help balance the "energy" in the body. As such, it is often added to alternative medicine regimens for such serious ailments as cancer and AIDS.
Beyond this, yoga is also an ancient spiritual practice, one that most of the practitioners in the United States and Europe know very little about. Traditionally, it is passed on from a master (known as a yogi or yogini) to a student directly, not in large classes. It is also considered part of the path to absolute enlightenment in Jainism.
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[edit] Bikram yoga
Bikram yoga is a new and recent yogic practice, invented by Bikram Choudhury in the 1970s. Also known as "hot yoga", it is a series of 26[3] yogic postures conducted in a room heated to 105 degrees. Sessions are extremely stressful, beginning and ending with purposeful hyperventilation and involving the deliberate straining of joints and limbs. Because of these elements, there is a serious risk of heatstroke or tissue damage [4] during a Bikram yoga session.[5]
Bikram is unusually rigid in its specifications, and extremely litigious about unsanctioned practitioners or rogue franchises, going to great lengths to defend its patented series of postures.
[edit] Risks
- Inverted and semi-inverted yoga postures increase intraocular pressure, so these poses are contraindicated for those with glaucoma.[6][7]
- Hyponatraemia (severe blood sodium deficiency) from Bikram yoga.[8]
- Torn tendons[9]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Yoga, Inc., a documentary about the rise of commercial yoga in America. The film focuses particularly on Bikram Yoga.
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Healing Effects of Yoga
- ↑ "Yoga and Stretching Both Ease Chronic Back Pain", Reuters.
- ↑ Bikram Yoga Poses
- ↑ "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body", New York Times
- ↑ It would seem that young women taking Choudhury's personal classes may be at the additional risk of rape. In February 2015 six civil lawsuits were filed by young women accusing the master of rape.
- ↑ Intraocular pressure changes and ocular biometry during Sirsasana (headstand posture) in yoga practitioners, Baskaran M, Raman K, Ramani KK, Roy J, Vijaya L, Badrinath SS, Ophthalmology. 2006 Aug;113(8):1327-32. Epub 2006 Jun 27.
- ↑ Can Yoga Positions Cause An Eye Pressure Problem?, Carolina Valdivia.
- ↑ Exercise associated hyponatraemia leading to tonic-clonic seizure
- ↑ Musculoskeletal injuries related to yoga