Wednesday, February 18, 2004


weeping gnashing weeping gnashing, part iv

"try power yoga for an invigorating workout!"

articles like this make me wanna cry.

not only does this um, fitness trainer, not appear to understand what so-called hot yoga is, i'm not sure she understands the purpose of the "heat" (sanskrit: tapas) either. that she conflates hot yoga, power yoga, and ashtanga yoga, is likewise pretty scary, tho' to be honest, baron baptiste has apparently started heating power yoga rooms to 95 degrees f and calling that "hot."

let me try to sort out the most common usage of these terms:

  • hot yoga: in general, a phrase adopted by those teaching basically bikram yoga, but who want to avoid paying bikram fees to honor his supposed "trademark." the room is going to be about 105 degrees f, and there usually is a set, limited sequence of poses;
  • power yoga: at its best, baron baptiste's vinyasa yoga, otherwise, the dreaded gym yoga -- mere calisthentics tarted up with sanskrit;
  • ashtanga yoga: the set of sequences taught by renowned mysore teacher sri k.p. jois, and popularized by his students such as david swenson and richard freeman.

if you wanna "work out," please take my advice: go to a step aerobics or spinning class. you'll get faster "work out" type results from those cardio activities.

the benefits of yoga are elsewhere. yoga will give you a great body, no doubt, by really, it's rather a side-effect, not the main deal, and it takes a couple of years. . .trust me on this one, ok?

posted by fortune | 11:31 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments