By Lauren Cahn, on The Huffington Post
Yoga Bunk 1: “You have to be flexible to do yoga.”
So not true.
Not only do you not have to be flexible to do yoga, but in fact, it is far better if you begin yoga with a lack if flexibility. Lacking flexibility, it will be difficult for you to overstretch to the point of injury. Lacking flexibility, you are most likely gifted with some level of muscular strength and stability. That strength and stability will become your tool for slowly, steadily gaining flexibility without injury. Thus, you will be able to stretch one muscle while supporting it with another, rather than collapsing into the stretching muscle.
Ultimately, you WILL become more flexible if you practice yoga, just as you will become stronger. So, starting with the bar set low, you will see improvement faster, which could prove to be motivating.
Believe me when I tell you, I did not start out with any flexibility at all. After years of running, my hips and legs were so tight that I could barely sit comfortably. Now, I’m doing this:
Bottom line is: you don’t have to be “stretchy” to start practicing yoga, but you definitely will get that way if you do.
Yoga Bunk 2: “Yoga isn’t aerobic”.There are many different forms of yoga out there. If you wish to practice a form of yoga that will raise your heart rate and cause you to sweat through several layers of clothing, then you should seek out classes that are called, “Vinyasa” or “Flow” or “Power Yoga” or, my persona favorite, “Ashtanga“. These forms of yoga tend to begin with 10 to 20 minutes of what I can only describe as “enlightened squat-thrusts“: Bend down, touch the floor, jump your legs back, lower into a push up, press the hands down until the chest lifts back up, press into the soles of the feet to come into down-dog, then jump the feet between the hands and start all over again. That is followed by 25 to 45 minutes of moving quickly from one posture to another, with more of those “enlightened squat thrusts” thrown in between And by moving quickly, I mean that by the time you have put yourself into the pose, you are already coming out of it and into another. This, the “standing” portion of class is followed by backbending, where you are asked to lie on your back and push up into an arch, hold it for five to 10 breaths, then release your head down for a moment and push back up again. By the time you finish with that, you are DESPERATE for the opportunity to lie on the mat and do your “finishing poses”, which it turns out, are not so relaxing. Most of them involve some level of being upside down, if not being outright inversions, like headstand. Finally, class ends with a couple of minutes of lying on the mat and breathing. After 60-90 minutes of all of that cardiovascular exercise, you will relish the “shavasana” portion of class.
So, if you don’t believe me, then I dare you. Go take a vinyasa class. Let me know if you still want to go running later. If you do, I’ll join you. But give me ample warning, because there’s no way I could run on a day that I took a vinyasa class.
Perhaps more scientific of an argument: when I used to run 50 miles per week, my resting heart rate was 50 beats per minute. That is nice and low and a reflection of really excellent cardiovascular health. Now that I am practicing yoga instead, guess what my resting heart rate is? 48.
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