We have all seen advertisements or online photos of very thin, and very flexible women in beautiful and challenging yoga postures. This is a constant message to the subconscious mind that yoga will make one look like this model or if weight loss is on the mind, then the message would be that yoga can help weight loss.
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Yoga is exercise. This myth and question is not so simple to answer. Its both Yes, and No.
While its true that a yoga practice does not provide all the movement a body needs, it does provide most of the natural human movements including the squat. What’s the big deal about squatting? 
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Yoga is the only kind of movement one needs. Is that true? Let’s look at a standard, garden-variety yoga class: inside a room, on a mat, for about an hour, two or three times a week. The student moves forward, back, bending, squatting, lunging, and some twisting. And while this IS beneficial and healthy, it does not fulfill the body’s movement needs. 
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For students not knowing the body anatomy, they might think its possible to have the organs themselves twist or wring out in a particularly deep twist. And teachers, not being mindful of their words, might give this as a metaphor to imagine what’s happening inside. But it’s not true, and not physically possible to have the organs of the body twist or wring out.
BKS Iyengar in a deep twist
While achieving an amazing balancing feat like we sometimes see in advertising is unrealistic for the average person, a reasonable expectation for a regular yoga practice is improved overall balance.
While there are many causes for loss of balance, a common one as we age is “use it or lose it.” As busy and distracted as we are during an average day, we probably don’t take time to mindfully balance and move out of the normal plane of movement. A regular yoga practice can help use and strengthen those tissues, muscles, nerves, and bones needed to balance.
A frequent excuse for those who want to take a yoga class but feel inadequate to even start is that they are not flexible enough or that they cannot touch their toes. So we will start the year busting that myth!
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“It’s not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong; not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich; not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; and not what we profess but what we practice that gives us integrity.”
Francis Bacon
A student shared this NPR story after class today, and here is the link for those interested.
The Global Legacy of Yoga
The legacy of Indian yoga master, B.K.S Iyengar, and his influence on yoga in the Western world.
Several class members wanted the playlist and a copy of this flow, so here it is. Each song has a few postures to play with until the song is over. Each person flows at her own speed and stays with each posture as desired.
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email: leslie @ rexburgyoga.com
208-569-7437
email: shellyspratling @ gmail.com
208-206-8390
