What does Yoga benefit physically over Pilates?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

So I’ve been doing Yoga for a while now, and it’s pretty good. It’s one of three areas (anaerobic, aerobic, & flexibility) I implement to benefit my physical fitness.
My routine looks like this.

#1- I do Bodybuilding four to five days a week for strength, to boost my metabolism, maintain testosterone levels: which help with better sleep, lower depression, and increased sex drive. Also having more muscle, definitely makes me feel better about the way I look.

#2 - I do cardio with kettlebells, or walking/jogging a few times a week. This helps with recovery from my weights routine, helps to further boost my metabolism and burn fat, and sharpens my mind. Also it has the obvious benefits like heart and lung health, and circulation etc

#3 - I Yoga between 3-6 days a week. It has helped with my flexibility, and I feel more physically balanced. Yoga has definitely help my posture as well.

Now, although I used to tell people, that yoga has made me more calm, I have been forced to re-think that idea. I’m a pretty calm guy in real life as it is. But Yoga dose have a ‘spiritual’ side, which often attracts the self-righteous, know-it-alls. Just like most religions do. I mean just look at some of the threads on this forum. Do you think that this forum is more calm than any other forum?? You would expect it to be if Yoga makes people calm, but obviously it doesn’t.

I like the physical aspect of Yoga, but the religious side is very frustrating. Can anyone shed some light on Pilates? Does it focus on flexibility as much as yoga. I am kind of looking for a practice that does what Yoga does, but with out all the magic that tends to be residual within it.

#2

I took one pilates class five years ago. A pilates teacher was in the yoga class and she offered me a free class. For me, it was too much like work, but you’re a fitness fanatic and would probably like it. What I didn’t like was the noisy health club atmosphere.

#3

[QUOTE=YogiAdam;41126]Do you think that this forum is more calm than any other forum?? You would expect it to be if Yoga makes people calm, but obviously it doesn’t.[/QUOTE]

In my own experience, properly applied yoga techniques will make me calmer and more relaxed, but maintaining that calmness and increasing it’s prevalence is a process, not a one-time event. This forum is filled with a dynamic group of people, each with a unique personality, style/frequency of practice, and path of learning in this field. We are not all starting from the same place, and so I don’t expect that we should all have mastered these techniques and reached a state of being that is fundamentally different than another subpopulation. What I hope for instead is that this forum helps individuals to discover for themselves what direction they need to be going in (whether it is calmer, stronger, more confident, or more aware), and give them inspiration to facilitate moving in that direction.

On a different topic - I used to do weight lifting every day for about an hour, and when the way that I practice yoga changed due to my teaching course, I stopped doing weight lifting because the breathing techniques I had learned were different on a core level and contradicted weight lifting and I’d rather focus on yoga. So, I am considering doing a little bit of weight lifting again because I am interested in doing some trekking, and curious about your weight practice in regards to your yoga. Do you practice on the same day? If yes, do you have an interim of time? What order do you practice in? Also - what style of yoga practice do you do?

#4

[QUOTE=suryadaya;41129]. So, I am considering doing a little bit of weight lifting again because I am interested in doing some trekking, and curious about your weight practice in regards to your yoga. Do you practice on the same day? If yes, do you have an interim of time? What order do you practice in? Also - what style of yoga practice do you do?[/QUOTE]

I separate my weight training routine and yoga practice. I do however, often do yoga at the same tme as I do my cardio routine. I usually do small amounts of yoga on weights day, and longer yoga sessions on ‘off days’. I keep the weighs. I used to do Iyengar and Satyananda. Now I just do Satyananda. I have been considering replacing yoga with Pilates… hence this thread :slight_smile:

#5

Hi, guys.
Adam, then youll have to change your nickname to PilatesAdam:). That sounds worse, so better be Yogi.;) Seriously, what you do is not the most important thing. How you do it - that really matters. Yoga wont calm a man down if he is concentrated on other things.
Theres no problem that someone perceives yoga as a spiritual practice and you dont. Why does it bother you?
I used to train with weights and noticed that cardio or any other activities in big amounts just slow down recovering.

#6

You posted this same question in a thread before…

If you don’t enjoy the spiritual side of the yoga threads then don’t read them. I don’t like getting involved in the religious conflict on this forum so I simply avoid it, I do have a choice as do you.

Not sure what reiterating your announce of spiritual and religious people does for you…it certainly does not reflect yoor ‘calm’.

#7

[QUOTE=Sasha;41137]
I used to train with weights and noticed that cardio or any other activities in big amounts just slow down recovering.[/QUOTE]

It’s a very well excepted and utilized practice to incorporate cardio to assist recovery, when dong bodybuilding. I don’t know many bodybuilders that would deny that. I would definitely agree, however, that large amounts of intense cardio, can be counter productive and lead to over-training. There’s a clear benefit to recovery when incorporating a few session per week of moderate cardio which gets the blood oxygenated and circulating. Gee , just talking about the benefits makes me want t get out there for a run!!

[QUOTE=omamana;41140]You posted this same question in a thread before…

If you don’t enjoy the spiritual side of the yoga threads then don’t read them. I don’t like getting involved in the religious conflict on this forum so I simply avoid it, I do have a choice as do you.

Not sure what reiterating your announce of spiritual and religious people does for you…it certainly does not reflect yoor ?calm?.[/QUOTE]

I think your right. When I started writing this thread, it started to ring a bell.

It gotten to the point now where people actually PM me, asking me to get involved in particular threads, and once my heart gets into it, I can’t seem to stop… and I know it doesn’t reflect my calm. That was my point. If anything, yoga has made me slightly less calm.

#8

[QUOTE=YogiAdam;41141]If anything, yoga has made me slightly less calm.[/QUOTE]

Just noticed all my typos, glad you could still make out what I was trying to say. :wink:

My personal opinion is that yoga is not simply to promote calm. Yes, yoga can make you very relaxed, but it can also bring up many unwanted emotions, which allows you to either work through those emotions or push them back down by employing a defence mechanism…becoming critical of the practice could be your defence, I?m not saying it is, but I am simply trying to give you a different perspective to ponder. :rolleyes:

#9

[QUOTE=YogiAdam;41126]
I like the physical aspect of Yoga, but the religious side is very frustrating. Can anyone shed some light on Pilates? Does it focus on flexibility as much as yoga. I am kind of looking for a practice that does what Yoga does, but with out all the magic that tends to be residual within it.[/QUOTE]

Personally I think that the physical benefits of Asans and a yogic lifestyle is greater than from any other practice, including pilates. They can just be practiced on their own, along with pranayam if you wish, just like any other physical exercise without any religious or spiritual objectives. Just focus on the fact that they are good for you, and that you will benefit from doing them, and then enjoy the good effects from doing them. They do have subtler effects on your whole being as well, but you don’t have to do anything special to incorporate the spiritual or religious aspects if you don’t want to. Just enjoy the physical benefits you get from them and if you find you are calmer or in a lighter mood or laugh easier then just be happy with that as well.
Yoga is an internal and individual process, I understand it is so tempting and easy to get caught up with the outer Yoga and spiritual community, but that is not a necessary part of practicing Yoga, so if that part is causing stress then just take some time away to practice and appreciate Asans and Pranayam on their own for what they do for you individually.
Best of luck to you

#10

Yogiadam. Why not try an experiment? Stop your Yoga practice for a month and replace it with Pilates. See which one you like better and why :slight_smile:

By the way I have done Satyananda Yoga and this is one of the most religious versions of Yoga out there. The typical class began with body awareness, transistioned into asana practice(with controlled breathing and focussing) and then intervals of awareness. Then we did pranayama and a short meditation. Then Yoga Nidra. Finally ended it with an OM chant.

#11

Hello Adam,

Two concepts come to mind as a result of your post.

The first is that the measure of the difference between two things is best evaluated in the living (or life) by the person doing the asking. So I am reframing the question “how are those two things different for you?”.

For me, I look that yoga and pilates in terms of the bigger picture - though the smaller picture in this case is also different. Pilates addresses only the musculoskeletal system and does not, on that front, have the breadth and depth that yoga has nor has it, as a system withstood the test of time over millennia. Further, it (pilates) does not offer anything beyond it’s musculoskeletal scope.

The second is that again it is misinformation that yoga calms or stokes, that it stimulates, or sedates. The tools of Yoga are a set of tools designed to balance human beings in their living. If a student has a very pitta life and desires transformation such that they are balanced then a practice that provides that is needed. If a student has a sloth-like existence and wishes to be more engaged in their living then a more activating practice is needed.

#12

Like you, I work out 4 days at the gym (for the past 30 years!), yoga studio 2-3 times a week + seated postures and inversions every evening, and also ski, bike, hike, golf, etc. I tried a pilates class before I did yoga for the first time. It wasn’t a bad experience. Felt a bit like aerobics, but also felt a little ‘faddy’ and didn’t do anything for me I wasn’t getting already.

Unlike you, I can see the big difference between spiritual and religious adherences. I don’t believe in magic, pseudo science, astrology, etc. (OK, sometimes I think there is something to karma). But, spiritual pursuit is what ‘calms’ my mind, helps me be a better man, a better father, friend, husband, etc. Don’t need religion for that, but yoga works for me. More so than pilates did.

#13

[QUOTE=Sasha;41137]Hi, guys.
Adam, then you`ll have to change your nickname to PilatesAdam:). [/QUOTE]

Ha-ha-ha…you made me laugh:))

#14

[QUOTE=FlexPenguin;41178]Like you, I work out 4 days at the gym (for the past 30 years!), yoga studio 2-3 times a week + seated postures and inversions every evening, and also ski, bike, hike, golf, etc. I tried a pilates class before I did yoga for the first time. It wasn’t a bad experience. Felt a bit like aerobics, but also felt a little ‘faddy’ and didn’t do anything for me I wasn’t getting already.

Unlike you, I can see the big difference between spiritual and religious adherences. I don’t believe in magic, pseudo science, astrology, etc. (OK, sometimes I think there is something to karma). But, spiritual pursuit is what ‘calms’ my mind, helps me be a better man, a better father, friend, husband, etc. Don’t need religion for that, but yoga works for me. More so than pilates did.[/QUOTE]

Hey, here’s a way to be a better father and husband–move back to your house and stop living at the gym and yoga studio. :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m exhausted just reading about all the stuff you do.

#15

I’m a busy guy.

#16

[QUOTE=YogiAdam;41126]

I like the physical aspect of Yoga, but the religious side is very frustrating. Can anyone shed some light on Pilates? Does it focus on flexibility as much as yoga. I am kind of looking for a practice that does what Yoga does, but with out all the magic that tends to be residual within it.[/QUOTE]

Have you tried “power yoga” “byron baptiste yoga” “vinyasa flow” or “ashtanga”?

The classes I went to did not address any spiritual side.

#17

[QUOTE=CityMonk;41289]Have you tried “power yoga” “byron baptiste yoga” “vinyasa flow” or “ashtanga”?

The classes I went to did not address any spiritual side.[/QUOTE]

Ahhhhhh… Yes that sounds like me!! Thanks. I can’t believe I never thought of that myself!!!

#18

I tried pilates in a fitness center, it was like an aerobic class, not really my cup of tea. The postures in pilates are repeated several time without any breathe synchronization (however, the breathe paces itself…) In yoga, kundalini yoga is a bit like that but kundalini yoga is real heavy on the spiritual side.

The physical practice in yoga is what most of all come to at the beginning. Some will stick with the pysical practice, others, like me, will discover the spirituality in yoga and will embrace yoga as a way of life. After having done a lot of weight lifting and cardio, I just doing yoga right now, I attend 7 to 9 classes a week, along with a morning meditation, readings on yoga philosophy, this forum. Moreover, I became vegan. All in all, yoga is something that have the power of transformation that I didn’t find in the other health regiment.

But I think that in any given yoga class, I would say that 90% of the student do yoga for health benefits and relaxation, and the 10% remaining do it for their spiritual quest.

#19

Yoga is an excellent weight-bearing exercise that can improve your bone density. This is particularly beneficial for women approaching menopause, since yoga can help ward off osteoporosis, or thinning of the bone.

#20

This really is another thread for Yogiadam to telegraph to us his disdain for the non-asana side of Yoga. As if we did not know already :wink: Yes, we heard you for the nth time already - you don’t like spirituality. You want nothing to do with it. However, to constantly tell us this on a Yoga forum, is like me going to a Christian forum and telling them why I want nothing to do with Jesus. It is basically trolling.

Talk to any Yoga scholar, and they will clearly tell you asanas are just a limb of Yoga. Just asanas are not anymore Yoga than just wheels are a car. Yoga is a systematic and classical form that was codified by Patanjali and Patanjali is still seen as the founder of the classical form of Yoga. No changes have been made to this classical form. Even the popularist of Hatha Yoga in the West, BKS Iyengar, has made no changes. The vast majority of Yogas that followed have all been derived from BKS Iyengar.

Power Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Geri Halliwels Yoga, Christian Yoga are just commercial brands. They are not new forms of Yoga. They are made to make loads of money for the creator of those brands and designed to win over a large demographic of audiences by removing the spiritual stuff. They are as much Yoga as wheels are a car.
They will soon face huge legal problems, because India is patenting Yoga, so they will not be able to claim it as their intellectual property and make profit of it.

Now you have two choices in front of you: You can even join these fake Yoga organizations and basically promote charlatans and frauds. They will allow you to only do the asana practice. In that case don’t call it Yoga, call it asanas. Or you can drop Yoga altogether and start Pilates.

You really should not be doing Yoga at all if spirituality irks you. As Yoga is a spiritual practice first and foremost. It involves not only asana, but yama and niyamas, pranayama, pratyhara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. If you are only doing asanas, then you are simply not doing Yoga.

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