What does Yoga benefit physically over Pilates?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#21

[QUOTE=Surya Deva;41390]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.[/QUOTE]

I’ve already made up my mind. I’m doing power yoga. Your pissy, outdated views are not required.

#22

I should also make a suggestion SD, considering you just like attacking me, and call me a troll… We both joined this forum at the same time, and you have posted nearly three times as much as I have… and I’ve posted alot!! Have you ever considered getting a life?? There’s more to this world than trying to convince people in a forum your right. Go do some work, or study, or get a girlfriend, or some fresh air. Go contribute to society!!

#23

Just a bit of clarification. Power or vinyasa flow can be with or without the spiritual component. Power is an off shoot of Ashtanga. Only difference is with power yoga you have flexibility to mix up the asanas. I do both and teach both.

#24

There is no such thing as Yoga without the spiritual component. That is what Yoga experts and scholars from BKS Iyengar to George Freustein call “Unyoga”

Yoga is first and foremost a spiritual practice. It is a program developed in ancient India for maximum fulfillment in life through integration of the mind and body, to systematically develop happy, content, compassionate and patient people. It is a way of directly experiencing higher states of being and putting yourself in touch with nature.

If I started using the complete works of shakespeare as door stoppers it is not going to make it a door stopper. But it will certainly make me an idiot :wink:

1 Like
#25

[QUOTE=lotusgirl;41402]Just a bit of clarification. Power or vinyasa flow can be with or without the spiritual component. Power is an off shoot of Ashtanga. Only difference is with power yoga you have flexibility to mix up the asanas. I do both and teach both.[/QUOTE]

I agree. Ashtanga / power is a great total body workout. I like the profuse sweating without the articlficial external heat. Works out and stretches each muscle and organ in two directions - posture and counter posture. Love it.

#26

If I started using the complete works of shakespeare as door stoppers it is not going to make it a door stopper.

If it stops the door, it is a doorstopper.

Yoga, the practice of asana, can be practiced with or without the spiritual component. It is done all the time. Anticipating your answer to that, my response is as long as they benefit, who am I to judge?

I teach a spiritual practice in all my classes. It is not geared to any specific religion. I discuss and incorporate all. My students are not at all unyoga like. They are very much yogini’s thank you! My student’s fit all of the above in your second paragraph. That makes them yogi’s. Just not a Hindu yogi!

#27

[QUOTE=YogiAdam;41401]I should also make a suggestion SD, considering you just like attacking me, and call me a troll… We both joined this forum at the same time, and you have posted nearly three times as much as I have… and I’ve posted alot!! Have you ever considered getting a life?? There’s more to this world than trying to convince people in a forum your right. Go do some work, or study, or get a girlfriend, or some fresh air. Go contribute to society!![/QUOTE]

This post you just made where you told me to get a life is a blatant attack.

In my post I never called you anything, not even a troll. I said that to constantly go around a Yoga forum telegraphing your disadain for the non-asana part of Yoga is tantamount to trolling. If I went about on a Chrisitan forum telegraphing my disadain for Jesus it would be considered trolling. Like I said we heard you - point received already. You don’t have to keep telling us.

None of my views are outdated. These are the contemporary views of scholarship on Yoga. Yoga was systematized and codified by Patanjali some 3000 years ago, and ever since his system has carried on to this very late.
Ashtangya/Vinyasa yoga do not add anything to Yoga, they simply repackage it. They take out one part of the system and turn that into a full practice. But like I said, that is no more Yoga, than a pair of wheels are a car.

Now Pilates is very different. Although it is clearly inspired by Yoga, its creates an entirely new system based on flexibiltiy training and modern physiotherapy technology. It’s an original system within its own right.

Just doing asanas on their own is not Yoga. You cannot at all expect Yoga to stop teaching the non-asanas part, because they are integral parts of Yoga.

#28

That is like saying that if the banana peel fits over the head it is a hat :smiley:
I am afraid we cannot just change the meaning of something, just because we want to. Everything has a history and a purpose behind. Cars were made to drive in, not as pieces of furniture.

There is creative adaptation, and then there is simply misuse. Pilates is a creative adaptation of Yoga. Ashtanga Yoga is a misuse.

Yoga, the practice of asana, can be practiced with or without the spiritual component. It is done all the time. Anticipating your answer to that, my response is as long as they benefit, who am I to judge?

Asana can be practiced without the rest of the parts of Yoga. No dispute there, but then it is not Yoga.

That makes them yogi’s. Just not a Hindu yogi!

You’re already Hindu to some extent by doing Yoga. If you only do asanas, that is a partial endorsement of Hinduism. If you are doing everything, that is a full endorsement of Hinduism.

#29

Surya DevaThat is like saying that if the banana peel fits over the head it is a hat :smiley:

That really made me laugh , thankyou .:lol:

#30

Carmine Miranda had a hat full of bananas!

#31

YogiAdam,

Back to your original question - yoga vs. pilates. I currently do pilates 2-3 times per week, I do yoga 5 - 6 times and I do weight training twice per week.

Pilates is excellent for strengthening your core muscles and for strengthening the smaller balancing muscles that you miss during weight training. Personally, if I were to choose between yoga and pilates I would pick yoga for a couple reasons:

  1. Yoga has more of a focus on flexibility and breath work.
  2. Yoga asana feels more connected than pilates.
  3. I find that asana challenges my curiosity as I try to perform more advanced poses.

Surya Deva, I do yoga asana and chuck the rest of the “spiritual” side of yoga. Fine with me if you say that I am not doing yoga I don’t really care what others think of me. Not to say that I am not a spiritual person, I just practice my religion and do yoga asana for a good workout and for a nice moving meditation.

#32

Surya Deva, I do yoga asana and chuck the rest of the “spiritual” side of yoga. Fine with me if you say that I am not doing yoga I don’t really care what others think of me.

This is not a question of opinion, but a question of fact. You simply do the asana part of Yoga, you don’t actually do Yoga. You can’t do just one part of something and then say you are doing it whole.

Asana is just one part of Yoga. Its only purpose in the scheme of Yoga is to prepare you for meditation. I am not telling you to stop doing asanas, by all means go ahead, but stop misleading people by saying you are doing yoga, when you are not.

Yoga is a full way of life, not just a hobby. It is a total mind-body training system. There is moral training through the practice of yamas and niyamas, physical training through the practice of asanas and mental training through pranayama and meditation. The goal is total transformation. Yoga is serious work. Only for people who are serious about wanting to be seriously transformed.

#33

Gosh almighty! No need to get defensive SD. So often you act like yoga is your child and you are protecting it from the big bad wolves (all of US). Every single thread about yoga does not need to come back to “Yoga is Hindu. We will patent yoga. You are hindu if you do yoga, you are not practicing yoga is you only do the asanas.” It really doesn’t always have to come back to this. I have really grown weary of this. I’m sure others have as well. And it’s not that I even disagree with what you said in your above post, because for the most part I don’t. But again who cares if someone says they do yoga and they are not practicing it in its entirety. Will they have to serve several more incarnations or go straight to hell? Nah. They will be happier and healthier.

#34

Surya there is a serious flaw in your argument because Ishvara presented itself to me (not just once I hasten to add) without doing a single asana!! BUT by being nice to people, keeping a nice mind, laughing a lot and partying hard…so you are wrong

#35

Lotus Girl,

Here we are not talking about whether Yoga is Hindu or not, here we are talking about Pilates as a substitute for Yoga. The point I am making, a very valid one is Pilates cannot be a substitute for Yoga, because Yoga is a spiritual discipline and Pilates is purely a physical discipline.

Unfortunately, many people are claiming the “spiritual part” can be taken out of Yoga by just doing asanas, and this statement is simply not true and is born out of people ignorant of what Yoga is. Such statements are misleading and lead to misconceptions being perpetuated about this great self-realization discipline. This calls for people like me to represent it better.

To be honest as somebody who teaches Yoga you should not perpetuate these myths either. I am not alone in this view, even great Yoga experts such as BKS Iyengar agree that “just asanas” is un-yoga.

Yoga is an entire system of philosophy and practice which is 5000 years old. We are not about to redefine Yoga just because some greedy commercial interests in America want to use Yoga to sell their products. You either use the philosophy and practice properly, or face criticism. Sooner or later all these fake systems of Yoga Ashtanga, Power Yoga, Hot Yoga are going to face legal problems when India completes its patent project.

#36

SD,
But your points have been the same. Hence my post.

To be honest as somebody who teaches Yoga you should not perpetuate these myths either. I am not alone in this view, even great Yoga experts such as BKS Iyengar agree that “just asanas” is un-yoga.

Who am I to judge? I teach what I teach and do not consider myself un yoga like in the slightest. You have no idea what I teach or how I teach.

Yoga is an entire system of philosophy and practice which is 5000 years old.

I am not a complete idiot. Come on SD, of course I do know this. But this is what I mean when I say you keep repeating the same things. There is not need. Once is more than enough. Thanks you!

#37

SD,
But your points have been the same. Hence my post.

So have yours to be very honest with you.

Who am I to judge?

Exactly, you are not the one who invented Yoga. You are just a teacher of it. The one who can judge are the tradition who have invented it and perpetuated it for 5000 years.

Just taking asanas out of Yoga, and then selling it as a stand-alone product is not Yoga, anymore than just selling the wheels of a car is not the car. There is no choice in this matter, doing Yoga as just purely a physical discipline, is a misuse and misapplication of Yoga. It is also incredibly disrespectful to the tradition it comes from. Thereby it is going to face condemnation from real yogis.

#38

I think those who invented yoga would be quite proud of me and how I teach, thank you very much!

#39

Nah, actually they are not. As one of those Yoga experts from the authentic tradition, one has been the most influencial in bringing Asanas to America, BKS Iyengar, calls just-asanas un-yoga. Now bear in mind BKS Iyengar loves asanas.

I have not read a single expert of Yoga from the authentic tradition endorse the misapplication of Yoga as just a physical discipline in America. Rather I have read the opposite.

People in America now even believe Yoga and meditation are separate because of these misconceptions being spread. I have read tons of literature on Yoga from actual scholars of Yoga and they all agree asanas are a very small part of Yoga and definitely do not define Yoga.

#40

Have you suddenly projected yourself into my studio and watched me teach? Gee, I thought that was you back there!

Honestly, as stated before, you have no idea what and how I teach. You might be surprised.

And I know they are proud. Period.