Loving Yoga...

[sntwhite]

For the last year I've been practicing yoga, different types, and have found it a great stress reliever and so beneficial to my health, mental and physical. I've tried so many exercise programs and just couldn't keep up or got bored with the same routine. I would recommend yoga to anyone with Crohns, mainly for the stress and anxiety we suffer. It really helps...Changing my diet has really helped as well. If you too suffer from severe joint pain, this is the best medicine!

 

[mickey]

I found the Bikram yoga extremely helpful and the heat helped me get into poses earlier and relax more. Many of the poses can help when you get bad cramping, etc... I agree with you!

 

[sntwhite]

Funny! That's the next class my friend and I are taking starting tomorrow! I'm really looking forward to it, thanks!

 

[handle]

Bikram is the McDonalds of Yoga. I urge people to study it's origins and be aware of it's rigidity.

 

[sntwhite]

I regularly practice Hatha, and Yin. Thought I'd try something different, thanks for the info.

 

[David]

Yes! Yoga can be very beneficial in my opinion

Bikram is the McDonalds of Yoga. I urge people to study it's origins and be aware of it's rigidity.

I don't think that's a very apt comparison. While it's not for everyone, a myriad of benefits can be obtained from the practice of Bikram Yoga. While I wouldn't say that it covers much of the yamas and niyamas, I would say that it incorporates the other 6 limbs of yoga quite nicely in its own ways. That's more than most western yoga classes these days.

 

[handle]

Really David? Bikram Choudury is currently involved in a stack of lawsuits. He's trying to sue anyone doing a similar style to that which he 'copyrighted' in order to make money. He is an ex-weightlifter, once a yoga champion at age 13, who popularized the notion of competitive yoga! Instead of a proper warm-up routine to engage the body and mind, the room is heated to 40C! It is a rigid, unbending routine of 26 asanas.

I've studied/practiced and taught yoga for 15 years. It is a love of mine.
Never have I seen such a rigid set of movements ruthlessly applied to all students. Yoga is a flexible art form at it's worst. It involves correction of postures, alteration of movements to suit the practitioner, and above all a tailored approach to those who are not in perfect health. It is the McDonalds of yoga because it is the 'fast food' approach - repeatable, and quick, with no real substance.
Yes, it may be suitable for some, as a type of aerobic stretching routine, but it should not be considered Yoga - which as you know means "union with the universal spirit". I agree that many western yoga forms have their shortcomings, but that doesn't make this style any better. Promoting it's use for people with I.B.D. is quite abhorrent.

 

[David]

I used to think the exact same way as you; I certainly understand your perspective. Then my wife (then fiance) talked me into going and I did the practice for a about half a year. I understand the benefits now.

I agree that it isn't the correct form of yoga for most people with IBD. It's far too strenuous for most. For that matter, I don't think that the regular practices you'd get at most yoga studios would be best for someone with IBD either. People with IBD need a practice contoured specifically to them.

And yoga doesn't mean "union with the universal spirit". It means yoke or union. Your extrapolation that it means with the universal spirit is a product of your teaching and interpretation, one I don't agree with Not that it matters though, we're all free to interpret as we wish, especially if it benefits us

 

[handle]

Thanks for your thoughts David. I used to ask myself "what is the Union that is implied from that Sanskrit term?" Surely it is a union with the world around us. We are part of a larger universe, intimately and deeply connected, whilst appearing charmingly discrete.

It saddens me that the greatest part of teaching, namely the connection to each student, is removed by Choudury himself, who demands that all franchisees not only copy his unbending routine precisely, but that they also mirror his dialogue!
And that all the magnificence of thousands of years of evolution should be reduced to this dehydrated 'fast food' concoction leaves me cold, not hot.
However, as you say, something can be learned from even the the most abominable creation

 

[mickey]

I think the bottom line is that if something benefits someone and helps them, it may help another. Whether you want to call it yoga or stretching in a heated room, I was taught to focus on form and don't worry about holding it or pushing yourself; lay down and rest if you can not do it. Worth trying yoga; no matter what the type.

 

[handle]

Mickey, nothing could be further from the truth. What benefits one person can damage another, particularly someone afflicted with chronic illness.
Great care with recommendations and advice is vital. Being 'well-meaning' is simply not enough.
Regarding Yoga, unfortunately a lot of money has been made off the back of new age naivety, and it does matter! Bikram Choudury's garage full of Bentleys and Rolls Royces is a case in point.

 

[David]

Handle, I agree with you that one benefits some may harm others. But regarding the Rolls Royces and Bentleys, does the millions people like Shiva Rea and Rodney Yee and companies like Lulu Lemon make negate the viability of more traditional forms of yoga?

But yes, millions has been made off new age naivety, no doubt there. Of course, millions have been made off the desperation of people with chronic illness as well.

 

[handle]

The Vinyasa style of Shiva Rea, and the Iyengar based techniques of Rodney Yee, are at least credible forms of Yoga (with more than a 26 asana sequence to utilize...) However they are both new age teachers, and not traditional style instructors. I am not a fan of these characters, and would never recommend anyone buy into their racquet. At least they do not publicly denigrate other styles as Bikram does (he said Iyengar Yoga was like a Santa Monica sex shop with all the props it uses!) Nor do they operate pyramid style yoga franchises, with nine-week teacher training schemes...
Alas I will never wear a Lulu Lemon watermelon leotard with matching power T top. Perhaps I am too dull to see that it will improve my practice.
Jokes aside, it is precisely your point about people profiting from desperate people that is the most vile aspect here. If healthy people choose to voluntarily pay for the gas in one of Choudry's thirty five Rolls Royces then so be it. And if they want to go to some peculiar gimmicky boot camp aerobiyoga, well that's their choice too, and it likely won't cause too many issues. But a chronically ill person.....needs quality care and instruction.

 

[David]

You do realize that you're doing what you hate so much? "Denigrating other styles".

And yes, a chronically ill person does need quality care and instruction. Of course, so does a healthy individual otherwise they might find themselves with chronic issues quite quickly. And the problem is, you invariably do not get quality instruction from a 200 hour teacher or even a 500 hour teacher. There's a reason that in times long past, you weren't a yoga teacher unless your teacher said you were a yoga teacher and that lineage was of utmost importance. You knew who you could trust. You can't trust the vast majority these days. It's the blind leading the blind.

And THAT is part of the brilliance behind Bikram Yoga. He resolves that issue. I'll leave that unexplained so you can "WTF" me

 

[handle]

I'm actually only denigrating Bikram, and the unscrupulous profiteering. And I am not doing it to promote or sell my own style, or business, or to gain profit in any way.
Bikram solved the problem of repeatability in the same way McDonalds solved the problem of not having a chef in each restaurant
I do favor the old form of lineage instruction and it is still possible to find many marvelous instructors. The secret is that 'less is more'. To start, look for a quiet class with a gentle wizened smile at the front...
and I leave that with you!