October 21, 2015
5 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Yoga
Yoga is everywhere. And rightfully so! It is a great full body workout and can grant you the mental clarity you need to navigate the rest of your busy life. But as this centuries old practice continues to spread through the Western world, the misconceptions about yoga spread right along with it. Yoga teacher, Alexandria Crow, wants to set the record straight, once and for all. Here she takes on 5 things people are getting wrong about yoga:
1. Yoga is all about learning to do cool poses.
Yoga isn't about poses. Not like that anyway. As Crow explains, "the poses are meant to bring you into the moment and ideally to help you find that line between effort and ease. The poses are there to teach us that life is constantly in flux and change is inevitable, but if you can work to find your way toward that line, you'll likely feel more at peace with everything."2. You have to be flexible to do yoga.
This is an understandably common misconception. You shouldn't let it stand in your way. "Yoga isn’t about flexibility. Yoga is about learning how to be in the here and now and the physical practice that can help you fine-tune that approach to life," says Crow.
3. Yoga is a religion or a cult.
Spiritual practice, yes. Cult, no. Yoga "can pair with your current religious beliefs or non-beliefs. It doesn't require you to renounce other faiths—or to have faith in the first place," according to Crow.4. You have to be a skinny white girl to practice yoga.
This statement is wrong and a little bit ridiculous. Crow says, "Yoga is about self-acceptance by way of learning to bring yourself into the present moment and then to gain the strength to stay there and act from it, no matter how challenging life becomes. This is something all body types—and both genders—can benefit from."