Mark and yoga? page

[Clymb]

So I noticed in the fitness section of Mark's book that he says he doesn't want to get into the whole yoga/pilates/etc. thing, and I kind of got the impression that he doesn't like it. Does anyone know why this is? Or am I incorrect?

[unchatenfrance]

IIRC there was a post a while ago about how his wife dragged him to a class and he managed to survive it. Some people just aren't into it.

[Hedonist]

I think he now does it regularly to deal with ongoing problems from his running career. But I can't find the post now.

[Adrianag]

I believe he also has some hip problems related to the years of chronic cardio marathon training regimen.

[pyro13g]

My physical therapy for my back is all Yoga. It has it's place in general fitness and for rehab purposes. I also feel if you like it,then do it. Count it as "play" if you must.

[nocturnalmama]

He posted about it in the week in a life...

[AndreaReina]

I think he's just not into it, but he's posted about yoga several times and not in a negative way either. I've finally gotten un-lazy enough to start doing the PBF routine again, so now I do my asana practice in the morning and the PBF routine 2-3x a week in the afternoon after I get home from work.

[zoebird]

i think it's more about not backing it as a fitness panacea -- which is how many pilates and yoga people feel about it.

In the astanga world, for example, my experience is that it's either you do Astanga or whatever else you are doing is worthless. And if you're doing anything other than Astanga, then you're ruining your astanga practice, and therefore a Very Bad Yoga Practitioner. Astanga is All You Need.

I don't believe that. I believe that yoga -- including astanga -- is meant to make your life better. So, *if* you want to practice it, you only need practice it in so far as it makes your life better. If it doesn't make your life better, stop doing it.

[MikeEnRegalia]

I don't like how it conflates fitness/health with spirituality/religion. I like the idea of doing stretching, and doing it in a meditative/relaxing way - but that's about as far as I'll go. So I may be doing yoga/pilates poses, but I'm limiting it to the physical aspect.

[Clymb]

Well I don't think that the fact that some people are cultish about yoga or make it a spiritual thing is a reason to reject it. When I teach, I make sure to not get spiritual with it--I don't practice it that way myself. And yeah I agree, it's not a panacea--if I only did yoga, yeah I'd still be flexible/relaxed/have good balance/whatever but I wouldn't have the muscular strength I have right now...I don't think I could live without rock climbing! I do think yoga is very valuable though, which is why I hadn't understood Mark's coverage--or lack thereof--in his book.