Is Yoga Similar to Exercise?

By | July 28, 2011

Yoga is an ancient form of art which is used to calm down your body and soul using different body postures called Asanas. Even though it involves some physical activity it is no way related to doing exercise. The benefits evolved by doing exercise are different from those which are attained by yoga. More over yoga does not need that much of hard work and physical stress which we used to do in our regular work out.

Following are some of the points which differentiate Yoga from the regular exercise.

  • In Yoga, challenge is to your will power, whereas in Exercise, challenge is to your physical power.
  • The energy is evenly balanced between the body and the mind in Yoga, whereas, in exercise it is utilized for doing regular work outs.
  • You enter the mental gym when you practice yoga, while exercise concentrates on the particular parts of the body and is nothing there in exercise which is related to mind.
  • You can feel pain and the condition of fatigue after doing work out but after doing yoga you feel that a sense of rejuvenation follows you.
  • The rate of respiration is controlled in yogic exercise whereas in physical exercise it is very high.
  • Yoga helps in creating inner awareness while the exercise do not provide such facilities.
  • Exercise keeps your body fit but the yogic exercises keeps both of your body and mind in a proper condition.
  • Toxins build up while doing exercise but by practicing yoga you can build the power to overcome the toxins.
  • The heart over works by doing hard physical activity which increases the pulse rate and the blood pressure where as in yogic exercise heart functions normally.
  • Regular exercise makes the body stronger and less flexible, whereas, yoga strengthens the body by toning the muscles and creates longer, leaner muscles due to stretching, thus providing stronger and more flexible body.

The theme behind the above differences does not show that exercise is bad and yoga is good. It is just in order to clarify the differences between them. However regular exercise and yoga both are helpful to lead happy and healthy life, but still yoga is a life support system which makes your body stronger as well as your brain calmer.