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How Many Americans Do Yoga Article
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Let study the different between Yoga and Pilates...
from:The yoga craze of the late twentieth century ended up segueing
into the Pilates craze of the early 2000's but many people
questioned the exercise value of both. Despite media hoopla, few
people actually seemed to understand the physical benefits of
either. The truth is that both forms of exercise have unique
approaches to fitness and can provide significant benefits for
the strengthening and conditioning of the body. Though similar
in the focus on strengthening the body through isometric
movements, the paths of yoga and Pilates ultimately diverge.
Yoga was developed over five thousand years ago in Northern
India. It is first mentioned in the sacred Hindu text Rig Veda.
During its first clear period, yoga was practiced and refined by
Vedic priests, who documented the practice in their writings.
Patanjali, who is considered by most to be the father of
classical yoga, fostered the next phase of yoga development.
Following Patanjalis' broad expansion of yoga and its meanings,
Tantric yoga became accepted as the new form of yoga and
concentrated on cleansing both the mind and the body. Yoga
finally neared its modern form in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century when more and more Indian yogis traveled to
the West, sharing their art and increasing the world interest in
yoga. The 1947 premiere of Indra Devi's yoga studio in Hollywood
became the opening bell to the American fascination with yoga.
While most incarnations of yoga have had a strong spiritual
element, modern Hatha yoga does not align itself with any
religion or spirituality; instead it focuses primarily on the
yoga postures and using them to reach and maintain strength and
flexibility as well as inner calm.
Compared to yoga, Pilates is a spring chicken in terms of age.
Joseph Pilates, who was born in Germany and suffered frail
health as a child, created the program. Pilates overcame his
childhood sicknesses through exercise and began to create a
system of physical development that would later become his
legacy to the world. In his thirties, Pilates traveled to
England to work as a self-defense instructor to Scotland Yard
but was forced into an internment camp during World War I.
Despite the hardship of internment, Pilates went about his
business within the camp, teaching his physical program to his
fellow internees. During the terrible flu epidemic of 1918,
thousands of people died, but none of Pilates were affected.
Following the war, Pilates returned to Germany but left for good
when asked to teach his method to the German army. Settling in
New York City with his new wife, Pilates opened his first
fitness studio. He taught thousands of students until his death
in 1967 at the age of 87. Trusted students carried on with the
Pilates name and method, and by the early twenty-first century
more than 5 million Americans were practicing Pilates.
Despite the wildly different histories, yoga and Pilates share
the same focus on developing the muscles of the body and
strengthening it by primarily using the body's own resistance to
build up power. The postures of yoga and the movements of
Pilates are sometimes strikingly similar, but ultimately the two
follow separate roads. Yoga has spawned a multitude of varieties
that range from Kundalini to Iyengar to Tantric, though Hatha
remains the most popular form in the United States. Many
first-time yoga practitioners can find the pace to be overly
slow or grow impatient while waiting to see results. The best
candidate for Hatha yoga is a person who appreciates time to
slow down, meditate, and spend quiet time with oneself, and does
not become easily discouraged by failure to immediately master a
pose. Yoga requires a certain measure of patience and while this
can be developed through practice, lacking it can make the first
several weeks of yoga practice very trying for a person. The
good thing about yoga is that it rarely requires extra
equipment. You will need a yoga mat to begin with but after
that, accessories are optional. Blocks, straps, and other tools
can be helpful, but are not required.
Pilates is a method that is fairly easy to master. It doesn't
call for complicated movements and is usually straightforward
and simple to understand. The program's movements also tend to
build strength fairly quickly so that results are apparent
sooner than in yoga. The ideal Pilates practitioner should be
able to discipline himself to complete his routine every day,
which is a large part of the method. Attending classes is a
great way to start but for the maximum results, the method
should be practiced daily to benefit the body. Pilates typically
doesn't require many props or accessories, though advanced
practitioners will probably want to add machines or tools to
their collection in order to maintain a high level of fitness.
About the author: desmond
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