THESE ARE JUST NOT TRUE about yoga!

Yoga can be a great tool for us to realize the unity of mind and body and to turn our attention from the outside to the inside. That's why it's remarkable that yoga has become so popular in the past years and the number of people it reaches today is still growing. However, popularism comes with false facts.

As someone who has been practising yoga for 7 years and now is a yoga teacher, I would like to talk about some of these false facts that I come across most frequently.

I cannot do yoga because I am not flexible: False.
The only thing I need to do yoga is my intention: True.

Yoga is not a ‘sport’ limited to physical practice (asanas); it “is a method for restraining the natural turbulence of thoughts.” Unlike the common belief, the aim of yoga is not to have a more flexible and aesthetic body, but basically to have a healthier one which will not prevent us from going inside and meditating. Flexibility, strength and balance are potential gifts that may come with our practice; they are not requirements to do yoga.

Doing yoga will emotionally relieve me: False
Doing yoga will help me see how I really feel: True

Some research shows that long-term yoga practice including meditation can affect your mental and physical health in a good way. However, yoga is not a miracle that will swipe your problems and bad feelings. Of course, after your practice, you sometimes might feel more relaxed or happier. Yet it is not true to do yoga with this expectation in mind. It is just a tool to figure out how you feel and where you are at mentally, that is all.

Yoga is for women: False
Yoga is for everyone: True

Woman, man or any other gender, it does NOT matter. Anyone who is classified as a human with consciousness can practice yoga. This remains a fact even though nowadays yoga has turned out to be an “industry” dominated by females doing it.

“Yoga is believed to have early roots in the Brahmins, highly knowledgeable and wise priests of the Indian caste system often referred to as “men of learning”. Primarily, Brahmins were men. The yoga sutras, written by Patanjali, are considered to be the first written representations of yoga. Patanjali was a man. When yoga was first brought to the west in the 1800s and 1900s, it was brought to the west by men, men like Swami Sivananda.

For modern males, however, yoga is seen as a feminine, soft practice, because millions of women do practice yoga, and live a very yoga lifestyle, and the practice itself is not competitive. Sat Purusha writes on his website, “Yoga is not about achievement. It is not about competition or being better, but it is about challenging with yourself.

I need to change my lifestyle to do yoga: False
Doing yoga can change my lifestyle in time: True

It can change but it does not have to change. As practising yoga physically will affect you mentally, it can also affect your choices and priorities. In a way, your lifestyle can change as a result of your yoga practice. But it is not a destination, it is the road. Believing that your asana practice will completely and wonderfully change your life is a false method. Instead, starting your practice, noticing its benefits and not being goal-driven is important.

I need to do yoga to be fit: False.
I need to work out to be fit: True.

Yoga. Is. Not. A. Sport. Yoga is not a sport. Of course, doing yoga is great for your body. It can change your posture, and strengthen and stretch your muscles. But there is not a type of yoga that will aim a fit body. Yoga practice aims for self-acceptance without having an achievement goal. If you want to shape your body, you can go and do a sport such as pilates. Because at this point, yoga might disappoint you. These are the facts. If there is someone saying the opposite, they probably don’t know what yoga is.