If you do YOGA regularly, does that have the same health benefits as aerobics and weight lifting?

My yoga teacher said that yoga oxygenates the blood and builds strength in a healthier way and does the same good as the other types of exercise which he says can be harmful in the long run. Since I hate aerobics and feel so much better with yoga, it seems right to me but not to my traditional %26quot;work-out%26quot; relatives.What are the facts here?|||Yes and no. It%26#039;s definately body sculpting but unless you are doing power yoga, your heart rate will not increase enough to make it aerobic.|||Depends what type of yoga you do.





Ashtanga has definately imprpved my fitness level. Weight training was doing nothing for me, so I stopped when I took on ashtanga a few nights a week. I%26#039;ve now got the muscle definition I always wanted.





I still do seperate cardio, but that%26#039;s mainly because I%26#039;m most desk based for work. Ashtanga does give a heavy cardio work out through both the breathing technique used and the continual fluid motions.|||Yoga has many benefits including spiritual and physical.It as good as aerobics and other exercises in improving health and shedding unwanted fat.It improves mental health and makes you a better person.There are several Yogas i.e.---Hata Yoga,which you are doing.It stresses more on physical side without ignoring spiritual aspect Another is JnanaYoga which stresses on spirituality.Third one is Bhakti Yoga which is about devotion and surrender to God.Lastly RajaYoga which covers material aspects.One should practise all Yogas to become a total man. I tried all types of exercises,was benefited but to my dismay I found that discontinuance brought back fat to body.Lastly I tried Yoga and am sticking to it for the last one year.Result-loss of 8 k.g. in weight and eye power improvement though I am 62.Besides I developed more positive attitude to life.Want to know more about Yoga?Read any book on it and see the disc showing Yoga by Swamy Ramdev of India.|||That depends... how often do you do yoga? If you do yoga every other day of the week, then you%26#039;re looking at a pretty fit body. You won%26#039;t need to supplement it with other exercises. Yoga will increase the heart rate and builds nice long, lean muscles in a way that your body can handle - afterall, it is your body weight.


Yoga, when practised correctly, yoga will do the least amount of harm to the body. If you have any conditions in particular, make sure you inform your instructor. And when in yoga class, please listen to your body. When and if your body is telling you that it%26#039;s in pain, stop and go to child%26#039;s pose. This will prevent your body from hurting itself.


I teach yoga and sometimes I worry that my student%26#039;s egos get in the way of their practise. It%26#039;s not their fault. It%26#039;s the way that we%26#039;ve been conditioned by our society to push ourselves beyond our limits. So, listen attentively to your teacher%26#039;s ques. Listen attentively to your body%26#039;s cues.


Going back to your question... normal aerobic exercises have a tendency to be a bit too hard on the joints and weightlifiting may hurt the ligaments if you over extend yourself.


All that said - I also realize how hard it is to go down to the gym/studio on a daily basis to get your yoga practise in. So, on the days that you don%26#039;t do yoga, you might want to do some running and practise your yogic whispher breath while you%26#039;re doing that.


Hope this helps.|||It REALLY depends on what your regular work out would have consisted of. If it was a mild work out just to keep in shape and you are not trying to build muscle or lose weight, Yoga would be a great alternative!





Yoga is good for those people that are maintaining their weight and current muscle mass. It is also really good for gaining more flexibility.





(*You still have to be careful though; you can hurt yourself just as much doing Yoga as with any other form of exercise, it just may be a different kind of damage, like not impactive but tearing, ouch!)





Those of us that need to build muscle or lose weight would have to couple Yoga with other more traditional forms of exercise.|||There are more benefits with Yoga than any other exercise or sport out there, to many to explain. Long life and healthier living in general like normal blood pressure among other things, really.|||Yoga is a form of strength training but you need to do the other stuff as well|||For good health it is all the way PATANJALI%26#039;s Yoga,which is time tested over centuries. The main difference is that Yoga makes use of relaxation techniques where as in the other methods u get the benefit s by exhausting techniques. PRANAYAMA (Breathing Techniques)is a part of Yoga and gives very good results by just controlling breath. U have different Yogic Asanas to give benefit for different problems.U have no cures for chronic problems like Asthma and diabetics,and problems like back pain in these modern methods where as u have solutions for every problem in Yoga.So u can easily understand the efficacy of Yoga.U should learn from a good teacher who will not introduce his own techniques.U can browse the net for %26#039;yoga%26#039; and also go through some books to get more information.|||your yoga teacher will tellyou anything to keep you paying them for yoga instead of going and getting proper excercise, stretching isnt aerobic saying it is dont make it so - you say yourself you don%26#039;t like aerobics this is because they are actually working and raising your heart rate|||ya, they would say that. they are all effective ways of exercising. i%26#039;ve meet many people that have injured themselves through yoga...so don%26#039;t believe it....it%26#039;s the teacher of the particular fitness class that teaches their pupils properly, not the exercise. proper screening of participants is essential.|||%26quot;Heyam Deham Anagatam%26quot;


This shloka means that the pains yet to come can be avoided by Yoga.





Yoga means union. It is the union of your body, mind, breath and soul. Yoga has 84 lakh asanas, but the beautiful thing is that by knowing just a couple, you can change the way you live.





Aerobics


- Aerobics is a very energetic form of physical activity that increases your heartbeat to about 65% of the maximum rate.


- It keeps the body in motion mainly for the purpose of cardiovascular workout.


- It has a tendency to make the mind restless due to constant motion generating a lack of proper focus on the body.





Yoga


- Yoga exercises the entire body appropriately, including the lungs and the cardiovascular system


- It also steadies the mind for the highly desirable mind-body harmony for a total relaxation.


- Yoga makes the spine supple, strengthens the abdomen, and increases the range of movements of most of the joints by stretching the tendons.


- It also strengthens, concentrates, calms and steadies the mind


- It increases your performance under all conditions of work, study and play.