Yoga As Exercise Or Alternative Medicine
Yoga (Devanagari:योगा) is a term for a range of traditional systems of physical exercise and meditation in Hinduism.
Modified versions of the physical exercises in hatha yoga have become popular as a kind of low-impact physical exercise, and are used for therapeutic purposes. "Yoga" in this sense and in common parlance refers primarily to the asanas but less commonly to pranayama. Aspects of meditation are sometimes included.
Both the meditative and the exercise components of yoga show promise for non-specific health benefits. According to an article in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, the system of hatha yoga believes that prana, or healing "life energy" is absorbed into the body through the breath, and can treat a wide variety of illnesses and complaints.
Yoga has been studied as an intervention for many conditions, including back pain, stress, and depression.
A survey released in December 2008 by the US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that yoga was the sixth most commonly used alternative therapy in the United States during 2007, with 6.1 percent of the population participating.
Read more about Yoga As Exercise Or Alternative Medicine: Background and Overview, Major Empirical Findings, Controversy
Famous quotes containing the words yoga, exercise, alternative and/or medicine:
“Depend upon it that, rude and careless as I am, I would fain practice the yoga faithfully.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Small natures require despotism to exercise their sinews, as great souls thirst for equality to give play to their heart.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“No alternative to the
one-man path.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“Authority, though it err like others,
Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself,
That skins the vice o’ the top.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)