YOGA or GYM – Which one is better?

You must have start wondering! Which one is better? Yoga or Gym.

But wait. It’s not the way it seems like. First of all, you must know that both yoga and gym come under one category and that is ‘Fitness’. But if both come under one category that doesn’t mean they should be compared. Yoga has its own advantages and so do the gym. Why can’t we think over to the point that both are beneficial for us to workout because in reality, they do. It’s just that which workout you like and which you don’t. Also, there are many myths regarding yoga and gym which one should definitely get over with. So let’s discuss them:

The myths of yoga:

• You must be good at stretching
• There is something like mantras involved
• You can replace it with other forms of workout
• All types of yoga are same
• Yoga connects body, mind and soul

The myths of gym:

• Gym is for the adults
• Lifting weights will give you more mass
• The more you do gym, the more you will be benefited
• You have to take supplements
• Gym is good for older people

I know it’s hard to believe that each of these 4 points are myths and nothing more. But you are going to believe it because one by one we will be discussing the reasons for each of the four points. And I’m guessing its easy to believe when there is a proper scientific background attached to any reason.

Many of you’d thinking- why the 5th point is in bold- what so special about it? Its because the fifth point is not a myth instead its the fact. Yes, we will discuss it with scientific reasons too. But before discussing the myths, don’t you think we must know what actually yoga and gym do? And for that we must study them in detail. So let’s start with yoga first.

YOGA

As we all must know that all our languages are originated from sanskrit, that means every word has his own meaning in sanskrit. Therefore, in this manner the word yoga is defined- ‘to unite’ or ‘to add’. As I said earlier, yoga connects mind, body and soul because yoga means union, integration or discipline.

Thus, the whole meaning of yoga comes out to be uniting or integrating discipline. Yoga is the best medicine to stay fit, control weight and reduce stress level. It also helps in meditation practices and calming the nervous system. Besides, if a male practice yoga then he will be called ‘yogi’ and if a female practices yoga, she will be called as ‘yogini’.

Yoga have seven principle branches, such as Bhakti yoga (the yoga of devotion), Hatha yoga (the yoga of physical discipline), Jnana yoga (the yoga of wisdom), Karma yoga (the yoga of self- transcending action), Mantra yoga (the yoga of potent sound), Raja yoga (the royal yoga), Tantra yoga ( the yoga of continuity). Also, there are various asanas in yoga. Such as

Standing Poses

• Adho mukha svansana                    
• Malasana
• Tadasana
• Uttanasana

Seated Poses

• Badha konasana
• Sukhasana
• Dandasana

Resting Poses

• Balasana
• Padangusthasana
• Masyendrasana
• Viparita karani

Balancing Poses

• Vasishthasana
• Vrksasana

After poses and principles, here it comes the yoga breathing or we usually call it as ‘Pranayama’. It teaches you the real science of breath control or breathing techniques. Basically pranayama comes from three words and that are: prana- life force, yama- discipline, ayama- expansion. Thus, pranayama is a way to take deep healthy breaths. And its a great help to prepare for the meditation practices.

Now, the inhaling and exhaling in yoga breathing is defined in four  different stages. It involves reversals in the direction of the movements of muscles and of expansive or contractive movements of lungs, thorax abdomen. These stages are: Puraka i.e. inhalation, Abhyantara kumbhaka i.e. pause after inhaling or the full pause, Rechaka i.e. exhalation. Bahya kumbhaka i.e. pause after exhaling or the empty pause.

Also, there are two more breathing techniques named as ‘kapalabhati’ and ‘Anuloma viloma’. In kapalabhati, we breathe faster and use only abdominal breathing, not the chest breathing. It is helpful specifically for cleansing the air passages and blockages in the chest. On the other side, in anuloma viloma we inhale through one nostril, then hold and exhale from another nostril. The ratio to be maintained is 2:8:4. The left nostril is called ida and the right nostril is called pingala.

Okay! Now, we know that yoga connects mind, body and soul. So lets move onto the other myths that we have discussed above. People think if you want to do yoga, you should be flexible. But the truth is yoga itself gives relaxation to mind and body which implies it helps you to be stretchable and more flexible. Also, There is no such things like mantras, it can be any short word or phrase which calms your mind and maintain peace within your system. For religious persons it can be ‘Om’, ‘hallelujah’, ‘hail marry full of grace’ or ‘I surrender all to you’. And for the non- religious persons it can be ‘one’, ‘peace’, ‘me’ or ‘love’.

Some people thinks that yoga can be replaced with any other form of fitness exercise. But I must clear that yoga is not just about fitness, it unites ones body, mind and soul. Also, people believes that all yoga are same. No, is the answer for that because there are various forms of yoga like lyengar yoga, bikram yoga, ashtanga yoga and many others. And each of them is different from one another either in mental or physical discipline. Therefore, yoga comes with a meaning way beyond that one think it would be.

That’s a lot about yoga, now lets focus on gym and what it really means.

GYM

‘Gymnasium’ Is the word from which ‘gym’ came from. So basically, gym is an indoor large place where people come together with the aim to get fit using equipments and machines. There are various types of machines placed to train and target each different muscle group of our body, effectively. The Greek word, gymnasium means ‘school for naked eyes’. Also, they made this a locality to educate the young men physical exercises I.e. gymnasium. They had this custom to do exercises with naked body and then bathing and relaxing. After bathing, they may go to hit the libraries.

In the gym, either we play with our body weight or we use some resistance or weight training. Most of the people join gym for various personal purposes like some wants to reduce their weight or some want to gain their mass or some just want to be fit and maintain their physique. In resistance or weight training, exercise is performed to contract the muscles against any external resistance and all of this helps to increase strength, mass and endurance. Also there are different styles to perform with weights in the gym such as olympic lifting, power lifting or weight lifting.

Gyming is an important practice to be performed in this era, because long ago when we hunt for food, our muscles do a workout in making shelters, hunting for food and lots of other work to stay alive. But now, our life has become so easy with the replacement of humans to machine. And due to all this our physical activity and workout have been stopped. That’s why the gyming is of so much value for this generation of people, where everyone use lifts rather than climbing staircase.

Now, let’s focus on the myths about gyming and how can we overcome them? Yes, of-course by gaining some real knowledge about how actually things work.

After reading it all, you must be thinking yoga is damn good and gym is much of a need. So what to do- yoga or gym? See that’s the thing, that’s the speciality of both because you can perform your workout by combining both of them. We can do stretching before( warm-up ) and after( cool down ) gym with yoga poses. Thus, to get better results, you can perform few more asanas of yoga in your workout schedule. Therefore, Yoga will give peace, flexibility and calmness to your mind, body and soul. And gym will provide you the strength and power. Also if you are practicing gym workouts, just add some of the yoga poses and see the difference.

‘Try yoga and gym combine’