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A study recently published in the journal Experimental Psychology reveals that it's the yoga, not the "hot" part that is of benefit. Specifically focusing on Bikram hot yoga practice, researcher Stacy Hunter, an assistant professor in the department of health and human performance at Texas State University says: "It’s definitely showing benefits to the 26-posture sequence (practiced in a Birkam session). It just doesn’t seem like the heat is necessary in terms of improving heart health.”
In the study, 52 healthy but previously sedentary adults were assigned to a group: 19 people went to three hot Bikram yoga classes per week, while 14 took the exact same classes in a 73-degree room. A control group of 19 people didn’t do any yoga at all. After 12 weeks, the researchers assessed everyone’s vascular health by looking at changes in endothelial function, or the ability of blood vessels to dilate in response to increased blood flow. Both yoga groups saw changes that indicated a lower risk of heart disease, while the control group did not.
The heat of "hot" yoga did not appear to be responsible for any of the yoga benefit. In fact, previous research has indicated that the high heat and humidity may be detrimental as it raises the body's internal temperature to unsafe levels.
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According to the Pew Research Center, Hindu-Americans have the highest retention of any religion in the United States, with a full 80 percent of those raise Hindu still identifying with Hinduism as adults. In comparison, the rate among mainline Protestants is only 45 percent.
This is not surprising due to the nature of Hinduism, whose philosophical and cultural traditions encompass several religious viewpoints including monism, pantheism, panentheism, henotheism, monotheism, polytheism, and atheism.
Most Hindus are either immigrants or the children of immigrants from India, Nepal, Guyana, and Suriname, although there are some from non-desi (South Asian) backgrounds.
This is not surprising due to the nature of Hinduism, whose philosophical and cultural traditions encompass several religious viewpoints including monism, pantheism, panentheism, henotheism, monotheism, polytheism, and atheism.
Most Hindus are either immigrants or the children of immigrants from India, Nepal, Guyana, and Suriname, although there are some from non-desi (South Asian) backgrounds.
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One who truly knows how to listen, listens to the sound of silence. One who genuinely knows how to look, looks at the inner world. - Ming Tu
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In his book, The Tree of Yoga, B. K. S. Iyengar's last chapter is about yoga teachers. Here are some of his thoughts about yoga and yoga teachers:
1. Yoga teachers should quit bragging about having been in India
Here is what yoga master, Iyengar states so clearly: "I remember very well when India was under the power of England and France. Indians who had visited Europe used to put a notice in their houses proclaiming 'France returned' or 'England returned' as if theyh were extraordinay and privileged persons. The same thing is happening now in yoga. Students from the West come to India and 'India returned' yogis are teaching yoga all over the place....God alone know how much experience they have or what is the quality of their work."
2. Yoga teachers should not teach if they don't have a personal practice.
Iyengar is tired of hearing from yoga instructors who say they don't have a personal practice but "nevertheless know what they are doing. I tell them they should stop teaching if they do not practice for themselves." He also warns cautions teachers not to go "beyond the frontiers of your knowledge."
3. Done properly, yoga teaching is very challenging.
"It is relatively easy to be a teacher of an academic subject, but to be a teacher in an art is very difficult, and to be a yoga teacher is the hardest of all," he says. Why? Because a good yoga teacher has to be self-critical in order to improve his or her practice; because a good yoga teacher has to understand how the body works; because a good yoga teacher has to understand his or her student's bodies and how to best respond and protect them.
4, Yoga teacher must always be learning.
"They will learn from their pupils and must have the humility to tell them that they are still earning their art," he says and adds that a good yoga teacher is a very positive person who instill confidence in the student.
5. Yoga is a spiritual practice.
"To live spiritually is to live in the present moment," Iyengar notes. Yoga becomes a deeply spiritual practice "as long as no other thoughts come to you" and you remain in the moment and fully in the pose.
(PS - feel free to repost or link to your social media)
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Praise or insult, gain or loss, have or have not, coming or going, hungry or full, morning or evening, it does not matter; I do not cling. - Hsing Yun
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People helping people, people serving people, that is what the Hindu Dharma is and has been proclaiming for some 8,000 years or more. - Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
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Compassion never means being a door mat. Wisdom guides us to have boundaries. This includes saying "No" when it is appropriate. - Kris Ladusau
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Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, is supportive of Buddhism and has greatly eased previous religious restrictions on Buddhism in China. The result is that there are now almost three times as many Buddhists in China as there are Party members. An official communiqué released earlier this year estimated the membership of the Communist Party of China at just under 90 million.
Meanwhile, the State Bureau of Religious Affairs estimates there are some 250 million Buddhists in China and 200,000 registered Buddhist monks.
One of the individuals I consider an important Buddhist teacher is Hsing Yun who has played a significant role in liberalizing Chinese rules about Buddhism. In 1989, he was allowed to return to mainland China from his base in Taiwan. In China, authorities invited him to express his views on Chinese religious policy. Speaking candidly, he "urged that museum and forestry personnel b removed from monasteries, and Buddhist places of worship and relics damaged during the Cultural Revolution be returned and repaired."
Much of this has happened since his meeting with officials and since Xi Jinping became President. In fact, there is a major revival of interest in Buddhism in China today.
Meanwhile, the State Bureau of Religious Affairs estimates there are some 250 million Buddhists in China and 200,000 registered Buddhist monks.
One of the individuals I consider an important Buddhist teacher is Hsing Yun who has played a significant role in liberalizing Chinese rules about Buddhism. In 1989, he was allowed to return to mainland China from his base in Taiwan. In China, authorities invited him to express his views on Chinese religious policy. Speaking candidly, he "urged that museum and forestry personnel b removed from monasteries, and Buddhist places of worship and relics damaged during the Cultural Revolution be returned and repaired."
Much of this has happened since his meeting with officials and since Xi Jinping became President. In fact, there is a major revival of interest in Buddhism in China today.
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There are times when trees and plants – also “beings” with whom we share the planet – need a little human help. Do your part.
When a vicious typhoon struck Taiwan, the abbot of a Buddhist monastery surveyed the damage he saw that a Bodhi tree had been split in two by the fierce storm. Rather than further destroy the tree and turn it into firewood, the monk cared for it with all my heart.” He lifted it, tied it together with ropes, and provided it support using sturdy bamboo props. “Now it has flourished into a tall, shady tree,” he says.
On another occasion, another tree on the grounds collapsed onto it’s side, the result of heavy rains dislodging it’s roots. “It was no more than a rootless trunk and branches strewn across the ground,” he recalls. Lifting it carefully, the monk planted it back into the soil and then watered it whenever the ground was dry. “As if by miracle, it not only took root and sprouted but has also matured into its present luxuriant form,” he says proudly.
It’s important to bring mindfulness not only into our personal lives but into the life around us as well.
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Enlightenment is knowing the truth of your existence. It is knowing who you are in the Universal scheme and knowing how to live harmoniously within that scheme. - Wu Wei