What Is The Distinction Between Yoga And Stretching

Possibly fifteen minutes into my first yoga class – exhausted, post-gym, arms trembling, lungs burning – I noticed – too late – that yoga is just not stretching.

So I’m penning this to save lots of you from the identical destiny.

Understanding the variations – and similarities – between yoga and stretching will show you how to get essentially the most from each.

Now, you’ll probably do some stretching throughout yoga. And also you may undertake a yoga pose whereas stretching. Nonetheless, there are large variations by way of philosophy, your method, objectives, how lengthy you may do them, and their potential advantages.

Allow us to start with the similarities.

Similarities Between Yoga and Stretching

As with many concepts, ideas, and practices, stretching and yoga overlap.

Individuals do each yoga and stretching to assist:

The Variations Between Yoga and Stretching

Whereas yoga and stretching obtain lots of the identical objectives and will make use of related strategies, stretching is a bodily motion meant to elongate a muscle to enhance flexibility and vary of movement.

Dynamic stretching refers to managed actions that stretch muscle tissues.

Passive stretching refers to holding a static stretch.

Alternatively, yoga has a wealthy historical past and takes a holistic method, incorporating bodily, psychological, religious, and emotional planes.

Bodily

Yoga Contains Mobility, Flexibility, and Power

Stretching can enhance flexibility and elevated flexibility may assist your joints preserve a wholesome vary of movement. Yoga – or the asana observe, the bodily poses – can assist you improve flexibility, mobility, breath management, and power on the identical time.

This multifaceted method is likely one of the facets that makes yoga efficient for various well being objectives for a spread of physique sorts, ages, and objectives.

Most Common Yoga Types Can Be Thought of Average Bodily Exercise

When individuals stretch, they usually achieve this earlier than or after a exercise – whether or not cardio or strength-based – or just to loosen the muscle tissues. It’s not one thing that will increase power or considerably raises your coronary heart fee.

Whereas yoga wouldn’t be thought-about an intense exercise – with exceptions like scorching yoga or energy/vinyasa yoga – it’s thought-about an different, low-impact exercise that may assist individuals meet average train objectives.

Psychological

Yoga Improves Cognition and Psychological Readability

Yoga observe is understood to enhance your cognition and psychological readability. Scientists proceed to doc the proof for yoga’s constructive results on mind construction and performance. A overview of 11 research demonstrated yoga’s constructive affect on the amygdala (which helps course of feelings and hyperlinks them to reminiscences, studying, and senses), hippocampus (which performs a significant half in studying and reminiscence), prefrontal cortex (which regulates thought, actions, and feelings), cingulate cortex (linked to emotional responses to actions and habits), and mind networks.

Yoga Incorporates Breathwork

Breathwork or pranayama is likely one of the key variations between stretching and yoga.

Pranayama – respiration tied to meditation and motion – helps you tune into your physique and thoughts and transfer vitality.

You breathe when stretching, too. Recommendation is often to breathe usually whereas stretching. You may additionally exhale to deepen a stretch. Nonetheless, this automated respiration doesn’t all the time have the identical focus, intention, or impact as yoga’s purposeful breathwork.

Bodily Yoga Can Be Extra Advanced than Stretching

Whereas yoga is accessible to absolute newcomers, it could actually turn out to be complicated and difficult as you attempt extra superior asanas. It might require many hours over a number of years to soundly and beneficially observe extra superior bodily flows and poses.

Stretching, nevertheless, tends to begin and finish comparatively merely.

Non secular

Yoga is a Holistic Apply

With its origins in historical India, yoga is amongst different issues a religious observe that helps join the physique, thoughts, feelings, and better world.

In contrast to stretching, which is extra mechanical, even essentially the most Westernized yoga often contains breathwork and mindfulness, calming the thoughts, boosting consciousness, enhancing emotional wellness, and serving to us make connections in methods which might be past the bodily.

Emotional

Yoga Can Result in Emotional Launch

Yoga could launch feelings, resulting in yogis laughing or crying on the mat, lastly permitting a deep figuring out to emerge. The mixture of bodily postures (hip openers, specifically, are sometimes linked to emotional launch), meditation, silence, and elevating consciousness can result in tears of reduction or disappointment, and in addition has the potential to uncover buried, hidden, or in any other case obscured feelings.

Whereas deep stretching can activate the parasympathetic nervous system and have an effect on your feelings, should you’re crying throughout stretching, you’ve most likely torn a hamstring.

Yoga Stretches

The relative simplicity of stretching is just not a foul factor. Stretching is nice at concentrating on particular muscle teams and enhancing mobility.

As we’ve seen, yoga contains stretching but additionally goes far past it. Positive, there are yoga lessons that resemble stretching periods – lessons that concentrate on a selected muscle or muscle teams, like wrists, again reduction, and so forth. There are micropractices so you possibly can stretch at work or once you don’t have a lot time. Nonetheless, you can even depend on yoga for a extra holistic expertise.

Nonetheless you are feeling about it, yoga has reached this “a la carte” part the place individuals select what to take from it. The identical is true of many different practices, disciplines, and religions at the moment. So individuals can profit from yoga for stress reduction, improved respiration, elevated power and bodily well being, connection to nature, a religious awakening or – they will simply come to yoga for the stretching. They might additionally need all of the above!

Listed below are some key DYWM lessons to present you a style of how yoga can fulfill your stretching wants.

• Delicate Joint Actions — Sarada introduces sukshma vyayama, the traditional system of yogic practices that options rhythmic stretching actions to take away vitality blockages and loosen joints. Martial artists will respect this earlier than coaching.

All you want is “your thoughts and physique current on the mat.”

This routine stretches and strengthens your supraspinatus, infraspinatus, tere minor, and subscapularis, to heal or stop harm to your rotator cuff.

• Fish pose — We don’t all the time take note of pressure in our chests and throats. This pose is a strong stretch that opens up your coronary heart and throat. Fiji contains variations for extra skilled or extra versatile practitioners who wish to push the stretch additional.
• 14-Day Yoga Problem: Day 13 — True Twists — Along with stretching and strengthening your shoulders and legs, Fiji introduces “true twists” on this intermediate yoga class.

So, Is Yoga Higher Than Stretching or Not?

Yoga and stretching aren’t competing. They’re complementary. You are able to do each. You simply want to consider which method fits you finest.

Individuals typically do dynamic stretches earlier than a exercise. Passive stretches could assist restoration post-workout.

If and once you’re prepared, yoga does every part that stretching does and extra, however its method tends to be extra all encompassing .

You possibly can do yoga as a prelude to extra intense bodily exercise or train. You are able to do a yoga routine to chill down. Or you possibly can simply do yoga, as an exercise in and of itself.

And, lastly, yoga doesn’t must contain stretching in any respect! In the end, it’s a method of approaching life.

Yoga has the bodily advantages of stretching, akin to enhancing flexibility and mobility, but it surely additionally works on our physiology, thoughts, and feelings, with the power to spice up the immune system, relieve stress and anxiousness, enhance cognition, improve muscle power, and far more, partly relying on how a lot time you spend doing it per week.

Whether or not you veer towards stretching or yoga, preserve an open thoughts about each and preserve your bodily consciousness to discern what’s proper in your physique, thoughts, and objectives.