Are certain yoga poses contradictory to general Exercise guidelines?
The practice of yoga has been around for 6000 years, which is much longer than aerobics. Therefore, we wouldnt expect yoga to fit neatly into the aerobic guidelines. If we look closely, though, we see that the practice of yoga contains the five components of fitness: Cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance and body composition. If a student finds that he/she is uncomfortable with any pose, there are always options or variations of that pose to consider. Inversions can always be taught with the option of legs up the wall pose. The Special Conditions section of the Level 1 manual contains more specific information for different populations of students.
