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Yoga as exercise

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A western style hatha yoga class. Some 16m people in the US alone practice this form of yoga.
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A western style hatha yoga class. Some 16m people in the US alone practice this form of yoga.

See Yoga for the family of spiritual practices that originated in India.

While Yoga evolved as a spiritual practice, in the West it has grown popular as a form of purely physical exercise. Some Western practice has little or nothing to do with Hinduism or spirituality, but is simply a way of keeping healthy and fit. This differs from the traditional Eastern view of yoga. While it is not always possible (or even desirable) to completely separate "exercise yoga" from "spiritual yoga," this article seeks to concentrate on the former.

Yoga as exercise has evolved into numerous subdivisions and variations. There is some debate whether the term Hatha Yoga properly describes yoga as exercise, since the traditional Hatha Yoga system is a spiritual path in its own right.

See also

 


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