"Forget spiritual — women here are all rushing to yoga to lose weight," I was told by Mumbai psychologist Julia Noakes. "They see young professional Indian women with slender waists and tight butts and give them 'the Bombay Look.' " Translation: A gaze of envy.
Yoga offers many benefits, from mind control to pain relief, but I'd never heard that weight loss was one of them. A huge banner outside of Gold's Gym touted its "Fat Burning Yoga Package." The gym is a California import with franchises all over Southeast Asia. I suspected an American commercialization of India's greatest contribution to self-care.
A young Indian man named Ram Raz roared up on his motorbike and led students to a basement studio he'd rented for the hour. After two quick oms, he started shouting, "Run, on your toes, faster, faster!" He counted us through 20 sun salutations in the space of a minute. Breathless, we were then put through jumping jacks, kicks, jumps, every sort of contortion.
"This is not yoga, it's calisthenics," I told Raz after class. "Yes, yes," he agreed. "It's power yoga. You come three times a week, you lose weight, lose inches, shape body, change life." (MORE)
Source: USA Today
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