Cardio Vs Yoga

Every household has one or the other peculiarity. The one in mine is a bit more peculiar than others.

We have a point of discussion every day. Discussions which lead to family bonding an instil a sense of faith in the system where each member is decoratively participative and exposed to extra information.

The day starts with a new topic which has a life of about 24 hr. And as it so happens the topic perpetuated today was yoga vs cardio.

Clearly, we assume that the younger lot was in favour of cardio however the elders were more inclined towards yoga. My grandparents supported yoga with all their heart and belief. They even went so far as to demonstrate a few pranayama techniques. My parents on the other hand waved the gym membership card and turned out to be diehard fans of cardio. I was thoroughly confused and reluctant to commit to either in my uninformed state.

But here came the unexpected twist when my younger brother, who is in fact the youngest at home, was vehemently in the camp supporting yoga. We were all surprised until I realised that his favourite asana is shav- asana, which requires one to lie down without moving. The yoga camp grew stronger with an active demonstration of the same asana by our dog for most of the day.

As the day progressed, articles were dug out, news items were quoted, internet search engines had to work overtime to unearth arguments for each side, and we were alternatively subjected to shows by Ramdev Baba and gym instructors blocking all other tv channels.

Where most people consider cardio to be a faster way of becoming fitter with each passing day, it was proved that each method to gain fitness demands exclusive time and dedication. Well, probably that is why it was way beyond my area of expertise.

With my parents adamant about their preference of cardio not only for its fun and active exercises but also for its modern and developing techniques, my grandparents were also not convinced to shift their support from that calm exercise to the one which is usually accompanied by the loud and “non-peaceful music” as they say.

The discussion, as usual, did not reach a conclusion. The journey, however was very invigorating and informative. Maybe the orthodox ways are not accepted by the modern generation and vice versa or maybe one of them is right.