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The Science Of Yoga: The Risks And The Rewards (2012)

by William J. Broad(Favorite Author)

3.64 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1451641427 (ISBN13: 9781451641424)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Simon & Schuster

review 1: There are some good tidbits in here, and a lot of extra that needed to be polished up before publishing. The first few chapters were really well done, and after that things got sloppy. The chapter on kundalini was a disaster. There was good too, there was some very solid information on how oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the blood change and affect the brain. The section on injuries was also very interesting.Broad turned up some really interesting studies, and I'm very supportive of calling out the pseudoscience mambo jumbo that you tend to hear being spouted in yoga studios, but I don't think that book was ready to be published. I think it would have made a few excellent articles, long form even.
review 2: Synthesizes the peer-reviewed research on yoga and... more weighs it against the results yogis attribute or promise from various versions of asana practice. It dips into tanta and kundalini stuff, but I don't really care about that. In sum, Broad breaks it down: yoga is not cardiovascular exercise. Its tangible benefits derive from increasing flexibility and strength, while its systemic benefits mostly involve slowing the basal metabolism, which means that theoretically yoga could encourage weight gain. I can see why so many high-profile yogipreneurs discredit Broad, but this is not "The Octopus" of yoga. He loves yoga enough to want to know the truth, and I appreciate his efforts, though this was slow going after the first three chapters. less

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