by Adwaith PB
Yoga is no longer that “hey oldie” as it used to be. From the aegis old Pasupati seal unearthed from an Indus Valley site, Yoga has revolutionized itself into a dynamic tech-integrated discipline. From Pasupati to Apple watch, the journey of Yoga through the corridors of time is nothing less than a momentous roller-coaster ride.
Yoga and Technology: A Fantabulous Fusion
Technology makes life easier, and technologically integrated yoga will help you achieve that ease with a perfect posture and meticulous meditation.
Word is now a rat race behind materialistic benefits, studded with insecurities, civil wars, distrust, theft, loot, plunder, etc. and people are looking for means to escape- escape from the perils of the pandemic, and the complexities of the materialistic world to an idealistic utopia (well, all Utopias are ideal).
On one hand, technology-enabled yoga strikes a perfect balance between the rat race and the quest for peace. And on the other, between the grandeur of the aegis-old postures and nonpareil meditative techniques, and the quest for peace and tranquility, embraced by the sizzling sensation of the advanced technology.
The Beginning: Apps, Assistants, and Live Streams
In the first place, the combination of technology and yoga just produced some online lectures and yoga apps. You no longer need to visit yoga studios to practice yoga, as even with a smartphone, you can perfect your own practice station in your comfort zone.
Yoga apps like Pocket Yoga will act as mobile Yoga instructors, and those like Yoga Studio will provide you with customizable yoga classes.
Yoga studios went virtual, as many gigs like OMstars and Movement For Modern Life started on-demand yoga classes screening at home.
Zenia AI is a virtual yoga assistant that would, to an extent, replace a yoga master. You can easily transform your home into a specialized yoga studio as the assistant will analyze your body movements and send real-time suggestions and feedback to correct your posture.
Pivot, developed by Turing Sense, helps users track their body movements and postures, and help them practice yoga with utmost perfection.
Towards Development: Clothes, Gadgets, and Mats
Yogic clothes are the perfect combo of technology and yoga. First, it will help translate all your body movements and postures into well-defined statistical data on your device. Second, yogic clothes will provide you with real-time feedback, and will help you correct your postures.
One of the most sophisticated wearables is Nadi X, a yoga pant that will send vibrations if your posture is incorrect. Virtual lessons and mobile apps can only give you a paper lesson, and you will be left with no way to verify if you’re doing it correctly. In that sense, intelligent yoga pants like Nadi X are a pretty useful innovation.
Wearable fitness tracking gadgets like the Apple Watch will help you track heart rate and calories burnt while doing yoga. Jeevah Yoga smartwatch will help you measure stress levels while performing the exercise.
These gadgets will enable you to track the real-time benefits of doing yoga and would help you measure them using numbers- may it be stress levels or burnt calories.
Furthermore, accessories also include innovations like Muse, a headband that would help you maintain your concentration during meditation.
A yoga mat is one of the cardinal prerequisites to perform yoga. Innovation in this field involves intelligent yoga mats that would help you personalize your postures. SmartMat is a motion-sensing mat that would help you correct your postures. Furthermore, Yoga Fi is yet another interactive, intelligent yoga mat that would help you achieve the perfect posture. In addition to that, Yoga Paws are specialized mats for hands and feet, that would help correct your body posture while performing yogic exercises.
Globalization of Yoga: AR and the Wonder of Colors
Yoga is no longer a regional phenomenon. It has become global. A survey conducted by Statistica in 2018 reveals that around 29 million (nearly 9%) Americans practice yoga. The number of people doing yoga outside the doors of the studios is also increasing, thanks to the pandemic that gave a fillip to the growing relationship between technology and yoga. What started as an experimental causal relationship evolved into a committed alliance.
Not only wearables, mats, and apps; yoga studios started incorporating AR into training sessions. With the help of Augmented Reality, the yogis could experience a serene atmosphere- of mountain ranges and snow-capped hills, of waterfalls and lush green forests. The practitioners can now embrace an immersive yogic experience, along with the added benefits of increasing concentration and reducing stress levels.
Some studios also started combining color therapy with yoga. For instance, Chroma Yoga at London has classes illuminated with six different colors, each for the respective color-specific yoga exercise. The yellow class will help in digestion, while the blue helps maintain stress levels.
Final Words
To sum up, Yoga is no longer an ancient art. It is a way of life made easier by evolving technology. From wearables to virtual yoga assistants, and from assimilating color therapy and Artificial Reality, the prospects of technology in yoga are unlimited.
Yogic technology is still evolving, and the day is not too far when we can meet a tech yogi, beyond all prejudices of a yogi as a simple oldie living in the woods or mountain ranges.
Especially when the world is shifting its focus from beauty and appearance to that of health and wellness, technology in yoga appears more attractive as it may sound to be.
About the Author:
Adwaith PB is a freelance content writer. His blood cells are woven with Hypergraphia, as he breathes in books, exhales words, and sneezes poetry. Captivated by the web of words, he escape miraculously writing content.