Dear Yoga: I'm Sorry About What I Said

The Journal of the American Dietetic Society came out with a study this month, claiming that practicing yoga has been linked to mindful eating and thus to keeping fit.

Goodie, I thought. Now I can apologize properly to all the people who protested that yes, damn it, yoga really is exercise. Then I looked closer at the study.

Um... or maybe not.

I mean, come on.
It's a questionnaire.
28 questions.
300 humans: 90% female and 80% white

How the heck can I apologize based on this study? It's too small of a sample study for me to use it as the basis of anything. I agree 100% with the researchers that "Further evaluation in more diverse populations is warranted." (I've read a lot of studies and very, very few of them did not end with a similar sentence.)

So I'll apologize based on my personal experience. When science lets us down, we at Cranky Fitness go for anecdotal experience as a last resort. (At least, I do. Crabby has higher standards.)

In the spirit of the great Charlotte (of The Great Fitness Experiment), I tried my own fitness experiment. I followed the Element AM/PM Yoga for Complete Beginners DVD mornings and evenings for a period of three weeks. (Then I had to go do a road trip which did not allow enough time for an entire half-hour each morning and evening devoted to following a DVD.)


Because I want to sound like I know what I'm doing be more like the guys in white coats who get paid huge amounts of cash to post these studies, I put together a questionnaire.

My results are presented below.

Q:Merry, did you like doing yoga?
A: Not at first. But after I finished each session, I noticed that I was in a good mood. And the morning good-moodiness extended into my day at work, while the evening g-m helped me get to sleep more easily. (In itself, an amazing feat. I have me some probs with insomnia.)

Q: Merry, did you feel like you were getting a workout when you did yoga?
A: Again, not at first. Some poses, I had to let my arms carry a lot of my body weight, and hell yeah I felt that while I was in the pose, though not afterwards. But what I got from doing this was a sense that I was part of my body. And I think that I might enjoy a more vigorous form of yoga as well.


Q:Um... what do you mean you felt like you were part of your body? Is your head normally not attached to the rest of you?
A: Well, it might as well be unattached. Usually my mind is off thinking what I have to get done today, what's for dinner, why the guy in Accounting is being so annoying at the weekly meetings, what would I do if I won the Lottery tomorrow... things like that. My mind is rarely focused on the physical body that carries it around so patiently. Doing yoga makes me feel more integrated, mind-and-body united. I know that sounds kinda metaphysical, but it is fitness related. If I'm listening to my body, I'm much more likely to go out there and exercise rather than sitting at a computer playing Free Rice. Thus, my conclusion: if yoga isn't (strictly speaking) exercise, it is an aid to exercise and therefore to be recommended.

Survey details

The CFQ (Cranky Fitness Questionnaire) was distributed to one sample between June 2009 and July 2009, with an overall response rate of 100% (n=1). Participant was woman (100%) and Celtic (100%), and had a mean age of 17 um... 23 oh heck, 45±a few years. Multiple regression analysis would have been used to measure associations of demographic characteristics, obesity, yoga practice, and physical activity with CFQ scores if there had been more than one participant.

But hey! The results were 100%!


Have you performed any one-person research studies?



Woman on the Beach photo credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/akalat/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

Bad, Bad Crab

[By Crabby]

Alert readers will have noticed that Intrepid Co-blogger Merry Sunshine has taken a couple of days off. (She is rumored to have an actual JOB, which unfortunately tends to cut into one's blogging time, especially when work matters get hectic).

So instead of one of Merry's great posts, you're going to get an apology from the Crab, who was supposed to get a post together for today but did not.

[Photo credit: Flikr ]
And yeah, I just used this photo a couple of weeks ago.
See how lazy I'm getting?

Instead, just a brief blog announcement and a few links:


Next Week: A Nice Change of Pace!

Perhaps today's failure to get a real blog post together is a sign that it's time for a brief blogging break? Well, whether it's a sign or not, the Crab and Lobster are taking a camping trip next week, heading off in Fran the Van to visit Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.

Whoopeee!

Merry will still be here (yay!) and we will have guest posts, so you'll barely notice I'm gone. But then Cranky Fitness will be all out of guest posts! So as a reminder, we're always on the lookout for health & fitness related posts, maybe 750ish words or less--and funny is best. Or if funny isn't your thing, then maybe you actually KNOW something about your subject and can supply helpful information. (Something of a novelty at this blog). So Email if you've got something!


A Look Inside an Eating Disorders Clinic:

Charlotte at The Great Fitness Experiment writes another compelling blog post about the heartbreak of treating eating disorders. Whether it's a humorous topic (not this post) or a serious one, I think Charlotte is one of the most talented writers out there in blogland.


Will Laughing Harm Your Fetus?

Gazelles on Crack, another blog you should check out if you don't already visit regularly, answers a pressing health question with all the seriousness and expert knowledge readers of Cranky Fitness have come to expect of health and fitness blogs.


Zen and the Art of Grocery Store Lines

A comment following yesterday's post took exception to my use of "Zen" as an adjective, and in a follow up comment TK of Rough Road Studio, one of our favorite commenters here, writes an eloquent response. Then she puts those Zen principles to work while stuck in a hypothetical grocery store line. Here's an excerpt:

"...I look at lines and stuff that throws my day off track with as much equanimity as I can muster with the tools I have learned in my Buddhist studies. I can choose to suffer when things go differently that what I wanted (ego judgment) or I can choose not to suffer, to maintain my equanimity, which then turns it all into practice in letting go of the ego-self and it's resultant clinging. It really is a choice we make, but we have to begin with the awareness that we do actually have a choice, and that we do subconsciously make it. If I can see that it's not personal, that it just is (whatever "it" is), it's easier to subdue the ego that wants to fume and fuss, and find someone to blame. For example, when there are two checkers and 25 people in line and I was supposed to have dinner on the table in 20 minutes, I can choose to let my blood pressure climb and be a shit about it, or to instead have compassion for the clerk stuck there with 15 fuming people in line, and he's going as fast as he can, or not because he's freezing up in fear. When I have compassion then I am practicing. The more I practice, the more easily I attain equanimity. It's so much less stressful to choose to not have a tantrum."


Are You A Dick?

Heavens no, none of our readers are dicks! But if you want to find out what they're up to, head on over to Dickipedia. Latest dick: Ted Stevens.


Optical Illusions!

If you didn't see these over at Healthbolt last week, check 'em out, they're very cool!


"Ambigram" T-shirt:

For those who have "mixed feelings" about life, or just want to mess with people's heads... these T-shirts say "Have a nice day" viewed right side up.



Upside down? Not so much.



Some Exercise Do's and Don'ts!

And finally,Urban Critter sent this to me, as we have been remiss in meeting our monthly lolcat quota!



more cat pictures

Sorry folks, that's all I got. Will try to do better tomorrow!