Other yoga teachers test the Wii Fit
The experts have their say on the Wii Fit Yoga as The Desert Sun, of Palm Springs, put local yogis to the test. Seasoned teachers Kristin Olson and Chuck Burks from Urban Yoga in Palm Springs were given the Wii Fit and were asked what they thought of Wii Yoga.
The Pros
This is a great way to introduce people to the world of yoga.
The game isn’t intimidating.
In most of the poses, there is a yellow circle on the screen. Players distribute their weight and maintain proper balance by keeping a red dot inside this circle. This is a nice way to focus on the core muscles.
It will help people feel comfortable doing yoga in their own homes.
The interactive nature of the Wii Fit makes it more interesting than a yoga DVD or video.
Even though yoga is not a competitive sport and is not about racking up points, the Wii scoring system can motivate players to keep practicing and continue working on their poses.
Even people who have no interest in yoga will benefit from slowing down and stretching.
The experts noted a few cons: that the practise lacked the heart of yoga in exploring the connection between mind, body, and spirit. The meditative quality of yoga practise is lost as there are stops between postures, clicking through to the next, without consideration to sequencing, and holding the wiimote is annoying. The teachers also noted that some postures could be advanced for newcomers, and risk of injury is present if the pose is held incorrectly.
I agree with them and these are all points I have made of this blog before and the obvious conclusion is the wii fit is not a replacement for a regular yoga pratice, and thus should not be compared to yoga as a whole. The Wii fit is only a very very small sample of yoga but the percentage of people crossing over from the Wii yoga to a local yoga class to daily pratice should be noted as positive movement for the yoga community.
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