> yoga is calisthenics

While yoga-as-meditation seems to have a long in India:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga#History

Yoga-as-exercise was a much more recent phenomenon started by Westerners:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_as_exercise

> Goldberg is the author of The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi, the Woman Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West. Her book traces the modern Western practice of yoga to a Russian woman named Indra Devi, who was born in 1899 with the birth name Eugenia Peterson.

* https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/06/01/4112024...

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra_Devi

Regardless, if it gets people off the couch, then to a certain extent who cares which is "better": the perfect is the enemy of the good.

Did you read your sources?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatha_yoga

lol

Sure, but we're talking about physical health here. The religious/spiritual/mental thing is separate. You can also meditate while you lift, no? :)

There are many kinds of meditation. You can try being mindful while lifting iron, so at least you can practice mindfulness mediation.

The same way you can do yoga and think about lifting weights!

okay my mistake in using that word but the point stands... have you ever done any of the yogas?