“Do Wii look fat in our jeans?”
An inside look at Wii Yoga: Are there genuine physical and psychological benefits from practicing virtual yoga OR is this just a big misunderstanding?
Gaming developers have finally broken through the limits of the gaming entertainment into a very personal realm: health & fitness. We all have our insecurities about joining gyms, personal training, aerobics classes, team sports, and yoga classes. Going back to the gym can be a frightening experience for everyone and anyone who has had a fear of being judged by those who are in better shape and those of the opposite sex. Nintendo devised a well prepared marketing proposal for a new game that would allow your insecurities to stay at home with you: Wii Fit.
Wii Fit is a punishing motivator. You start by creating an avatar known as a Mii, during the body test it weighs you without permission, gives you a BMI (body mass index), and then fattens or thins your Mii based upon your results. YIKES! Talk about rubbing your insecurities in your face! By the way, a person’s BMI is a result of your height and weight comparable on a standardized chart defining what the average person your height and weight should be. Your BMI does not take into consideration muscle mass or body fat. It is a pretty generic system in calculating results in an important topic such as your general health, which could be harmfully misleading.
Once you advance past the scrutinizing comments posted by this virtual Wii board (which you stand on for almost all of the exercises and I love how it yelps once it instructs you to stand on it…not so funny) you then have your choice of different types of exercises. Wii yoga stood out amongst all of the aerobic, strength, and balance exercises as the most questionable in controversy. Having invested a good portion of my time into Bikram yoga (or hot yoga) I found that without an instructor and the proper environment to practice the meditation or spirituality of the exercise was missing. I also found myself over exerting my body to keep within the accuracy window on the screen. Having had the previous experience with yoga I issue concern for those who are trying it for the first time.
The question at hand is Wii Yoga appropriate for first time yogis? You select a virtual instructor who, during your yoga session, berates you when you are off target and sparsely congratulates you are on. What is definitely missing is the melodic voice that gives you the reassurance that patience is a virtue and that the pose will be perfected with practice, the need for relaxing the mind and body, and how breathing is key to finding your whole as a person. Though it seems as though the negatives out way the positives many people across this great nation have found solace in its form of rehabilitation and battling the bulge which is what is soon to be divulged for you all to manufacture a yay or nay for the Wii Fit Yoga.
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This report will be great. I tried the Wii Fit also. I liked it a lot and just laughed when it berated me because it was right! I was wobbley.
ReplyDeleteBut when overweight people get on it and it tells them they are obese it is a little hard to take. Just the same, it is helping the battle of the bulge at our house.