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Comment by modi15 | Hacker News Reader

Yoga was pseudoscience once. Now there is overwhelming evidence in support of it. Ayurveda descends from a similar lineage. The turmeric latte that the western world is infatuated with at the moment is just the tip of the Ayurveda iceberg.

The only reason Ayurveda isnt backed clinically is because it hasnt been subjected to it. But it will, exactly the way Yoga did. Yoga and Ayurveda are backed by science the just not in a clinical sense because it wasnt possible back then. They still went through an iterative development phase rooted in experiments and observation.

Also, the link you quoted doesnt discredit Ayurveda at all. Its about medicines sold in the name of Ayurveda having heavy metals.

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In fact Ayurveda itself has a long history of both surgery (like cataracts, or facial reconstruction), and medicine. The fact of the matter is that for thousands of years it's foundation is based on:

"Anusandhana" "Anveshana" etc which are translated as Research. Ayurveda has the fundamental concept of Prama(Fact) that one statement made is truth only if proved by Pramanas, which include Pratyaksha(Perception), Anumana(Inference), Upamana(Analogy), Yukti(Planning) & Apthopadesha(Authoritative Testimony) each & every word in the samhita is written only after using these logic

India has a strong history of Logic, and philosophy that people discount on wholesale, while at the same time use it. For example the entire field of modern cognitive science, and consciousness science uses a tremendous amount of borrowed ideas from Buddhism, to Hinduism.

I feel that India generally isn't given enough credit for the progress it has made in the sciences, which is quite sad, and I can't help but feel that it's motivated by both an apathy among Indians towards their own history, and perhaps racism as many Indology departments in the USA tend to focus on the negatives, instead of positives as other religious, or cultural studies tend towards.

It's a matter of needing to have enough respect to submit to the rigours of the scientific method (come what may) if it wants to be classified as a science. That's about it.

> Yoga was pseudoscience once. Now there is overwhelming evidence in support of it.

just because something that used to be labeled pseudoscience turns out to be real science, doesn't mean you can use that fact to defend other pseudoscience claims.

> Ayurveda descends from a similar lineage.

what are you implying here? that yoga is an ancient indian tradition and is proven to be legit, Ayurveda is also an ancient indian tradition, therefore it's probably also legit?

I was simply implying that Yoga and Ayurveda both originate from the same 'body' of ancient indian literature called the Vedas. I am no expert though and cant comment on how closely related they are.

Read Patanjali Yoga Sutra.

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

Or maybe because it has been seen working for a large population for many many centuries. I don't know how it works doesn't mean it doesn't work.

There's also the Null Hypothesis: that it isn't what was (seen to be) "working".

I went so far as to use quotes, because, how do we even know what "not working" would have looked like? If the Null Hypothesis were false, might he population actually have been, overall, healthier without all this "medicine"?

> Yoga was pseudoscience once. Now there is overwhelming evidence in support of it.

Support of what?? Last I checked, there is a lack of (quality) studies comparing yoga to other forms of exercise.

Also, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/how-yoga-can-wre...

For example breathing techniques help in concentration "The Yogi masters were right – breathing exercises can sharpen your mind. New research explains link between breath-focused meditation and brain health" http://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/the-yogi-masters-were...

Not to mention the link between psychology conditions, like anxiety, depression, etc. and breathing. Studies show that breathing techniques help improve mood, and in fact inviduals that have improper breathing, or arrhythmic breathing also tend to be afflicted by certain psychological ailments which when improved also reduce, and in some cases cure individuals.

He asked for evidence on the effectiveness of yoga specifically, not meditation techniques in general. Just because yoga and meditation have components of deep breathing doesn't mean that you can use research on the latter to support the former without a deep dive into the research methodology.

Pranayama is a specific set of asanas in yoga. That is to say these are Yogic methods, in addition to physical activities, and further philosophical activities that are encompassed within the Yoga system/school of thought.

I suggest you check once more around a month from now - 21st June, World Yoga Day, to be precise - from any of the thousands of yoga practitioners that you will find clogging the streets of your city.

I would place it first in the "sports, health and social activities" category, over the research and science category. If yoga is a science, then walking with the dog is also a science.

There is a lot of scientific principles under metabolism and carrying of oxigen by blood in life beings, but this does not mean that anybody is a scientist just for taking a deep breath or stretching their muscles.

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