Are Yoga Pants really useful for Yoga

Yoga is a good lifestyle practice and should be followed to earn good health and peace of mind, but a number of people are following it to click selfies and then upload their best pics on social networks to get some likes and comments. Yoga pants are one of such accessories that may make your pics look better and your yoga mat will make others aware that you do yoga. Yoga is the latest fashion for some people and some marketing companies are utilizing this opportunity by making people feel that their yoga pants will give them look of a model. Once you fall prey to such tricks, the probability of forgetting the real objective of yoga is quiet high.

Are Yoga Pants really useful ?
Yes, they are useful. Yoga Pants are the latest skinny jeans that you can use with various forms of dresses. They take lesser space in your wardrobe, easier to wash, easier to dry and no hassle of buttoning-unbuttoning. These features really make them easier to wear at work, home and workout.

Are Yoga Pants also helpful in Yoga ?

If you have noticed the structure of yoga pants, then you must have noticed that they stick to skin and stretch easily. You may feel that it won't tear when you stretch, but the truth is that even your old sweatpants can do the same job. The real fact is that the new yoga pants don't let your legs breathe and makes the yoga less effective. Most of us don't do as much stretching as yoga pants can support.

Some negative facts about Yoga Pants

• Our skin is our largest organ, which removes a number of toxins out of our body. Wearing skin tight clothes disturbs this process.
• Yoga Pants are usually made of wrinkle-free fabrics, which is treated with chemicals that release formaldehyde (a toxic cancer-causing chemical).
• Wrinkle-free clothes cause dermatitis, a skin condition that causes itchiness, rashes and blisters. 
• Toxic chemicals like Triclosan are used in Yoga Pants to prevent odor.
• Additives like PFAS/Teflon are used to make yoga pants stain repellent.
• Fabrics like nylon and polyester are used in yoga pants, and these fabrics generate nitrous oxide during their production, which is 300 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.
• Dyes used to color the fabric of Yoga Pants use heavy metals, which pollute water and wildlife.
• Short term wearing of such fabric might not produce and harmful effect, but long term may do.

Recently an article was published in NewYork Times claiming that Yoga Pants are bad for women. That article attracted a lot of controversy and several women claimed that yoga pants are good and that thinking of writer was a bit mean. But here the actual concern is yoga, not the pants or freedom of women. Some people blamed the writer to be closed-minded while the writer was just telling that the society is becoming cloth-minded.

Yoga Pants are more about

• letting your curves be visible to others, especially men (nothing bad in it).
• spending more money on fashion, instead of the yoga class itself.
• making your pics tell others that you do yoga, even if you don't.

The name "Yoga Pants" don't justify the product as it is widely used for all other purposes but yoga. Any other name would have done the job, such as skinny pants, stretch pants or rubber pants.

Now a days fitness studios are taking place of traditional gym, where the looks matter more than what you are really doing to improve your health. Truth is that women are spending more on fitness accessories, instead of real fitness. The count of women joining fitness studios is twice more than men and it has really boosted the sale.

The truth is that most of us wear yoga pants because they are sexy, otherwise their is nothing special about them for yoga. Some feminist may say that women have every right to look sexy, but the truth is that yoga is meant for health and peace of mind. Women may wear anything they like, but purchasing them in name yoga and gym is totally wrong.

Reference:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/opinion/sunday/yoga-pants-sweatpants-women.html
https://branchbasics.com/blog/detox-your-wardrobe/