AI tools like ChatGPT have become virtually inescapable. The generative chatbots are designed for mental outsourcing and help people explore, learn, imagine and even create.
As these tools gain popularity, there is a question of discernment that seems to haunt us all: what is AI useful for, and which endeavors should be reserved for humans only? For example, it is useful to have ChatGPT help you create an itinerary for an upcoming vacation; finishing a song you’ve written is… less so.
So what happens when you ask ChatGPT to create something directly related to body and breathing? Like a one-hour yoga practice, for example?
We gave ChatGPT the following prompt: “Create me a 60-minute vinyasa yoga sequence with Crow as a peak pose.” We then asked several yoga teachers, including YJ staffers, to try it the resulting practice.
The result was a rapid study into the possibilities and limitations of AI, especially when it comes to a practice as fully embodied as yoga.
Some positive feedback
ChatGPT’s take on a yoga class wasn’t entirely terrible. The bot learned some basics, including understanding how to create a yoga sequence at a very basic level.
After putting herself through practice, yoga teacher Taylor Lorenz notes that ChatGPT clearly recognized the need for a warm-up. “It understood that the wrists needed to be warmed, the heat needed to build,” she says. Lorenz also appreciated the time spent on Savasana at the end of the class (five whole minutes!), an essential integration step that many yoga teachers skimp on.
There were a few more surprises. “Pulsing in Goddess Pose is not something I would have thought about in preparation for Crow!” says Lorenz. “But it really warms the inner thighs and really helps prepare for the pose in general, and I enjoyed discovering something new.”
All our testers, including Yoga diary editor-in-chief and yoga teacher Renee Marie Schettler had a lot of thoughts about preparing for Crow (more on that later). But Schettler nods to the fact that ChatGPT encouraged students to test the general shape of the pose in their bodies earlier in the class, before trying the balancing part of it. “Ask students to create the Crow shape while first keeping their feet on the mat allows students to become familiar with the shape without adding the scary balance part of the equation,” she says.
And as a bonus, the sequence featured an unusual but intriguing transition: from Revolved “Crescent” (or High Lunge) to Goddess looking at the other long side of the mat. “I had never experienced that before,” says Schettler. “It felt intuitive and beautiful.”
Our (many) concerns
Not surprisingly, there is a lot missing from an AI-generated yoga practice. Overall, our testers not only found it boring, but they also lacked the creativity and physicality needed to show up in an arm-balancing pose like Crow.
The current was highly dependent on Sun A and B – 22 minutes to be precise. And that doesn’t include the three rounds of Half Sun Salutations. The repetition, while not uncommon in some human-run classes, felt forced rather than thoughtful. Schettler noted that the number of greetings alone has the potential to exhaust some students before the most demanding part of the lesson.
Additionally, certain transitions in the standing poses portion of the class felt awkward for several testers. We’re looking at you, Warrior 1 to Warrior 2 and Goddess to Malasana.
Yoga teachers Bradshaw wish And Giana Gambinofounders of CAYA Yoga School and hosts of the The funny thing about yoga podcast, quickly jumped on the fact that the foreshadowing component of the lesson is almost entirely missing. The lack of reference to posture earlier in the lesson means that the shoulder blade protraction, hip flexion and knee flexion required for Crow was a surprise rather than something the class is building towards.
Schettler was also frustrated by the lack of proper preparation early in the series. “Nowhere is attention paid to what it actually takes to lift your feet off the mat and maintain that balancing act,” she says. This would involve asking students to press their knees against their upper arms, as in the Lizard Pose, and practice focusing boldor staring, so that they do not look around when they get into arm balance and therefore lose their balance.
As for the necessary element of core involvement? We don’t know her. “Crow is a pose that demands a lot from your body,” says Lauren Berger, Outside’s Managing Video Editor and yoga teacher. “You could have prepared by holding Plank or Crow style crunches.”
The actual directions on how to get to Crow were also woefully inadequate. So did the addition of counter-positions (namely backbends to juxtapose all that forward flexion), which left us all feeling a little off balance afterwards.
Apart from the movement, the timing was completely wrong.
As Wish notes, the instruction to do a total of three sun salutations in ten minutes means holding downward-facing dog for about three minutes at a time.
“I practiced this for about 35 minutes, going at a slower pace,” says Lorenz, who even went so far as to add more breaths than the sequence suggested. “A lot of bulk needs to be added.”
Overall, it didn’t take anyone the entire 60 minutes to complete the class, even if the practitioners had moved as slowly as humanly possible.
Our takeaways
Overall, the exercise seemed more like an outline than an actual lesson. Lorenz plans to experiment with ChatGPT to see what the bot spits out on days when she’s not feeling super inspired, but she doesn’t recommend relying on the tool. None of us do that.
“As a yoga teacher, it’s important that you trust your body, trust your experiences, and not rely on something like ChatGPT to put together a sequence,” says Bradshaw, adding that the AI model can’t yet understand how things really connect and flow.
Schettler assessed the sequence based on the arm balancing classes she has taken and taught, in which the postures are carefully coordinated. “When that happens, the arm balance pose, whether it’s Crow or something else, feels like the next logical part of the sequence,” she explains. The human element of having a teacher respond to what is happening in students can help them get into their bodies and respond to what is happening in their minds. “That didn’t happen here. Right now you just have a set of instructions to cycle through shapes.”
Yoga is the meeting of breath and movement, two things that ChatGPT cannot seem to convey and perhaps cannot understand. To teach yoga safely and effectively, you need a body that can sense the shapes you’re teaching – and the inner ability to anchor the practice to something else.
ChatGPT Yoga practice: what we were looking for
Our criteria for an AI-generated yoga practice was similar to what we would consider when taking a human-generated sequence. While our testers had many opinions to share with us, we also asked them the following:
1. What did the overall flow feel like?
Thoughts and first feelings around the flow. In short, regardless of whether the atmosphere was off or not.
2. How long was the lesson?
One of the first things teachers learn about sequencing is that you need a fair number of vignettes to build up an hour-long lesson. Therefore, testers were asked whether this exercise actually lasted 60 minutes.
3. Were the transitions between each pose smooth and effective?
Transitions between poses have the power to feel intuitive, add interest to an exercise, or take you completely out of it – which can be challenging for an algorithm to understand.
4. Was enough time spent on each pose? Was too much time spent on certain vignettes/poses?
Yoga is a breathing exercise. Too little time in each pose can cause your breathing to speed up, making the class feel rushed and quite stressful. Too much time can depress the energy in the classroom or leave students feeling defeated in challenging poses.
5. How well prepared was your body for peak pose (again, Crow)?
As Schettler noted, it is essential to prepare the relevant body parts to move naturally into a peak pose such as Crow. Students should feel strong and stable as they tackle the most challenging form of the day.
6. Is this something you could teach today?
Would you feel confident teaching this lesson without changes? Or would your students – and your conscience – revolt?
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