Beautiful surroundings increases motivation, and I’m quite sure the ancient Greeks knew that. Lovely temples, fountains, gardens and a spacious performance area was a luxury, but also part of the strategy to become better athletes or maybe even Olympic performers.
Strangly enough (for some of us) the athletes trained and competed naked, so the Gymnasium was also a popular place for studying anatomy, whether for medical, spiritual or simply aesthetic purposes. Actually the words Gymnasium, Gym or gymnast are all from Greek gymnós, meaning naked. However, men and women were kept separated, and most gymnasiums were for men only.
I also want to point out that yoga was not an exercise for the ancient Greeks.
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