Final answer:
Yogis may feel weightless while hopping due to a brief experience of free fall, similar to how astronauts feel weightless in space because they are in continuous free fall whilst in orbit around Earth.
Step-by-step explanation:
Some yogis claim to feel weightless while hopping, which can be explained using the concept of free fall. This sensation is akin to what astronauts experience in space, which is often referred to as weightlessness. When astronauts are aboard the Space Shuttle, despite Earth's gravity still exerting force on them, they appear to be unaffected by gravitational forces because they, along with the shuttle, are in a state of continuous free fall around Earth.
This means they are in orbit, accelerating towards Earth but also moving tangentially at a speed that causes them to continue falling around the planet rather than towards it directly. The feeling of weightlessness occurs because the astronauts and their surroundings all accelerate at the same rate, resulting in no additional forces being felt, akin to the elevator cable break scenario where passengers would feel weightless.