Age and popularity of an idea or practice have some predictive power as to how useful it has been. Old and surviving is some evidence. Popular is some evidence. Old and NOT popular is conflicting evidence—it’s useful (or at least not very harmful) to some, perhaps limited by context or covariant factors that don’t apply elsewhere.
Whether your interpretation of a practice will get benefits for you should probably be determined by more specific analysis than “it worked for a small set of people in a very different environment, and never caught on universally”.
Age and popularity of an idea or practice have some predictive power as to how useful it has been. Old and surviving is some evidence. Popular is some evidence. Old and NOT popular is conflicting evidence—it’s useful (or at least not very harmful) to some, perhaps limited by context or covariant factors that don’t apply elsewhere.
Whether your interpretation of a practice will get benefits for you should probably be determined by more specific analysis than “it worked for a small set of people in a very different environment, and never caught on universally”.