Yoga is the new football

Happy weekend yogis!  If, like me, you live in the northeast USA, you are enjoying an unseasonably warm day. Wahoo!  It made getting my butt out of my delightfully comfortable bed for yoga this morning so much easier.  (However, the treat of practicing with Andrea Fotopoulos would have been inspiration enough.)

Like pretty much everyone in the yoga community, we discussed the recent article in the New York Times entitled How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body in my yoga class this morning.  If you haven’t read it yet, please do.  The basic point of the article is that yoga is extremely dangerous and should not be practiced by the majority of people.  It somehow makes it seem like yoga is more dangerous than football, boxing, etc. Other than this wildly sensational tone, I have some mixed feelings on the actual content.

I would definitely not go so far as to say I agree with the idea that most people should not practice yoga, but I do think that it is important that people see that injuries can occur during yoga practice and choose the type of yoga they practice wisely.  Like anything, there is an inherent risk in the practice, but in the case of yoga, the risk is often downplayed because of all the great healing qualities that are also associated with it.  However, I am not sure how you could ever think that there is NO risk involved in yoga, when some of the postures look like this:

Really, it all has to do with knowing your body and knowing your boundaries.

• If something starts to hurt – just stop it!  Right away.
• Like most people, you may be driven to try to do better than (or at least as well as) the others around you.  So am I.  It is hard to stop being driven by ego.  You are not really practicing until you let go of your obsession with “skill”.  Just do what is right for you and heightens your experience of your practice.   Let go of your ego and just practice.
• If you have injuries, make sure your doctor does not think it is a bad idea.  If he/she thinks it is a good idea, make sure you go to an experienced teacher who will work with you to ensure that you have the best yoga experience you can without getting hurt.  Modifications are key.

I do not want to act like I am immune to the drive to do things I should not do.  Of course I try to do ridiculous postures when I should not (specifically when I have had a few drinks).  Without fail, I wake up the next day with numerous bruises and strained muscles.  I am trying to quit.  The last time, my friend said, “I can do a headstand!  No problem!” He then proceeded to do a handstand into a door, which opened, and he fell right onto the bathroom sink – literally breaking it in half.  So, yeah… yoga can be dangerous.  Practice at your own risk. Preferably sober.

The thing that concerns me about the article is its message of fear, propagated by taking a few extreme cases of injury and highlighting them. For example, one young man spent hours at a time in vajrasana (kneeling, sitting back on your heels).  After a while, he had trouble walking, climbing stairs, etc.  Once he stopped doing this pose for hours on end, the condition improved.  This later became known as “yoga foot drop”.  Okay. I have a few issues with this.  (1) Sitting in any way for hours on end is not healthy.  (2) How many people are actually going to spend that much time sitting in this pose?  Calm down.

Nothing is without threat of injury.  Even though I often hurt myself in some way while dancing – in my experience, dance teachers push you to do unhealthy things much more than yoga teachers – I am pretty sure I have hurt myself more just being me.  For instance, I have had stitches in my chin not once, but twice.  My arches fell during a spring break trip to London on Day 1. I have been known to go into back spasms while just walking.  Does this mean that if you are prone to back issues, you should not walk?  NO!!

If you heed every warning to the point where you stop doing everything you love, what is the point of life?  Follow your bliss – just be careful.

Peace, light and love – namaste.