The yoga world is in a twist this week after this New YorkTimes article suggested yoga can be harmful to your body. Of course like any headline
making story it just focused on all the bad stuff listing a huge array of
injuries people had suffered in the pursuit of yoga.
Can yoga wreck your body? Nope. But you can wreck it doing
yoga. That’s right – like everything it’s your responsibility to say “Um, I’m
sorry, but I really, really can’t wrap my leg around my neck this morning and seriously,
I have no desire to do that.” If your teacher insists you do it, leave the
class and find a new teacher.
Personally I think the crux of the problem is most of us are
either too scared or too competitive to admit we can’t do something AND most of
us (unlike dedicated yoginis) do not have the time to practice three hours a
day and create a body capable of bending into knots, or doing full headstand for
five minutes.
So when we’re in
class and our gorgeous yoga teacher (who does practice three hours a day) bends
over backwards we think, “If I just push a little harder I can do that, too.” Of
course, what we should be thinking is, “OMG, if I do that I’m gonna pop a disc.”
If you want to keep enjoying yoga then find a teacher who
truly means it when she says “listen to your body” (Nanaimoites can head to Steph's class at OmTown yoga). And when your body is
screaming ‘dear god stop’ then, stop.
The yoga world is in a twist this week after this New YorkTimes article suggested yoga can be harmful to your body. Of course like any headline
making story it just focused on all the bad stuff listing a huge array of
injuries people had suffered in the pursuit of yoga.
nicely said janina!! i agree totally!
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