Can Yoga Wreck Your Body?

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Posted on January 31st, 2012

Can Yoga Wreck Your Body?

There’s been a lot of talk in the blogosphere about a certain New York Times article, How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body, adapted from a book: “The Science of Yoga: The Risks and Rewards,” by William J. Broad—due out next month.

Though Broad admits that much of the benefits of yoga are true: “Yoga can lower your blood pressure, make chemicals that act as antidepressants, even improve your sex life,” he states that “A growing body of medical evidence supports...that, for many people, a number of commonly taught yoga poses are inherently risky.” Broad cites reports of yoga injuries appearing “decades ago” in some of the “world’s most respected journals.”

Though Broad does emphasize that most injuries are due to ego—either on the part of the student or the teacher—he goes on to provide examples of injuries as though they prove that yoga itself is dangerous, rather than the way certain people practice it.

And his examples? They were ones that most experienced yoga teachers would have some instant preventative solutions for.

EXAMPLE “In one case, a male college student, after more than a year of doing yoga, decided to intensify his practice. He would sit upright on his heels in a kneeling position known as vajrasana for hours a day, chanting for world peace. Soon he was experiencing difficulty walking, running and climbing stairs.”

SOLUTION Don’t sit for hours a day in Vajrasana if it’s causing pain.

EXAMPLE “In 1972 a prominent Oxford neurophysiologist, W. Ritchie Russell, published an article in The British Medical Journal... Russell found that brain injuries arose not only from direct trauma to the head but also from quick movements or excessive extensions of the neck, such as occur in whiplash — or certain yoga poses.”

SOLUTION Note the words “quick” and “excessive”. If it feels too “quick”—practitioners can slow it down. If it feels “excessive” we can back off.

EXAMPLE “The patient had been in excellent health, practicing yoga every morning for a year and a half. His routine included spinal twists in which he rotated his head far to the left and far to the right. Then he would do a shoulder stand with his neck “maximally flexed against the bare floor,” just as Iyengar had instructed, remaining in the inversion for about five minutes. A series of bruises ran down the man’s lower neck, which, the team wrote in The Archives of Neurology, “resulted from repeated contact with the hard floor surface on which he did yoga exercises.”

SOLUTION Notice the bruises. These are a sign to pay attention to. Even the medical team assessing Nagler’s patient agrees, citing in their report: “Healthy individuals could seriously damage their vertebral arteries, they warned, ‘by neck movements that exceed physiological tolerance.’” So don’t exceed physiological tolerance.

EXAMPLE “Around this time, stories of yoga-induced injuries began to appear in the media. The Times reported that health professionals found that the penetrating heat of Bikram yoga, for example, could raise the risk of overstretching, muscle damage and torn cartilage.”

SOLUTION Avoid extreme heat, and don’t overstretch.

Broad concludes with a quote from long-time yoga teacher Glenn Black. “‘Asana is not a panacea or a cure-all. In fact, if you do it with ego or obsession, you’ll end up causing problems.’”

Agreed. Looking for tips on how to safely do yoga at home or in a studio? Take some pointers from our latest blog post: 10 Tips for How to do Yoga at Home.

BY LINDSEY LEWIS A certified Hatha, Kundalini and Yin yoga teacher, Lindsey is also a behind-the-scenes team member at www.myyogaonline.com. Find her yoga at home videos here, and her website here. Lindsey's personal mantra? Live free

Tags: MyYogaOnline, yoga at home, yoga safety, can yoga wreck your body, yoga injuries, New York Times, How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body, Science of Yoga, Broad, yoga pain

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