Mr. Broad's Critique of Asana Practice

[muck_a_luck]

I came across this guy's article the other day. How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body. Also, he is selling a book.

It is certainly a valid point that one should practice with care and non-violence toward self.

Not sure what else I think about this, though. Discuss?

Comments

[muck_a_luck]

That was almost exactly my take-away from reading it. Sun salutations are not that different from pushups and jumping-jacks. Standing postures are mostly based on lunges, which are common in aerobics and weight training. A yogi doing this stuff is an athlete. Athletes need to progress appropriately to their level in any sport and any athlete can get an injury.

With yoga, I do feel that because it uses so much leverage, you do need to be sure that you do leave your ego at the door and be mindful of when you are deepening your practice and when you are pushing beyond your intelligent limits. And beginners need to understand that they are going to be putting real demands on their bodies. But the whole article seemed like a big over-reaction.

[recessional]

I don't know whether to call the article deliberately misleading or simply accuse the author of lack of thought, really. I actually read a much more balanced article drawing attention to this same issue three, maybe four years ago - it might have been in Maclean's? It was in some magazine my parents used to get, anyway.

Yes - yoga can definitely get you into positions (literally) that are more vulnerable to potential issues and injuries than ones from other body-training. Which is why when I do recommend it for friends it's with huge caveats of "go to good classes first, and here's how to tell if the class-leader is not a safe one." (They may be WONDERFUL PEOPLE, but not safe yoga teachers).

But I also come at yoga from a childhood and adolescence of competitive dance wherein I danced with girls so flexible that various important things in their hips would occasionally wind up in the wrong position around the bone. And people danced on broken feet and with broken ribs and with knee braces. So, you know. Only 46 ER visits out of tens of millions of people doing it? We had three ER visits in one year from a hundred and fifty people in a dance studio. :P Come back when your numbers are REALLY scary.