January 13, 2012


The usually quiet yoga community has been abuzz since the appearance of "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body," an article that appeared in the New York Times on Jan. 5 online and on Jan. 8 in print.

Here is my response to this controversial article via another controversy from 2009, both of which I will use to make the point that, well, yoga is not exercise.

The 2009 Controvery

In 2009, three states, New York, Virginia, and Michigan initiated legal proceedings to require all vocational schools, including yoga schools, to properly apply for licensure as vocational schools.  This meant that yoga schools in these states, very often operating on tight budgets, had to acquire proper, and costly, credentials through the state.  Yoga practitioners and yoga schools came out in force, as oxymoronic as that may sound, to oppose the proposal.  Ultimately, Virginia and New York exempted yoga schools from the law in 2010.

Don't celebrate yet!  Many yogis will be surprised to find out that three states, Arizona, Texas, and Wisconsin already have laws in place that require yoga teacher training schools to obtain licensure as vocational schools.  It is surprising, however, Wisconsin has far more Yoga Alliance registered Registered Yoga Schools than there are properly state-licensured schools.  This means that, at least in Wisconsin, even though the law is in place, it is not enforced and/or RYSs are not aware of the law.  These licensured and unlicensured schools coexist, the law is either ignored and/or unenforced.

What could this mean?  In my opinion, yoga classes and yoga schools have always  resisted and defied neat and definite mold of what they are.  On the whole, long-time and dedicated practitioners would agree that yoga is more of a meditation, self-improvement method though there is a definite side effect of enabling fitness in the process.  It has always been bringing mind and body together, never this or that.

Yoga is fluid.  It cannot be pinned down.  Just as your body is different every moment of your life, yoga is different every time you practice it.  It needs to be approached with care, it needs to be approached with an open mind and an open body as something to be felt.  Never as something to be conquered or mastered.

Similarly, yoga schools are also hard to define.  Sure, one needs to have proper certification from a Yoga Alliance registered school to teach at yoga studios or gyms.  However, many who go through training do so, not to become teachers, but rather to deepen their yoga practice both on and off the mat.  For these people, it is not a vocational undertaking, but rather a personal and spiritual one.  Hence, though it is teacher training, it is sometimes not.  Hence, teacher training is, again, not this or that, but rather this and that.

Yoga schools are fluid.  True, they train people to become yoga teachers.  Many schools have a procedure by which to select candidates.  Hopefully, if they do it right, they will choose those who are dedicated to the practice, those who know the fluid nature of yoga, those who are in it with mind and body.  At the same time, yoga schools lead people to discover themselves, to play, to expand, in other words, not to teach.  But to guide.

Now we come to the article at hand.

The 2012 Controversy

The way I understand this article is this.  It is written by someone who has been practicing yoga for a while.  It is also an excerpt from a book, or is adapted from a book, called The Science of Yoga: The Risks and Rewards.

It lists only risks, with pictures to accompany of people in asanas in the most awkward way imaginable.  One look at the picture, at least for me as yoga "teacher" and those who have practiced yoga with a qualified teacher for a long time, you would immediately say, "get out of that pose! You are not doing it safely!"

The article features prominently a long-time yoga teacher who laments how yoga isn't for everyone, including some teachers.  It implies that, even though this particular teacher says, "make it easy," "awareness is more important than rushing through a series of postures," yoga isn't safe even for this experienced teacher since he has had to undergo a major operation to fuse the vertebrae in his lumbar spine together.  The teacher attributes it to years of twisting and and bending.

It then goes on to the more sensational, at least when concerning yoga injuries--yes, injuries, because any physical activity can lead to injuries including picking up a tissue off the floor--cases where people hurt their necks so badly that they are debilitated for years without the prospect of getting back to their healthy selves.  The whole article smacks of sensationalism.  It is fear-mongering.  It is hyperbolic in its presentation.  Do I make myself clear?

I personally have a thing about neck injuries and I have written about my experience on this blog.  I suffered it when I was not vigilant about a particular pose.  But that is the operative word here.  Viligant.  I was not vigilant.  I was in the conquering mood.  I was going to conquer the pose with my ego.  This injury taught me more than anything that happened to me as a student or a teacher.

An inexperienced teacher, for example, would simply tell students to turn their head to the sky in triangle pose whether their neck is drooping down, hyper-extended, or even hyper-flexed.  An experienced teacher, on the other hand, would instruct students to lengthen the back of the neck, create space between the shoulders and the ears, and only then to gently turn the head to the sky.

An inexperienced teacher, for example, would simply tell students to lift the legs without regard to what the neck is doing in a shoulder stand.  An experienced teacher will remind students to take the pressure out of the neck and into the shoulders.  An experienced teacher will also remind students to lift the chin away from the chest to maintain the natural c-curve of the cervical spine during a shoulder stand.

An inexperienced teacher will tell students to simply twist their body in half lord of the fish pose without regard to whether the spine is long, flexed, or extended.  An experienced teacher, on the other hand, will tell the students to ground the tailbone down, to lift through the heart, to energize the back of the neck by gazing strongly forward, and then to gently twist from the thoracic spine and then finally to turn the head.  This kind of detailed verbalization of what the body is doing comes only from experience.

But teachers can talk all they want.  People wander into classes in a conquering mood just like I was when I hurt myself.  Most teachers would agree that they have had students who were just too eager to kick up, too eager to bend, and too eager to bind and twist.

These people may as well believe in running marathon on the second day of training.  The point is, no one would ever think of doing this.  No one would also ever think of competing in gymnastics or figure skating without the proper preparation over a long period of time.  But why do people think that they can conquer the poses that may take years to do correctly after just a few classes?

There is a pervasive thought out there that yoga is always completely safe no matter what one does.  And why not?  We don't bounce on our joints.  We don't go anywhere.  How can you, after all, do any harm stretching?  Anyone can stretch.  Anyone can do that.

The problem is that this "anyone can do that" comes with a caveat.  The caveat is that, while anyone can do it, you have to also know what you are doing.  That is why it is important to have a knowledgeable teacher, an experienced teacher, a teacher that you trust.  Yoga teachers occupy a singular role.  They are teachers, but in order to be good teachers, they have to be good students as well.  That is why there is such an emphasis on continuing education and developing a personal practice, and, on having a guru or gurus.

I am always wary of teachers who can't name their guru/s.  Sui generis, maybe, you say??  So unyogic!  The transmission of yoga knowledge is unlike any other: it is transmitted from teacher to student, who then becomes a teacher to another students, etc.  There is always a clear lineage.

So, to anyone contemplating yoga as a way to well-being:

Here is what I would say.  Yoga is tremendously beneficial.  Make sure that you have a good, experienced teacher who knows how the body works and how to convey that knowledge verbally and with a gentle touch (and never by pushing!) in helping you find and feel yourself in a pose.  Also, make sure that you park your ego at the door.  Yoga is not a competitive sport, not against others, nor against yourself.

Most of all, yoga is not exercise.  It is a moving meditation. It is a way for us to explore ourselves, how we relate to others and to the world.  The moment you start thinking of it as exercise, you are going to overdo it because when we exercise, we conquer--whether our best time or our best score.  Come to yoga as a way to find yourself.  If you get lean and fit in the process, that is just an added benefit.

So here we go again.  Yoga is fluid.  It is a way to get fit, but in its essence it is not.  It is a way to find peace, but you also find your health.  It straddles many worlds.  But one thing is for sure--it is a way for you to find yourself in the world.