One Teacher's Response to the NYT Article 'How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body'

Image via Danielle Levitt for The New York Times

Thanks to all who have sent me THIS article over the past 4 days. Needless to say, I've seen it by now :) And I appreciate your cautions--I know that yoga can be dangerous--I really do! This is the MAIN reason that we as teachers at Tranquil Space preach "listening to your body" over and over again and offer so many modifications for each pose. I agree that this article brings up some very important points about yoga injuries and I think that anything that gets the yoga community talking about and debating the way that we practice is a good thing. However, I do have a few thoughts that I wanted to share, so I'm going to do that today in the form of a letter to the author. Please do share your thoughts, as well, and don't be afraid to disagree with me!

Dear William J. Broad and The New York Times,

Although I truly do appreciate your publishing the article "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body" both online and in the paper this past weekend, I wanted to add a few things that I feel were left out of the article--or at least not spelled out in a very transparent way--so that I can dispel some of the beliefs about yoga that I believe the normal, non-yogi public may have gleaned from reading this article.

My humble thoughts on the subject are below:

• I completely agree with your reasoning on why there has been a rise in yoga injuries over the past decade or two--and agree that the rise in the popularity of yoga, our stagnant, seated lifestyles, the abundance of "bad teachers" and/or insufficient teacher training programs, and the rise of the more competitive yoga styles have all led to the increase in the dangers of yoga. I also completely agree with your statement that  '“Today many schools of yoga are just about pushing people,' and that 'You can’t believe what’s going on — teachers jumping on people, pushing and pulling and saying, ‘You should be able to do this by now.’ It has to do with their egos.”' BUT, I think that overall, your article insinuates that all yoga is extremely dangerous, and I just don't agree with that. I believe that it is specifically these more hard-core, competitive schools of yoga that are causing more harm than good, and that there are still many schools, styles, and teachers who are wholly helping people learn to listen to their bodies and ultimately, to heal in some way. I also believe that some responsibility has to be put on students, as well, and that a good teacher will remind their students that PAIN = NO GAIN in yoga and that they should never push themselves in any pose. I wish you had explained this in more detail.
  
• I recently hurt my wrist--not in yoga, but when pulling my rolling suitcase down from the overhead compartment on a plane. I know people who have put out their back tying their shoes, or picking something up off of the floor, and I totally screwed up my hips running incorrectly over many years. All physical activities can be dangerous if you don't listen to your body. I would argue that if you're healthy and don't already have an injury (or an injury waiting to happen), then you're less likely to get injured in a yoga class--one where you're being reminded to listen to your body and are being very mindful of the way in which you're moving--than you are in a kick-boxing class, or a boot camp class, or foot-striking on concrete during a run. Again, this may not be the case for some of the more competitive styles of yoga, but it is for those that emphasize tuning in to YOUR body and not pushing yourself. At least in my humble opinion.
  
• I respect your point that there is a problem with the fact that many people often come to yoga for healing after an injury or issue, only to then find that the yoga they are practicing is not right for their body/injury/issue, and is actually causing more harm than good. But, I believe that the problem here isn't necessarily caused by the nature of yoga in general--or that, as Black says, '“the vast majority of people” should give up yoga altogether,' instead, I would argue that the problem here lies in the public's understanding of yoga and the many styles that are offered. Doctors and PTs should not be prescribing "yoga" in general to their injured runners or athletes. If they think that yoga may be helpful, they should prescribe a yoga therapist, or a private session with a respected teacher who works with those who are healing, or a particular style of yoga that they know will be appropriate for that individual's body and weaknesses. We as a yoga community should be helping to communicate that there are many, many styles of yoga out there, and that some may not be as "healing" as others, just as some teachers may not be as healing as others. And then there is also the concept of individual responsibility--if yoga hurts, don't do it! Period. People should know this.
  
• I was in a workshop this past weekend where we discussed both this article and the anatomy of injuries during yoga, and one thing stuck out to me. The teacher who led the workshop has taken a couple of classes with Glenn Black, the teacher that you describe so often in your article, and she said that there is a disconnect here, as Glenn Black's classes are often just as competitive and hard-core as the classes that you describe so negatively in your article. She said that he has been known to tell people of a hard pose, "try it twice," whether or not they feel pain trying to get into it. That sounds VERY dangerous to me, and as a teacher I would never encourage anyone to try an advanced pose even once if they didn't feel ready or up to it. Again, I've never taken a class from Black so this isn't my personal opinion, but it is the opinion of a teacher that I trust and respect, and it makes me question Black's entire opinion on the subject.
  
• The problem, now, is that there is no one person who can come out and speak on behalf of yoga, or explain some of these finer points to the public. There is no one founder, or CEO, or spokesperson who can make a statement or do a press release and defend the practice of mindful, careful, truly aware yoga and yoga teachers. My grandmother may read this article now and worry that because I am practicing yoga on a daily basis, I'm very likely to die from it. When the truth is, yes, there is a possibility that I could die while doing yoga, but it is more likely that I get run over by a car on my way to the yoga studio or have something else equally-tragic and random happen during my daily life that causes my demise. For this reason and many others, I hope that someone who is well-respected and known in the yoga community will write a real response to the NYT and get it published, so that some of the email forwards to yogis with this article and the note, "I'm worried about you! Be careful!" can dissipate over the coming weeks.
  

Overall, your article brings up some great points, and I really do respect the fact that you wrote it and it was published in such a reputable publication, I just wish that it hadn't come across as a blanket statement that "yoga is dangerous"--more dangerous than CrossFit, or running marathons, or kayaking, or skiing. Physical activities are dangerous, and we should all remember that--but we should also still emphasize that for many of us, yoga is still a very healing practice that can make extremely positive changes in our body, both physically, emotionally, mentally, and energetically.

As one of my teachers said about this article this past weekend, "what are we supposed to do now? Is sitting on the couch eating Cheetos better for us?"

Sincerely,
Mary Catherine Starr

To my yogi readers or those who want to start a yoga practice but haven't yet, please don't let this article scare you away from yoga. Let it be a great reminder to all of us to LISTEN TO OUR BODIES and to find teachers and a yoga style that we trust and that works for our individual skeletons, musculature, past injuries, lifestyle, and minds--teachers who don't push us, styles of yoga that encourage compassion and mindfulness over competition and "going deeper," and studios that create a warm, welcoming environment that makes it okay to spend half of the class in child's pose if that is what feels right for you.

Namaste!
Mary Catherine