Monday, January 9, 2012

So I Guess We Should Just Sit On Our Asses All Day?

Every so often I read an article which really, really pisses me off.   This time it's in the New York Times, a rag I usually admire.

According to this piece of drivel no one should ever practice yoga because, OH MY GOD, you might get hurt.

Say what???? Dear New York Times, can you please tell me what physical activities exist in which the potential for never getting injured exist????? I mean, I've managed to injure myself just walking.

Of course we could all just sit on our sofas all day stuffing our faces, but then we run the risk of all sorts of OTHER health problems.

What really got me about this badly researched piece was the inaccuracies.   Beryl Bender Birch  is the yogi with the double hip replacements.   She needed them because of a genetic predisposition, not yoga.    I have another friend who has also had double hip replacements, and she has never practiced yoga with any regularity.

Yes, I have seen plenty of people injure themselves in yoga because their egos got in the way, but I've seen plenty of people injure themselves running, playing basketball, soccer, tennis, etc.    I've seen people hurt their ankles in Zumba, and others break legs skiing (I broke my nose).   

If you engage in any physical activity with any regularity chances are, you'll manage to injure yourself some way, some how.   And, there are those who take it a bit too far as the gentlemen above does.  

Hell, I had a friend's brother injure himself because he was playing the cello six hours a day preparing for a competition.   Does that mean that no one should ever play cello?

Yes, you can injure yourself practicing yoga, running, walking, skiing and even playing cello, but that does not mean you should never engage in these activities?

3 comments:

  1. Preach it sister !! Excellent rebuttal.

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  2. Of course we can get hurt doing any activity but yoga is supposed to be the healer of our back pain and a way to correct imbalances etc. Just read an article in Yoga Journal about Beryl and she says her hip replacements came from an accident years ago that caused the imbalance and never mentioned any kind of congenital disorder. There are many other famous teachers and not famous practitioners needing hip replacements and even some in their early forties. I have been doing research for over twenty years on the biomechanics of yoga poses. I am a massage and posture therapist as well as the innovator of a system based on our natural curve design called YogAlign. The human body is designed to move and we have shock absorbing spring structures in our spine, low back, hips, knees and feet to protect our joints when we move. These ligament strung curves are necessary and ligaments that get loose destabilize our joints.. Yoga poses take the curves out of our knees and low backs with all of the straight leg forward bending which is similar to driving a car with the brake on. Try to walk without bending your knees and you will quickly get the picture. Many yogis are not stretching their muscles as much as stretching their joints to perform right angle poses that do not simulate how the body is designed or how it functions in real life. Ligaments get stretched, the sacral platform loses its natural tilted lift and the weight of the body sits in the hip socket leading to hip pain and replacements. Right angle straight knee Yoga poses are the reason for the hip replacements. go to www.yogainjuries.com to learn more.

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