Yoga and Injuries, the Awful Truth: Even Teachers Get Injured

There's been a lot of buzz about yoga and injuries around the blogosphere/web/news/world lately.

Ever since the New York Times hit the proverbial red button with its Yoga Can Wreck Your Body article, yogis have leaped into the fray to defend the practice.

Most of the criticism (and defensiveness) seems to center around training--the quality of it or lack thereof, alignment--the knowledge of it or lack thereof, and knowledge in general--or lack thereof.

Frankly, I agree: it's all of those things. Too many teachers are poorly trained, don't know squat about anatomy and alignment, and lack knowledge in general.

But here's the dirty little secret nobody wants to admit: there's also a sort of entitlement in the yoga realm and I think that can lead to injuries too. Maybe it even leads to more injuries than the first three factors.And I'll share why I think that.

I've been teaching for four years. I've been practicing for 12 . I'm certified through the Yoga Alliance. I'm an anatomy geek (as in, I love anatomy and learn more at every opportunity!), and I know even more about my own body, having resided in it for 34 years.

And I STILL got injured. Just a few weeks ago, in fact.

Here's the skinny: I tried a new studio two weeks ago. I'd heard really good things about the teacher from several people and I was excited to try his class. Things were going fine...until the end. He brought everyone into full wheel pose--an intense back bend.

I opted not to do the pose. I have some lower-back issues and wheel isn't a good (or safe) choice for me. So, instead, I happily lay on my mat in supported bridge.

Next thing I know, the teacher is standing over me, with one foot on either side of my head. (Um..Ewww. Thanks for the stellar view of your crotch, dude.)

"What's going on over here?" he asked.

I told him.

"Living a life of fear and resistance is no way to live at all," he responded condescendingly without missing a beat.

Note: We had never met before. He didn't even know my name, let alone what my lower-back issues were and therefore why wheel wouldn't work, let alone whether or not I live a life of "fear and resistance."

I explained that this wasn't the case. I explained again that I didn't want to do the pose. I hoped he'd go away.

He didn't. Instead, he said, "I have two leaking disks in my neck. But do I let that stop me from doing shoulderstand?"

If he wants to be able to walk in later life, he probably should let those leaking disks stop him from putting his whole body weight on them in shoulderstand. But I didn't say that. In hindsight, I should've.

As the rest of the class labored in wheel around us, he started arguing with me. He told me he sensed my resistance, but that I needed to do every pose. That I needed to overcome my fear of life. That I needed to harvest the mind-body benefits of every single pose. That everyone should. And then he said a bunch of other yoga-ish BS that kind of annoyed me.

I explained my philosophy that actually every person shouldn't do every pose. There's no one size fits all in yoga. And I'm OK with that. I'm OK with not doing wheel. In fact, I'm happy not doing wheel. I'm happy doing this modified practice that honors my body and its needs.

He seemed to relent, told me to hold his ankles.

"Oh, how nice! He's giving me a fun new modified pose to try!" I thought. (Stupid, stupid me.)

Instead, he reached over, grabbed my hips, and lifted me--against my will--into full wheel. I felt a sharp, pinching pain in my back and asked him to put me down.

"Just walk your feet together! Then it won't hurt!" he insisted, still holding me up in the air, my back over-arching against my will and ability.

I tried and it still hurt. "Please put me down!" I asked again.

"Just walk your hands together!" He insisted instead.

"PUT ME DOWN!"

Finally, reluctantly, he put me down. But it was too late. The whole left side of my back was in terrible pain.

I sought him out after class, frustrated. I told him he was out of line and had had no right to force me against my will into a pose that I had told him wasn't safe for me to do.

He nervously shifted away from me. "I've taught 10,000 classes and you're one of only three people that's ever had a bad reaction," he said defensively.

"Three that you know about," I corrected, "who knows how many more were too ashamed to come tell you after you embarrassed them in front of the whole class! And three, by the way, is THREE TOO MANY!"

Hopefully, he will never put his hands on another student and force them to do ANYTHING they don't want to do. But even if he learned his lesson, he still learned it at the expense of a student (me in this instance) getting hurt.

This teacher was out of line, entitled, arrogant, and WRONG--a dangerous combination. It terrifies me how many more teachers are out there like him. My friend Dee pointed out that that would've never happened in a "fitness" class--and she's right. I cannot imagine a Body Pump or step teacher doing what this guy did. It's the yoga that made him think he had some cosmic connection of deep insight into someone he'd never met before.

And that's the ugliest part of this whole thing.

Happy Valentine's Day from a tiny Mutt

Pelu's learning the hard way that you may have to kiss a few of these before you find your prince.

Happy Valentine's Day, all! :)

Mindfulness: The New "Multi-tasking?"

Just got an automated update from LinkedIn (and for those who are unfamiliar, that's the Facebook for the professional networking set). It suggested that I add new skills to keep up with my peers. It suggested several, which it no doubt got from my the decade of work experience I logged whilst shackled to a desk. Among them: "Advertising," "Writing," blah, blah, blah, and "Mindfulness."

Wait. Wha...?

Since when has the corporate world valued mindfulness as a skillset? I used to get praised and promoted for being a Grade A Multi-tasker. In fact, I even featured it prominently as one of my top most valuable skills on my resume.

When I left the corporate world for the yoga world, my office mates were mostly puzzled ("Did she say yogurt?") derisive ("Dude, you gonna go twist yourself into a pretzel or something? heh heh heh") or a slight variation of condescending, ("Well that sounds...relaxing.") (Me: "Um, actually, it's relaxing to DO yoga. It's a JOB to TEACH yoga. But thanks.")

But now LinkedIn's listing MINDFULNESS as a key skillset?! Interesting. Wonder what the coporate peeps would have to say about that? Maybe I'll start seeing them in my classes... :)

OK Fine--Let it Snow

Unlike the majority of (the apparently insane) Bostonians, I dread the cold. I loathe the cold. I don't ski, ice skate, snowboard, or make any other attempt to be a little less miserable in winter. I do what the sensible plants and animals do: hibernate and wait for spring.

However, as I was out celebrating my friend D's birthday last night, it started flurrying. By the time we left the restaurant (when they were closing and kicking out out politely hoping we'd leave), it was a white cascade...a beautiful first snow in Boston. And since I was wearing the equivalent of a giant sleeping bag (a wonderful puffy coat I got on sale), I was able to enjoy the winter weather. Or maybe it was the red wine keeping me warm from the inside-out. Whatever it was, it worked.

Ran home, bundled up the puppy, and went for a moonlit/streetlit midnight walk. The city was so still and silent around us. Nobody else was out. It was just perfect.

And Pelu, who apparently didn't remember snow from last year, was so freaking cute...had no idea what to make of the white stuff and was alternately galloping around in it, dragging her nose along in it, or prancing like a Lippizaner trying to get it off her tiny feet.

Love nights like that!

Can Yoga Really Wreck Your Body? HECK YEAH!!

The New York Times just ran a bold headline: How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body.

The accusatory, innately negative tone no doubt spurred outrage, defensive denials, and offers to meditate on their un-yogic vibe through the yoga community.

But this IY is here to say that I agree with this article 100%. Yoga can absolutely injure, damage, and wreck your body. I've been practicing for twelve years and teaching for four. I am an anatomy geek. I'm knowledgeable and informed. And I STILL have gotten injured when taking other teachers' classes.

I could not agree more with what this article represents. In fact, I've reached some of the same conclusions on my own. When I was in India this summer, I was amazed to see the general public squatting and sitting cross-legged on the ground. Contrast that to our chair-loving western culture and it comes as no huge shock that a system designed in India for Indian bodies could...gasp...not work so well for chair-loving westerners. 

I could not agree more that inversions are far too dangerous for most practitioners and that the alleged benefits aren't worth it in comparison. Which is why I don't teach them.

I know not everyone agrees with me--and that's fine (sort of). So let's talk about it! What do YOU think?

An Awesome New Year's Eve LOL

What better way to end the year than with a chakra-deep guffaw fest? Take a deep breath and get your laugh on!

Vid not working?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMC1_RH_b3k

A Move Gone Wrong...Very, Very Wrong

A guest post by DH (dear hubby) explaining how our move this week went careening off the rails. Literally. In this retelling, the IY is using the code name Betty.

*

Buster and Betty Buyer hire Money Movers at an hourly rate to move their furniture and boxes into their new condo.  Money Movers send Larry, Mo, and Curley to do the job.  Unfortunately, due to traffic, the movers show up almost an hour late.  In addition, although the movers assured Buster and Betty that an 18-foot truck would be more than sufficient for the job, Buster and Betty's belongings (which included a few more boxes than they estimated) cannot fit in one truck load, necessitating two truck trips and extra time on the job. Ten hours into the move, which was originally estimated by Money Movers to take six to eight hours, Larry begins having a racing and irregular heart beat.  Buster advises Larry to take a break and begins helping the other two Movers (Mo and Curley) himself to help expedite the process.  Buster checks on Larry after about ten minutes and finds that Larry still has a very  irregular pulse.  Concerned, Buster insists on driving Larry to the emergency room, where Larry is immediately admitted to the hospital. 

Buster returns from the ER to the new condo to find Mo and Curley attempting to move Buster and Betty's couch, the last item to come off the truck on the second load, up the stairs.  Unfortunately, the couch can't make the turn at the top of the stairs, and Mo and Curley decide that it must instead be hoisted into the condo.  Since the hoist requires three movers, Mo and Curley call in Schemp (also a Money Movers employee) to assist.  Because there is no clear path to hoist the couch directly into the new condo, which is the upper unit of two units in the building, Buster asks Nice Neighbors who live in the downstairs unit to allow access to their back porch, where the Movers will first hoist the couch before, in turn, hoisting it from Nice Neighbors' porch to Buster and Betty's porch above.  (The two porches are terraced.)  Nice Neighbors agree to allow access to their porch for the hoist.  It is 8:30 pm, dark outside, and, after holding of all day, now raining.

The Movers wrap the couch in the hoist bands, and Mo and Curley go to the Neighbors' porch, which is on the second floor of the building, to perform the hoist, leaving Schemp on the ground to guide the couch from below.  Buster watches the operation from his porch on the third floor of the building.  Before the Movers begin the hoist, Buster asks whether he should move his brand new car, which is parked directly below the area of the hoist.  The Movers insist that this is unnecessary over Buster's desperate pleas, and Movers begin the hoist.  With the couch in mid air, and Mo and Curley pulling the couch up, the railing to Nice Neighbors' porch gives way.  Mo and Curley, whose bodies are physically strapped to the couch are pulled off the porch.  Schemp dives for cover under Nice Neighbors porch and is unharmed, as the couch plummets to the ground, pulling Mo and Curley behind it.  Mo, who is a trained ninja and hopped up on Tylenol with codeine, grabs onto an intact porch post and swings to a soft landing on his feet.  Unfortunately, Curley falls less gracefully and lands on Buster and Betty's car, caving in the roof of the car and injuring Curley.  The railing of Nice Neighbors' porch, which was not secured properly in construction by Crappy Contractor, follows Mo and Curley down, smashing in the rear window of Buster and Betty's car.  The couch is damaged upon impact with the ground.

 *

Yeah...so that's the long and the short of it, I'm afraid. Now, two days later, I can tell you that Larry's safely out of the hospital and Mo, Curley, and Shemp appear to be (miraculously) unharmed. The couch is still on the back of the truck. We may just donate it and buy a sectional. Or miniature couch. Or do without a couch. I know moving is never easy, but this??! COME ON!!