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My response to William J. Broad

11/15/2013

1 Comment

 
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Yoga is getting a lot of flak these days for how it can hurt your body. Specifically I refer to a recent article written by the science journalist and author of The Science of Yoga, William J. Broad, Women’s Flexibility is a Liability in Yoga, published in the New York Times on Nov 2, 2013. The point of Broad’s article may have been to warn practitioners to practice yoga safely. It may have been a means for Broad to sell more books. The real-world result for yoga instructors is that we are also taking a hit, and a lot of that criticism is that we are not being trained enough to teach yoga safely.

As a yoga instructor who cares a lot about the safety of my students, yet who also wants them to challenge their own limitations, a tenet of yoga that is beneficial on a physical and a spiritual level, this criticism is difficult to digest.  

(Please notice I never said, nor do I say to "push through the pain" as Broad quotes yoga instructors... I do encourage my students to challenge their own limitations and to develop an awareness of what their body is telling them - an awareness that we have numbed through habits and lifestyle, and one which a good yoga practice can help us to restore, but that's another commentary in itself!)

When an article such as this comes out, I pay close attention to what it says and its implications. This article speaks directly to me both as a practitioner (being a woman of more than average flexibility) and as an instructor (making sure that I am educating my students to be aware of their bodies, and while challenging their limitations, also feeling and sensing pain that might be bad). Then I find myself searching for answers. Wanting more information.

I found some answers in Paul Grilley’s, noted creator of the Yin Yoga practice, response to Broad’s article. You can read his response here. (Thank you from the yoga instructors of the world to Paul for his response!)

I kept searching, questioning, examining my own body and working with the pain that I have been sensing in my own hip area, pain that a doctor I highly respect hinted might be a labrum tear or the dreaded F.A.I. – femoral acetabular impingement - mentioned in Broad’s article. While I don’t believe that it is for me this issue that is supposedly for far too many women developing into “agonizing pain and, in some cases, the need for urgent hip repairs,” it is a red flag that tells me to examine my personal practice carefully - what causes the pain and what relieves it. But more than that, this red flag helps me to become more aware of my teaching, and how I can teach better, safer, how I can avoid the overuse of a pose or action that might be causing this injury in the long term, yet to still challenge my students and give them the yoga class that they want. And, being an advocate and instructor of the Vinyasa style of yoga, one of many variations of the Hatha (physical yoga) practice that tends to move more vigorously from one pose into the next, often repeating the movements several times in a sequence, being more aware of these injuries of overuse will allow me to guide my students more safely and effectively. Focusing on the transitions is important, and the quality of movement through those transitions.

The main point to understanding this article then, from my view, is correlation, not causation.

Today I found another article, “Preventing Yoga Injuries vs Preventing Yoga, Part I: The Hip Labrum” from The Daily Bandha, a website seeking to educate yoga instructors through explaining the anatomy of yoga. This article quotes a study performed on professional dancers and the extreme ranges of hip motions they put their body through repeatedly. Having started my love of the body and movement as a dancer, I am thankful for this perspective:

“These results do not mean that the dancers should stop executing these movements, but rather they should limit them in frequency during dancing class.”

 We don't have to stop doing yoga to stay safe. We also don’t need to blame our yoga instructors for their lack of knowledge. As one of my teachers has said with compassion, “We all begin teaching too early.” True. But we all need to continue to learn, grow, experience, and be open to changing our ideas so that we are able to educate ourselves and our students to practice in the safest way while still pushing that physical edge that we all know and love in yoga.

Yoga has so many benefits - people who are strong but tight can become more flexible; people who are flexible (muscular or hypermobile) can become more strong. Not to mention the benefits of meditation, of relieving stress, of improving and even healing physical ailments to a greater or lesser degree. But knowing where you stand and how to approach yoga is key. And I will not let an article written by a guy who seems to be out to get yoga in general, ruin what I love and what I do and what I bring into my classes.

 

 

 


1 Comment
Alexander Wilson
11/15/2013 11:39:01 pm

Hi Kristen, you said that the criticism which to perceived in the article was difficult to digest. I think that Broad makes some very important points. As teachers, most of us are not doctors or physical therapists. We don't read scientific, peer-reviewed studies on the potential benefits and harms of yoga. When we advocate for yoga, most of us are simply regurgitating things we have heard, and/or we are providing limited, anecdotal evidence based on how our own bodies feel in a given context. We definitely don't have medical professionals or MRI machines in our practice rooms with us to confirm that what we're doing with our bodies is beneficial.

I think that the most important part of western yoga is its facilitation of physical activity in a very sedentary society. As instructors, our primary job is to keep students safe, and I agree with Broad that many of us are stunningly ill-equipped to do this. I've never cued to "push through the pain", but I have cued several things that were similarly unskillful. I've learned a bit and would like to think that the worst of my unskillfulness is behind me, but there may be further things out there of which I'm not aware because I simply don't have the big-picture training to be so.

Grilley makes a good point about different reasons for mobility issues, but even Grilley doesn't seem to understand the importance of how one views flexibility. I've been cueing my students recently to always stretch muscles and not joints because tendons and ligaments aren't really meant to stretch. When they do stretch, it oftencauses lasting instability - because of their inelasticity, tendons and ligaments don't easily return to their unstretched state. Grilley didn't talk about this at all.

I know that things can be hard to hear when they seem to be an attack on something that is central to our identities. However, something that I feel to be true at least anecdotally (and possibly objectively) is the possibility that some or a lot of women are attracted to yoga because as people we seek out things that make us feel good about ourselves, and with the joint flexibility that women tend to bring to the physical practice, women can feel a sense of accomplishment pretty quickly in terms being able to get into some difficult-looking poses. Add to that an instructor on the front of the room and the desire to people-please, and you've got a recipe for injury, especially among people who aren't psychologically self-aware.

Broad's thoughts may seem hard to digest, but I would recommend firing up those digestive juices and at least trying. Also, I have opinions about this but am definitely open to hearing counterpoints. Alex :D

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    Kristen is a certified Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist and Life Mentor. She offers online and in-person healing sessions. She lives and teaches in Denver, Colorado

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