Maybe you've already read
this, or maybe you haven't, but the yoga industry is in an uproar because of a New York Times Magazine article - an excerpt of a forthcoming book - that warns yoga can be bad for you under certain conditions (be sure to read the part about Bikram). Actually, it warns that some people are actually hurt more than helped by the practice and explains in detail why.
A lot of runners and triathletes incorporate yoga into their training as a way to stay flexible and reverse some of the muscle and tendon tightening that running and cycling promote (especially if you are bad about post-run stretching). Pilates, which incorporates a lot of yoga into a mat session, is a different animal.
Pilates' focus is on strengthening your core; yoga's more about strengthening your soul. Most Pilates sessions start with instructions; yoga begins with intentions. You incorporate medicine balls, BOSU balls, these funky wheels and other equipment into Pilates to make it fun; yoga typically involves optional blocks and stretch-deepening bands to make it work. In yoga, you hold still; in Pilates, you hold count.In both, the strength comes from within. But in yoga, it permeates more than your abs, glutes and lats. Yoga is not a competition, and yet I think we've all been in a class where someone treats it that way. And it's these Type A's that I'm pretty sure are among the injured. As an instructor says in the article, "It’s ego. ...The whole point of yoga is to get rid of ego.”
Article:
How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body
8 comments:
Easy/simple yoga is wonderful though! I keep thinking I should however try pilates. One more thing to add to the list.
I love my yoga practice. It strengthens my soul and my core. I agree that there will be some yogis who do treat it as a competition of sorts. I find that, for me, any competition would be with my mind to see if I can talk it into letting go of restrictions and allowing me a little freedom to play. Any other drive for competition can be done in my other sports.
I think the yoga we practice in the west tends to be the "bend till you break" type, which is obviously dangerous. I see people in yoga classes pushing way too hard into postures that they probably should be modifying. Ego definitely gets in the way. Bikram is a whole other animal and once I watched a documentary on Bikram Choudhury, the man who created the series of 26 postures, I was completely turned off. It seems to contradict all yogic philosophy. Very interesting post!
@Kate - I saw that documentary too and came away with the same conclusions, especially about Bikram. If anyone else is interested, it's called "Yoga Inc." and is available to view free at http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/yoga_inc.
I LOVE Pilates and feel it's more of a dynamic stretching class vs. a static stretching class like yoga...which is so much better for runners. Christopher McDougall brings up yoga in his book Born To Run and says he doesn't know one runner who goes to yoga who isn't injured. :)
I think yoga is a gentle practice that is nurtured over time. The problem is usually that folks try and treat it like an athletic competition and push too hard. It is about quiet focus and flow without concern for results. The results will take care of themselves with practice.
Never tried both of them: lack of time!
But I am interested.
Interesting. I have a son who a very good baseball player (pitcher) in High School. The minute he *stopped* yoga, he started getting hurt. Shoulder and elbow tendinitis and the like...
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