A few Facebook comments on the 'dangerous yoga' article

Thanks to the amazing Kino MacGregor for posting a Facebook link to my post on the by-now infamous (and it just came out today) New York Times article, Can Yoga Wreck Your Body?, basically a hit piece on the rapid expansion of yoga, or perhaps just a call for yoga students and teachers to take the practice more seriously .

There were a few comments on Kino's Facebook post, which I repost here.

• Philippine Yogi yoga teachers are not adequately educated in the risks and appropriate modifications.

  Friday at 6:58am · · 2
• 

  Lisa Cohen Phillippine...your statement is a broad generalization and not true...what IS true is that SOME teachers are not adequately educated when it comes to modifications and risks. I'm grateful for teacher training from the REAL deal...and I have learned to teach and practice from a non-ego-driven place that puts form over depth EVERY time... I also encourage my students to LISTEN to THEIR body...that their inner voice is more important than my outer one. And ANY activity has risks...especially when done from a place of ego...cyclists, runners, walkers, and most dangerous: COUCH POTATO-ers! They have the most risk of real, LONGTERM injuries...

  Friday at 7:14am · · 2
• 

  Chris Guzik If I were to rank what I think the culprits are that create risk for students practicing yoga, I would actually put lacking teacher competency in third place: first, I think the common led class format is problematic as it does not afford the opportunity for teachers to work one on one with students. This creates problem number two: students are not knowledgeable or aware enough to make their own determinations about modifications or backing off until it's two late. So we have led classes where students try to do what other students are doing before they are ready and injuries result - some of which do not surface until long after the class is over or as a result of repetitions over a long period of time. The Mysore method of transmission in Ashtanga addresses this issue, but that is not the norm in the average yoga studio.

  Friday at 7:29am · · 5
• 

  Philippine Yogi whats good about the article is that it challenges the business of yoga and how could it be made better.

  Friday at 7:50am · · 1
• 

  Jennifer Deacon We have forgotten how to walk the edge of the sword.....most people seem to fall off rather than have awareness and balance.

  Friday at 9:08am · · 1
• 

  Bill Leonard As practitioners we need to be reminded that 'strength' comes from ability to honor our own limitations. A majority of yoga injuries stem from ignoring the warning signs the body gives us, we must strengthen the intuition to listen within?

  Friday at 10:33am · · 2