NYT Yoga Dangers Article
There’s something to get me to come write a little something after this while–the recent NYT article on the many injuries that can arise in yoga. Funny, because I was just told by my massage therapist that I seem to be doing some things I shouldn’t do so much all at once–she suggested a week off-which I of course find too extreme as with most suggestions. I guess they do say that’s a good idea to do regularly. But I have the fear I’ll revert back to not feeling like exercising and couch potatoing my way through life. That has been a mode of mine at other times in the past, not for a while, but it has, and it’s even worse for my brain than the rest of me. So I worry about sliding back into that–it’s funny how even after a couple days of not exercising (not that it’s happened in while, though I can stop any time I want to–sure, like I’m good at stopping anything) it’s hard to start back up.
But I do see the value of recuperating every now and then. Really the trouble (other than the moremoremore issue that pervades all parts of my life) is that I’ve been attemping to cope with things as they are through yoga and running instead of other ways, and things as they are haven’t been so optimal–job ending, holidays, those sorts of things.
But the article. It talks about some rather disturbing injuries (neck related, for instance) that I’d rather not have. And there are ways to get hurt doing yoga, as with many things. There are also, I think, ways of doing yoga safely. Probably it would involve being reasonable and not getting carried away. Not my area of expertise, though I am trying a bit. So how it seems to me is that it’s not really yoga’s fault if I stubbornly/foolishly do things that are too much. It might be someone else’s fault, just maybe, the person who gets going on the moremoremore kicks. Seems to me. Of course I do also think it matters how the instructor is skill-wise and attentiveness-wise, and we have to learn what our own bodies can do and need and we need to keep track because it changes. But in my case, the little twingey things I get seem more to do with my non-stopping tendencies than anything else. And yes, I can overdo yoga, just like I can overdo anything, and often do.
There’s a response to the debate about yoga safety/harmfulness without all the reflective wisdom and placid reasonableness that you find everywhere. We don’t want to be too sensible or too evolved, after all, do we?
Tags: Body-mind, coping, injuries, massage therapist, mind-body, nyt article, Yoga
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