Resetting the Compass – Day 27
On the Boston news this morning there was a report on a publication coming out that touted yoga as being very dangerous. There is also a book coming out soon that discusses the dangers and rewards of yoga. A few months ago at a blog meeting, someone at the table was asking me about Bikram yoga, while another person at the table was googling deaths in Bikram hot yoga and telling her tale of how she went once and passed out.
I sit, listen, read, and take all of this in. Now it’s time for me to speak my piece. My philosophy of life is “Life is a Bell Curve” and anything not done in moderation, according to the directions and guidelines, and taken to extremes is detrimental to one’s health and well-being.
That being said, let us consider yoga. I have to agree with the nay-sayers to a point. There are many different types of yoga out there and hundreds of studios. With the yoga craze crossing the country, more and more people are entering into the practice. The increased numbers alone will increase the number of yoga related injuries, but it is the reasons for these injuries that we must address. First of all there are many self-proclaimed yoga instructors who put a string of poses together based on nothing other than a good stretching opportunity. There are many instructors that are either not qualified to give proper instruction or just don’t take the time. Being the yoga advocate that I am, I wouldn’t just go to any yoga studio and take a class. There are “yoga dangers” out there and we do need to be careful when deciding to try yoga. I myself, did not know this a few years ago and have subjected myself to classes where the poses were random, different each week, done in a freezing cold gym on a hardwood floor, and I never thought to question the training of the many different instructors. Having had these experiences, I am not quick to discount some of the negative reporting coming out on the whole practice of yoga.
I have become smarter after starting Bikram yoga. The first thing I learned was Bikram yoga is not like any other yoga I’ve ever done across two states. First, yoga, Bikram or not, is not a sport. There is no push to become perfect in the poses. It’s not like shooting baskets, or scoring a goal and perfecting your technique to do those things. Yoga of all kinds, is a practice you do each day, to the best of your ability, which, just like your emotions and feelings, will be different everyday. Bikram yoga’s main purpose is medicinal. It is a well-researched set of twenty-six postures, each done twice, in a particular order to warm up and then work the entire body system both inside and out fully and completely. The room is 105 degrees with 40% humidity. The teachers have to be trained in LA by Bikram himself. The training is nine grueling weeks and costs around $20,000. Every studio all over the world that has the Bikram name on it guarantees certified, knowledgeable teachers. A Bikram class in Cape Cod is no different than a class in Florida. Same twenty-six postures, taught exactly the same way, by a Bikram certified teacher. This is not the case with all other forms of yoga. Any other yoga class, not in a Bikram studio, is random and can be taught by unqualified instructors. I, personally, will not attend any other yoga because I do not want to risk some of the injuries reported in the media.
Proper, correct instruction, AND the careful following of the directions given by the instructors is paramount to a safe, successful practice. There is preparation required two hours before every class and during the class careful instruction on how to deal with the sweat and heat cannot be disregarded – or – yes, you will probably faint. Bikram yoga is as much as a mind discipline as it is a body discipline. In thirteen years of gym, dance, aerobic, cross-fit, and random yoga classes, have I ever seen anything that teaches you to take such entire control of both your mind and body, meet challenges in way that requires concentration and both works out and heals your body and mind at the same time. There is something about doing the same 26 poses in the same order everyday that lets you compare yourself day to day and raises awareness of how every body part you have is doing on any particular day.
People always ask about the heat. The heat is necessary to do any kind of yoga to avoid injury to cold, stiff, muscles. Since doing Bikram yoga, I would never even consider doing any kind of yoga in an unheated environment like I have done in the past. I only now see the danger I was placing myself in – just as bad as battering my body in a cross-fit class. Our bodies are not made to be slammed about and stressed to the breaking point. Our bodies are supposed to be revered and carefully exercised and maintained.
So, when listening to the upcoming news reports and books warning of the evils of yoga, I advise you to heed them. If you are contemplating getting into yoga, I urge you google the nearest Bikram studio to you, and begin there, heeding and following the instructions given to you before coming to the class, and once in class, do what the teacher tells you to in order to manage the heat and breathing until you begin to get accustomed to it. Bikram yoga is for ages eight to eighty and beyond – it’s a life-long practice. You are never too old or too tired or too sick or too injured to go – in fact, those are the times you should go.
And so, as another day goes by, I ask only one question: If you don’t take care of your body, where will you live?….and I have written.
* artwork – my own, of a plant I liked on the counter in our studio
Yoga is a sport: One of the important components of yoga is the practice of physical postures, known as asanas in Sanskrit. Due to this physical aspect of yoga, some people think of yoga as a sport or an activity akin to body building. In this sense, yoga is seen as a casual pastime which one can take up and practice now and then like any sport.