Saturday, January 07, 2012

William Broad, author of a new book entitled <>The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards, has an interesting article in the New York Times called "How Yoga can Wreck Your Body."

13 Comments:

Blogger Cham said...

I hate yoga.

7:44 PM, January 07, 2012  
Blogger ck said...

I can't believe I agree with Cham

2:23 AM, January 08, 2012  
Blogger ck said...

But then again I hate vegetarians,vegans, gluten free,lactose intolerant and tea drinkers too. 95% of these people are just pains in the butt that want "special treatment", well becaust they're so "special"

2:31 AM, January 08, 2012  
Blogger Dr.Alistair said...

i think yoga is a good way for non-athletes to get a work out. it may not do much for people, but it gives them something to do, something to buy and something to think about....which is pretty much what people want.

no harm, not foul.

8:42 AM, January 08, 2012  
Blogger DADvocate said...

I do a little yoga, although a yoga aficionado would probably say I don't. I've found the shoulder stand measurably helps my arhythmia. If I go 2-3 days without doing a shoulder stand, I can tell the difference. In total I may spend 15 minutes a day doing yoga.

Looking at the article, yoga appears to be a very safe activity overall. The article pulls up some anecdotes of injuries, but the rate seems quite low. Weight training and running probably have much higher injury rates. When I worked in a health club, it wasn't unusual for someone to become hyperthermic from sitting in the hot tub. There have been documented deaths from hot tubs.

The trick is to not force you body to do what it doesn't want to do. And, remember that everyone is at least a little different.

As for vegetarians,vegans, gluten free,... and tea drinkers, these people are usually on massive ego trips and the practice of the "discipline" is solely to feed their egos.

11:18 AM, January 08, 2012  
Blogger Sandeep said...

As for vegetarians,vegans, gluten free,... and tea drinkers, these people are usually on massive ego trips and the practice of the "discipline" is solely to feed their egos.

So are usually people who do not practice racism, I guess. The only reason these people don't practice racism is solely to feed their egos.

12:09 PM, January 08, 2012  
Blogger Joe said...

My oldest daughter took a yoga class at college. It left her in such agonizing pain that she dropped the class.

4:05 PM, January 09, 2012  
Blogger Xiaoding said...

What's wrong with tea? You got a problem with tea? What do you drink, then? What makes you so special, hmm?

6:59 PM, January 09, 2012  
Blogger Cham said...

I drink herbal tea, trying to stay away from mind-altering substances.

My experience with yoga went like this: A friend once suggested we take a free yoga class. The room must have had 200 people in it. I'm in pretty good shape physically and I'll try anything once. I stood in the back of the class. The instructor put the group in a few poses, within minutes the satanic instructor focused directly on me, as I was the example of what not to do. I can't touch my toes and my hands don't go far beyond me knees but I manage to muddle through life successfully despite my flexibility shortcomings. Satan hovered around me yelling about all the movements I was doing wrong. Eventually I just gave up and walked out of the class.

The next day I woke up and found it too painful to move my body. On the yoga front, once was enough.

7:56 PM, January 09, 2012  
Blogger DADvocate said...

Cham - I never took a class. I had a friend who took one. He taught me a little bit. And, I read "Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation" by Jesse Stern (sp?) which had a little instruction it.

The flexibility thing is over rated, I believe. I played basketball in high school and couldn't touch my toes. Never pulled or strained a muscle or had any sort of injury related to flexibility or the lack of it. Too much flexibility in the shoulders increases the likelihood of a shoulder separation.

10:06 PM, January 09, 2012  
Blogger Doom said...

Can't do yoga. It is actually a religion, the positions are offerings to the gods they are said to resemble. It is literally against my religion (and most others if they have one and are honest).

However, have you seen any non-yoga stretching material? I actually am interested, and since you do reviews I thought I might just ask. Hmm?

5:56 AM, January 10, 2012  
Blogger Helen Smith said...

Doom,

I have done a number of short reviews on books like "Stretching Anatomy" that you can find in the search box. I think a number of those types of books are good, especially if you have physical problems.

7:46 AM, January 10, 2012  
Blogger Doom said...

Thank ya, your a doll.

3:59 AM, January 11, 2012  

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