BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

“Yoga, Schmoga”

 

As someone who strongly dislikes yoga, specifically because it’s so boring and doesn’t do anything for me, I am ecstatic at the justification as to why hot yoga and yoga in general should not be popularly practiced.

Glenn Black, a celebrity yoga teacher of almost 40 years who currently lives in Rhinebeck, NY and is known for his rigorous yet down to earth style, is someone who speaks out about the damaging effects of yoga. These effects consists of slipped discs and broken ribs.

William J. Broad, the author of this article, went to Black not only to find out about why someone who makes a living off of yoga would put down it’s popular practice but also because he suffered a ruptured disc in his lower back and reached out to Black to help with the pain. Broad noticed that Black really only does simple poses and makes his students hold them as long as possible, making the exercise hard as possible while also leaving it up to his students to be easy on themselves and their bodies.

The way he has his students practice yoga is a direct reflection of his belief that more people should give up yoga because it harms more than it helps. He said yoga should be used therapeutically, to strengthen weak parts of the body or should only be practiced by people in good physical condition. Ultimately, in Black’s eyes, yoga is not for everyone, especially since today’s popular practitioners sit in chairs all day and then go to yoga classes, putting strain on their bodies, bodies that aren’t very flexible and that may have other physical problems.

Though yoga has become very popular, with numbers increasing from 4 million to 20 million practitioners, Black is not in support of this at all, so much so that when people come to him with yoga injuries, his solution is often “Don’t do yoga”.

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6 Comments

  1. nicleus2

    I found this post to be very interesting, but I feel that the positive effects of yoga clearly outweigh the negatives. After reading this, I decided to look up the benefits of doing some yoga or hot yoga weekly. Here’s what I came up with!:

    http://www.bikram-yoga-noosa-australia.com/Sowhydoweheattheroom.htm

    This website shows what exercises to do and how the heat of the room helps ones body.

  2. idolph94

    I can definitely see this as a controversial topic, especially since so many people talk about the beneficial aspects of yoga. Personally, I think that these are just one of the few cases where yoga is seen in a bad light. I definitely think yoga is practice where the individual is responsible for the safety of his or herself. One should not overstep their boundaries. Overall, I think that the beneficial mental and physical aspects of yoga outweigh any of the hurtful aspects of yoga. Also, I didn’t really know the difference between hot yoga and regular yoga, so I did a little research. Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikram_Yoga ! I found out that hot yoga can tend to cause overstretching of muscles and tendons in some cases!

  3. jackalantern926

    I also agree that yoga can be detrimental, if not done properly. I personally find yoga very relaxing, and I know there are many people in the world that actually swear by yoga. While doing a yoga pose wrong may present a health risk, I did some research and found that yoga can also work to detoxify the body. I know you don’t like yoga, but it’s hard to ignore the benefits!
    http://www.healthandyoga.com/html/yoga/Benefits.html

  4. lp719

    As an avid practitioner of hot yoga, I was very disappointed when I saw this article. I couldn’t believe that yoga was harming my body when I felt so good afterwards. Therefore, I did some research on the long-term benefits of yoga and found an article that shows that people with arthritis who do yoga have seen a great decrease in the activity of the disease. This definitely seems like a benefit to our bodies, not a negative effect!

    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110526064641.htm

  5. carlybio12

    I too dislike yoga, but i disagree. I think that yoga (and meditation) are both actually quite helpful. This article explains that meditation can actually help “to slow down the aging-related atrophy of certain areas of the brain!” Studies even show that meditation causes alterations in brain structure!

    http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2005/11/11/meditation_associated_with_structural_changes_in_brain.htm

  6. lagis2012

    While I agree with you, I see the positive effects of yog in my father. He has numerous back problems, but the hot yoga definitely helps him. This can be quite controversial, and it depends on the person. I looked up information on yoga here: http://www.medicinenet.com/yoga/article.htm to help me make my decision.

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