Yoga Injuries

Why So-Called Simple Yoga Postures
Might Be TOO MUCH for TOO MANY People!

The Rise
(and Soon-to-Be Fall)
of Yoga Injuries

It is obvious that yoga has been very beneficial to many people over the thousands of years it's been practiced. More people would be well-served to experience and understand it benefits. This website will, of course, have a LOT to say about the positive aspects of yoga.

An Alarming Increase

Many people who are relatively young and injury free, with a minimal amount of accumulated stress and C.E.M.&.N.T., can get away with the way yoga is taught in many classes; that being more aggressively and even athletically.

However, it is an increasingly well-known fact that there's been an alarming expansion in the number of injuries resulting from yoga. And those are only the ones reported. I have spoken with several medical doctors, chiropractors and physical therapists who tell me they've seen a big increase in yoga related injuries. I know yoga center owners who closed down their Power Yoga classes because of the increasing insurance liability issues. (One of them was FIVE YEARS ago already! So this is not just a sudden, recent development of the last few years.)

Now, of course its true that much of this comes from yoga beginners not doing things right. However many of the postures that are taught as beginning yoga I personally believe to be far too much for many people to do in the early stages of their yoga. And, as the market for yoga expands to people who are older or have more injuries, or both — what some people might call therapeutic or medical yoga, the average newcomer to yoga is in way over their head even if they do exactly what their yoga teacher tells them, to do.

For example, Plough Pose is just WAY too much for most older or more injured or stressed beginners, and maybe even should be considered to be an intermediate pose, at least. Even Cobra, as it is ordinarily taught, presents significant troubles for many people. In fact, if you study The DSL Method, you'll see evidence to show that the way most beginning poses are taught is not ideal for the changing demographics of new yoga students.

In one of my course, I show how much, if not most, yoga in America today actually compresses the joints, which is NOT a good thing!

It's Happening To Yoga Teachers, Too!

In truth, many injuries have occurred in many people who have been long-time practitioners and teachers of yoga. Even some teachers of certain systems that claim to be the state-of-the-art in protecting people from injury are getting injured! Including those systems that claim to be THE most structurally sound and alignment conscious systems!

I have a growing list of Clients who are Yoga Teachers, some of them teaching for many years, who have developed aches and pains that prevent them from even demonstrating a yoga posture. They have rocks & knots and aches & pains in their muscles — from Too Much Tension. There are several reasons for this …

(By-the-way, If you take my FUNdamentals of Yoga  Training — either via e-Course of Live Training — you'll also get my 10 Principles of Maximizing Results While Minimizing Injury in Yoga.)

Flexibility Is NOT (Usually) The Issue

Yet even though they have very tight muscles, they are very often anywhere from very to extremely flexible. More often than not, it is not loss of flexibility in their way, it is the pain that prevents them from going deeper into an asana. Yet since they are so flexible, they have trouble believing that chronically over-shortened and tense muscles are their problem. All of that presents a paradox to be addressed elsewhere on this website. You can Start by reading about C.E.M.&.N.T. (Please See Link Below)

Yes, many people have improvements in health, flexibility, strength, and so on with almost any particular approach to yoga. In many cases, ANYTHING that relaxes the body, reduces certain stresses, and/or brings more consciousness to it, can trigger improvements, even if from certain points of view it is the *wrong* thing to do.

But a few — sometimes more than a few — get worse using the very same systems. Sometimes much worse, to the point of debilitation. Proponents of any system in question will usually say something like, "They weren't using proper alignment" or proper focus, or they were intentive, or whatever.

Yogi Abuse … Force & Coercion

Then there is the whole issue of outright bad teaching. I have many times sat and listened to people who have witnessed, or have friends who have witnessed, so-called masters of yoga try to force someone into a particular posture, and severely injured them in the process. Sometimes they just use verbal humiliation or other forms of coercion, but the damage can be as bad. I won't name names, as I don't want to stir up any more trouble than necessary. But this DOES go on, far more than most people realize, with very well known personalities in yoga.

No Forced Alignment . . . Even If It's "Good" Alignment

As you will find out on this site, however, trying to put the body into so-called Proper Alignment can, for many people, be quite bad for them. Even when the asana adjustments seem to be minor and gentle. There are often very good reasons why one's body will not easily go where you, or your Master Teacher, or your yoga book, think it should go. Sometimes, out-of-balance and chronically over-contracted muscles can prevent a body segment from going where you think it should, even if it is ultimately, and eventually, a Good Idea. Therefore, pushing into so-called Correct Alignment actually strains those muscles, or worse.

Too Deep, Too Fast, Too Much Intensity … for Too Long

I'm all for long, slow holds, and pleasurable levels of sensation. But too many practitioners and teachers are addicted to the feeling of intensity that often accompanies being very deep into an asana. But …

… you have to open the door before you walk through it. …
And you can't peel an onion from the inside out. …
So you have to start on the surface and work you way in.
David Scott Lynn

There are very subtle neuromuscular, myofascial, and psychomuscular reflexes that react even to very slight pressures. So slight you most of the time can't even feel them, and you can't believe they are causing trouble. Understanding and working with these potential issues or barriers is what I will, in part, be focusing on in these web pages, especially in the Ten Principles.

Hippocrates Said . . .

Anyway, the Hippocratic Oath of Medicine says, First, Do No Harm. To that end, the number one purpose of this website is to help insure that yoga Does No Harm to new or long-term practitioners. Then we can move toward maximizing results. Fortunately, properly done, the very same principles I have developed (based in part on the teachings of Joel Kramer and via my bodywork private practice) for injury prevention are also the same principles that maximize results. To get started, please Click On The Following LINK and:

Start reading about C.E.M.&.N.T.

Also, take a look at my:

MindMap on the 10 Principles of Maximizing Results While Minimizing Injury in Yoga.

I will be uploading far more information on the topic of Yoga Injury in the coming days and weeks. I have to spend one more day at Harvard Medical Library doing fact checking to make sure all the information is accurate and up-to-date.

Please let me know your thoughts, or what you are interested in hearing about, via the Comments link below.

Please Stay Tuned,
David Scott Lynn
DSL: Your Hi-Touch Up-Link to the Inner-Net