Structural Evaluation

I admit to reluctance in admitting this, but there has been, in recent years, a sky-rocketing of the injury rate in the practice of yoga. There are many reasons for this, and we must reverse this trend. … To this end, all yoga teachers, yoga therapists, and motivated practitioners need to understand more about Posture and Structure.

There are so many misconceptions and misguided practices in yoga, bodywork and the healing arts in general, it is almost mind-boggling. Yet, in the early stages of learning yoga (or any exercise), or when people are relatively healthy, they can get away with certain mistakes with little short-term stress or damage. But over the years, these small insults or micro-injuries can add up until one day, the many micro-errors turn into a macro-error. Then the practitioner wakes up one morning with aches and pains and wonders … What Happened … Yesterday? … Or this week? … Or, when? They try to figure out what they particular thing they DID to cause this.

But in truth, the problem often times started long ago, with subtle movements that in themselves did not register as a problem. But in the cumulative long run, turned out to be a BIG Problem. In fact, some of these moves or adjustments we are taught to do because we are told they are good for us and will actually protect us from injury.

I, David Scott Lynn, have spent 25 plus years dealing with many of these issues in my hands-on, private bodywork practice (see www.dsl-edgework.com). I have dealt with many problems that people were unable to resolve, even though they had gone to MANY health care modalities from orthopedics to chiropractic to neuromuscular therapy to yoga to Reiki. And including yoga teachers who've been practicing and teaching yoga for one or two decades. Then they start having problems. And many are astounded to find that it is the way they were doing yoga or other supposedly healthy exercise routines (like Tai Chi or Pilates) that actually caused their problems.

One of the most common, best examples of this is the idea of Tucking the Pelvis or Scooping the Sacrum. Either of these, with only a very few exceptions, causes a LOT of problems. But it can take a LOT of time before the cumulative negative results show up.

Ironically, there are books written and teachers teaching that try to emphasize an alleged difference between tucking the pelvis and scooping under the tailbone. We are told that one (scooping) is good and the other (tucking) is bad. Well, after years of experience, I am here to tell you that the actual difference is minimal, and that the dangers of both are significant, sometimes debilitating.

In the interest of Injury Prevention, I will be going into this issue, and others like it, in Great Depth.