Whoa! Yoga?

[khanjar]

I have been doing yoga off and on for about twenty years now, not that it shows, the off periods lets everything revert back to how it was, so constant practice is necessary just like any physical activity. But the most effective yoga I ever did was Iyengar, but I hated it, as it was a pain session for me, but the instructor was excellent and knew physiology very well and of those that struggled, me mostly, he was there pushing, but guiding the movement as yoga can be very dangerous, Iyengar especially, but it achieves results fast and that was the attraction to me, for I needed to quickly become more flexible and in only six weeks of one hour sessions I was very surprised with the result.

Of the off periods, I still daily do the sun salutation and that, because it is great way to stretch out those crumpled limbs after a night's sleep.

But yoga is boring, I agree and so pilates is somewhat better in many respects, and for people who have suffered back injuries, pilates is the safest. But now I have found a book on Core Stability and am going to give that a go, as it seems the movements appear to be a cross between yoga and pilates. But of bellydance, I have found it is the core muscles that are most important.

But of all the exercises I have tried to work out certain issues, belly dance I have found to be the best, even a warm up routine covers all areas and it can be done to music, which I find helps with timing, as I always lose count when I try to count in the mind.

 

[chirel]

I have been doing ashtanga yoga (hatha bores me to death and these are the only two I've ever tried) on and off for close to twenty years too. My joints are too mobile and my muscles wer weak and I wanted it all in the beginning ,so I'm very lucky that I didn't injure myself back then. Years later I hit a plateau and only got forward when I slightly injured my knee doing other things and was forced to modify my excersize. That's three years ago, since then I've seen more improvement than during the 15 years before it. This is because I let go of my expectations and accepted the fact that I can't do certain things. This actually let me to strenghten and strech muscles I'd ignored the whole time, because I did everything with my joints.

Two years ago our teacher stopped teaching and I was the next best thing available. I hesitated and then aggreed on teaching. I told everyone that I'm not a proper teacher, that I'll do my best in teaching but that they have the responsibility of what they do. I've spent a lot of time learning about how to do yoga safely and I emphasize that in class. But it really frustrates me to see the students not listening, but instead trying harder and pushing themselves. Slowly over these years I've noticed that they've started to listen to me though. They've seen me work with my knee injury, they've seen me do thing slow and small and how that's improved my health and I think they are finally starting to believe me when I say not to grab their ankles or do the lotus.

And about the article. I didn't even know there are teachers push people like that.

 

[LunaXJJ]

I love yoga. I use yogajournal.com to find great moves for therapeutic focuses. It's helped immensely with my recent lower back pain too.

 

[Meera]

Aww this article makes me scarred because I do yoga almost everyday, I love it. For me, personally I think it helps a lot. If I skip a week a two I start getting more joint and back pain and it also really increases my engery levels.

 

[chirel]

If it really feels good and you are never pushing yourself too far I don't think it'll harm you. You could always check with your doctor for any unknown conditions like weakness in neck or other things. The stories are scary, but it still doesn't mean that everybody will hurt themselves while doing yoga. Also we have this song in Finland that goes something like this if translated: "You can't get out of life alive." That's just a plain fact, so why not enjoy it while you have it. If that means doing yoga, then that's your life (and mine). There'll always be risks in everything we do.

 

[Stephanie]

Make sure you stretch properly and don't strain yourself, don't do too much too soon and you should be okay. I think these injuries are from students attempting moves that are too advanced and instructors who aren't experienced enough to tell them to only do things at their own level. And also there are some students with special needs (health issues) who will need to move at a slower pace than normal, and the instructor should be aware of that, too.

I think people need to be careful to pick someone with a lot of experience. Someone who knows what they're doing and can teach a beginner.

 

[Farasha Hanem]

Does anyone have advice for people with a curved spine? Also, would practicing beginner yoga with a trained instructor help people with this problem?

 

[AndreaSTL]

I have no advice for you Farasha, except to find a well-qualified instructor. He/she should be able to tell you how to practice safely and if you should make any modifications. I don't know anything about curved spines myself, but I would think you would need to make adjustments since so many of the poses involve stretching or twisting the torso. Good luck!