If you hurt yourself doing Yoga it's because you weren't doing Yoga..

One of the cool things about having your own (in this case Yoga themed) Blog is that you can write whatever feels topical and relevant to you at the time. A new friend of mine on fb, whom I've admired for many years as a contortionist, posted an interesting video link to my wall that reviewed a new Yoga book called "The Science of Yoga".  See the video here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESMGLAbYiDs

In a somewhat related theme, the NZ Herald also posted an article about the dangers of Yoga
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health-wellbeing/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501238&objectid=10786455

This article was co-contributed to by Mande White and Kara-Leah Grant.  Mande is an old school Yoga teacher whom I did a class with a few years ago and the impression I got was that she was surprisingly competitive and goal-oriented for a Yoga teacher.  I will say she clearly has a strong understanding of Asana, both as a practitioner and as a teacher.  I know Kara-leah personally and love her particular brand of Yoga, Prana-flow has a soft edge to it, while at the same time offering deep physical emersion and a connection to rhythm and movement.

Anyway, It's all interesting stuff and it provokes a desire from me to put my own pov across.  Last year one of my long time students gave me a xmas card thanking me for 9 years of service.  Seriously?  I've been teaching for nearly 10 years and I have a student who has been loyal to me for all that time?!?  The fact is, I have kept my role as a teacher very low key, and it even surprised me to discover that I can almost legitimately declare that I am no longer a beginner.

But the thing is, I would have to say that as a teacher, I'm still just scratching the surface.  Teaching something as big and as vague as Yoga, even a master teacher must surely pick and choose his intended path and direction, the one that resonates most.  I may teach, but I have kept it a low key aspect of my life, and for several reasons:

I did not want to make it my job.  I already have a job, and Yoga is my passion.  I know some people might say, why not make your job your passion and your passion your job?!?  Well associating Yoga as a revenue gathering exercise concerned me greatly, I just did not want to risk killing the single biggest passion I had found in my life by making it my primary source of income.  This was a personal choice, and in hindsight it was absolutely the right choice for me.  It may not be the right choice for me going forward.  Things change, and that is as detailed an explanation as I wish to share at this point in time.

I did not want to be identified as a full blown "Yoga Teacher" when in all honesty I was (and still am) uncomfortable with the label.  There is just way too much idealism associated with it and ironically, the whole reason that Yoga was working so well for me was the freedom it gave me from expectation and dogma.  I often find it both insightful and dismaying to listen to other Yoga students and teachers talk about their personal expectations of their teachers.  It seems to be human nature that we need to find figure-heads and stick them on a pedestal.  The truth is, there are plenty of teachers who want to be put on the pedestal too, either because they actually believe their shit does not stink or because they enjoy the power and money such a position will garner them.

So I can tie this back to the video and news article because it all relates to the same thing.  Miss-identification.

I freaking love Asana!  For me, I don't just practice it as a Yogic tool.  I practice it as a means of artistic expression.  I feel like I'm somehow closer to being the real me when I practice Asana and it has nothing to do with fulfilling a Yogic goal.  I'm just being me, as I was meant to be.  Maybe the distinction does not really exist but it serves a useful purpose by making it.  Wake the hell up people!  With all this constant analysis of the pros and cons of asana you would have to conclude it is the only aspect of Yoga the general public (and many of it's practitioners and even teachers) thinks matters.  Holy shit it was only supposed to be one branch of the system, and it's just a tool, not a goal, just a tool!!  You use it, you do not worship it, you do not covet it, at least certainly not in the context of a yogic practice.  I've said this many times over the years:  The pose is there to serve you, you are not there to serve the pose.  I often tell my students this, as I always urge them to listen to their own bodies when doing their practice, and let that arbitrate how far to go, or even whether they should do a certain pose at all.

So yeah, maybe you can hurt yourself doing Yoga, and frankly it's not as scientific or in many cases as safe as something like Pilates.  but in the 10 years I've been teaching I have not had a single report of someone injuring themselves in my classes.  Not a single one.  Believe it or not, if, as a teacher, you empower your students to be attentive to their own bodies and avoid silly yoga poses that have inherent risk associated with them (and there are a few of them) then asana, while not 100% risk free, is vastly safer than most other physical pursuits available today.  The problem is, a lot of schools are pushing the Asana practice as a measurable means of charting your progress as a Yogi, and that's just wrong, and it's why people are getting injured.  It's becoming a sport, a competition.  If you asked me which style of Yoga is best, I'd tell you it is the style that already lives inside you, just waiting to be found and unlocked.