I’ve had a few folks send me this recent NYT piece – “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body.”
There are a few things you should consider when reading that article.
First, it’s way too long.
But second, the author is as much a representative of American cultural trends as the way Yoga is practiced in America these days is.
This type of journalism is “sensationalist” in a sense, and not very magnetically written.
Here’s the formula:
Trend
Something that supports/counters that trend
Soundbite/interview
Another factoid
Soundbite/interview
repeat the above as many times as your word-count limit will allow
Semi-conclusion statement that leaves things totally vacuous…i.e. “makes the reader ‘think’”
Ever read a NYT piece that matches that description? I think every other writer in America has that template loaded on their desktop these days. It sucks.
And, of course, he has to mention “neurology” which is the go-to evidence of the day. Ten years ago he would’ve cited genetics as a reasonable cause for Yogic breakdown. Before that it would’ve been chemical precursors. Before that it would’ve been the humours in the body causing the pain.
“Hast thou pain from thy Yoga practise? Thou must be bled.”
As I mentioned above, the way Yoga is done in America nowadays is a cultural phenomenon. It reflects American relationships with the body, with teachers, with others, and with nature.
First of all, people are terribly out of shape generally. Yoga is not the discipline to get you “in shape.” I don’t care how “hot” or “power” it is.
But secondly, all of this ranting and raving against specific practices is leaving me wanting.
Any physical practice done poorly, by someone with little training, who has a limited history of movement (in their entire life as well as their daily life), who has little common sense or curiosity, is going to cause pain, dysfunction, and injury.
Basically, what I’m asking you to consider when you read articles like this one is a simple question:
What’s the real source of the problem?
Is the source of the problem actually that people are doing Yoga?
Or is it that our culture creates, engenders, and supports a manner of living that separates things into individual compartments, shuts down creativity and curiosity (and common sense), and generally debilitates people?
What’s so difficult about this is that, in order to confront it, you must confront your deepest-held convictions. You must go against the grain – in yourself and in your social life. It’s hard. It’s work. It’s hard work. Without support, it will drain you till you cry “UNCLE” at the top of your lungs.
But you have to try. You have to try to read through terrible mass-media articles about should’s and shouldn’ts. You have to work to educate yourself in all areas. And I have a suggestion for how you can start.
Most folks tend to define themselves or the things they do in terms, usually, of a single dominant preference. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, consider briefly that there might be a single word or phrase that would adequately describe the way you do everything in your life.
Now take that, and say that your guiding principle in life is to more fully express the potential embedded within your unique physiology. But in order to do that, you must understand that physiology thoroughly.
This is the start of the path.
