STORIES FROM THE MAT
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Even the simple looking stuff in yoga, like the picture here, or warrior II, or warrior I, or uttanasana, utkatasana, sukhasana, and all these poses that are standard in most yoga classes can for many people be damaging in the long run. It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s years of willful ignorance, worshiping “the tradition” and the alignment from Iyengar’s Light On Yoga, and other old yoga sources that make claims of divine inspiration and supernatural cures where if you fuck with the alignment you’ll never cleanse your spirit and reach enlightenment.
This shit continues in nearly every yoga class every day not only in the USA but globally. We turn our god-damned brains off and stopped evaluating what we are being taught. Remember when you were a kid and no matter what an adult was telling you your response would be “why?” and they’d answer and you still want to know Why? Why? Tell me WHY? When was the last time you evaluated your practice like that? Your teachers like that? Your SELF like that?
Question everything. Consider this a reminder to believe in nothing, because beliefs allow you to turn your fucking brain off completely and be taken advantage of and lied to. Have principles, not beliefs. It’s a semantic difference but I think it matters. Beliefs are unchanging in the face of new wisdom, while principles adapt and evolve.
We can do better. Evolve your movement practice
Peace.”
Full Article:
I just had an MRI on my hip, and I have impingement and a torn labrum in the lateral, posterior area (upper, outside, towards the back). It’s on the hip that has always for my whole life been far more mobile/flexible. I started training yoga and found that I could exploit this mobility especially on this side and do all the crazy poses with my feet behind my head and lotus pose and all that shit. Now I can’t even sit cross legged on the floor without pain. What the fuck?
This pictured pose is widely considered a “gentle” yoga pose. I myself used it often when teaching classes for a gentler stretch. This is an example of a passive stretch, in other words I’m not using the muscles around my hip to stretch my hip. It feels fucking great to most people I’ve taught it to, and it used to feel great to me. I’m not about to claim that this pose tore my labrum, but if you understand a little about the hip joint, this pose is indeed compressing/pinching/wearing on the exact area that I tore it. Used to feel great, but now I can’t even sit on the fucking floor. It certainly wasn’t doing me any favors. Remember folks – cartilage has ZERO nerve endings in it, so you can’t actually feel damage until it aggravates surrounding structures.
It all adds up. The hours in a very “open-hip” position for meditation and workshops and teacher trainings…. Hours with my foot behind my head, doing cheap tricks for momentary thrills. It all adds up. Cartilage can’t rebuild in a way that can undo the repetitive damage we do every day in extreme flexibility training, which is exactly what yoga has become. Circus tricks. Street performing. Obligatory for likes on instagram…
Even the simple looking stuff in yoga, like the picture here, or warrior II, or warrior I, or uttanasana, utkatasana, sukhasana, and all these poses that are standard in most yoga classes can for many people be damaging in the long run. It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s years of willful ignorance, worshiping “the tradition” and the alignment from Iyengar’s Light On Yoga, and other old yoga sources that make claims of divine inspiration and supernatural cures where if you fuck with the alignment you’ll never cleanse your spirit and reach enlightenment.
This shit continues in nearly every yoga class every day not only in the USA but globally. We turn our god-damned brains off and stopped evaluating what we are being taught. Remember when you were a kid and no matter what an adult was telling you your response would be “why?” and they’d answer and you still want to know Why? Why? Tell me WHY? When was the last time you evaluated your practice like that? Your teachers like that? Your SELF like that?
Question everything. Consider this a reminder to believe in nothing, because beliefs allow you to turn your fucking brain off completely and be taken advantage of and lied to. Have principles, not beliefs. It’s a semantic difference but I think it matters. Beliefs are unchanging in the face of new wisdom, while principles adapt and evolve.
We can do better. Evolve your movement practice.
Peace.
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