The New York Times Magazine hit a nerve earlier this month with its "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body" feature. The piece outlined injuries including torn cartilage, herniated discs and even a stroke. Media outlets from Salon to Men's Fitness have weighed in. The New York Observer says the story could be the biggest "Non-Controversy of the Year."
Non-controversy or real controversy, the story has become a big story. Today on KQED's Forum, no less than five guests debated and discussed the merits of yoga. Spoiler alert: four of the guests defended the practice of yoga, but with some caveats.
A big issue for yoga seems to be that many more millions of people are now "practicing" it. ("Practicing" being yoga-speak for "doing.") On Forum, Kaitlin Quistgaard, editor-in-chief of the Yoga Journal, put the number at 15 million Americans, up from four million in 2001, according to the Times. That's big growth and it's meant a big change for yoga teachers."Early on when I started teaching in the late 90's," said yoga teacher Jason Crandell, "there might be eight to ten people in class. Now, in a handful of circumstances, there's closer to 30 to 50 people in class. So I have to be better and better, and many teachers have to be better and better at dealing with a larger number of students coming in with more pre-existing injuries."
The guests agreed that students should shop for teachers, either by reviewing information available or relying on word of mouth. Crandell said the Yoga Alliance certifies teachers and has become the "industry standard."
The best way for students to avoid injury is to slow down or rest completely if something feels wrong. But the guests mostly challenged the dire stories in the Times, and pointed out that injury can happen doing any physical activity. In particular, Quistgaard took issue with the article's mention of 46 emergency room visits in 2002 due to yoga, saying that with millions of people practicing yoga, 46 is not a huge number.