Yoga: book shows that practice can pose health risks

According to data from the Yoga Health Foundation, in the United States, there are approximately 250 million yoga practitioners in the world. Attracted by the question of the benefits and harms of the practice, the American journalist William J. Broad went after science to look for answers. Her research took five years and is included in the book A Moderna Ciência do Yoga – os Riscos e as Recompensas, recently released in Brazil by Valentina. The work deals mainly with the benefits of the activity, but does not overlook the B side of the activity, and, in an acidic chapter, reveals dangers that were never under the spotlight.

“Perfect antidote”

A journalist for The New York Times, Broad has been practically into yoga for 40 years. “She has become a dear friend that I look forward to no matter how crazy my life gets,” she writes. Married, father of three children and author or co-author of eight books, he leads a busy life: “In an urban environment of big cities, where everyone is overstimulated, with lots of caffeine and noise, everyone is stressed and this millennial activity is the perfect antidote,” he said. For this reason, Broad decided to put his finger on the wound and point out that the activity of fashion, often praised by celebrities, is not without its problems. A passionate practitioner himself, he seriously injured his lower back while participating in an advanced class. It took months of treatment to recover. At the same time, the start for the book was given.

Different lesions in women and men

By analyzing research carried out at the best universities in the world and hospital records in the United States, the author discovered, for example, that injuries caused by the wrong practice of yoga can be influenced by gender. Men tend to have acute injuries due to their large muscles and not having much flexibility. Among the most common are fractures, dislocations and spinal problems. Women have less serious situations such as fainting or pain and a high incidence of arthritis in the hip region. To avoid problems, the suggestion is to perform movements in a smoother way, especially in positions of extreme anterior flexion of the spine, some salutations to the sun and warrior positions.

neck at risk

The biggest problem, however, is associated with excessive pressure on the neck that can lead, amazingly!, both men and women to death, according to Broad. “Everyone knows the carotid arteries, but many people don’t know that there are other arteries that reach the central brain through the vertebrae, they are the so-called vertebral arteries. If you bend your neck too much and have weak vessels, clots start to form and the blood to the brain is cut off, which can trigger a stroke,” he explains. The writer says that the riskiest position in this sense is the so-called plow posture and should be banned; others, such as shoulder and head support, should be avoided as they place too much weight on the neck. The journalist himself says that after the research he learned to make more careful movements with his neck and excluded the plow pose from his practices.

profitable practice

Broad believes that, in order not to tarnish the image of the yoga business, the opportunity to learn from mistakes and improve the movements was lost. “Why don’t we learn about all the risks too?” he asks. “For economic reasons. It’s bad for business. The yoga industry is very profitable, it makes many billions of dollars”. One of the fastest ways to monetize the millennial activity is to certify teachers and this is not always done in the most appropriate way. With just three months of studies on the internet, for example, it is possible to receive a certificate, without any practical basis. Inexperienced instructors fill studios with hundreds of students unable to assess whether the poses are being executed correctly. “Do you trust a violin teacher who has never played in a concert, never auditioned in public and only studied for three months? That’s a yoga teacher,” she criticizes.