Yoga is not without risk

Posted at: 01/18/2012 6:46 PM | Updated at: 01/20/2012 4:08 PM
By: Benita Zahn

Upwards of 16 million people practice yoga in the United States, the Yoga Journal finds. They do it  with the goal of better health -- physically, emotionally and spiritually.

"Yoga is not a performance," said certified yoga instructor Erin Svare. "Yoga is tuning into your body and your breath."

But sometimes, in our zeal to keep up with the person on the next mat we lose site of that.

"And I'm looking at the people next to me and they look like pieces of Origami and I'm thinking, I can do that too," Gail Picillo confesses.

She should have known better. She's a competitive doubles beach volleyball player. But bringing that attitude to yoga left her sidelined with a knee injury.

"And I pushed it and I felt a twinge and it just went khah," she recalled.

Undeterred she's back, with a different attitude. 

"A totally different kind of mindset. Now I'm completely listening to my body -- pay attention to where my strengths and weaknesses are," she said.

Other students who've suffered an injury in class agree. Yoga is about tuning into yourself. But that too takes time and instruction.

"I think what happens is when you're new to yoga, like me, you don't really understand what listening to your body really means," says Lisa O'Brien.

That's why a qualified instructor is always supervising and supporting participants. But it's a two way street. As instructor and physical therapist Linda Conway explains, students have to share their limitations so modifications can be made to maximize participation safety -- even for something as basic as sitting on the ground.

"So I would maybe take a block and put it under their knees for example so that their backs are straight."

Linda adds "A very successful yoga class isn't one in which you can do all the poses, it's the one where you can stay present for the entire class."

And as Svare says "Knowing when to stop is perhaps the most important element."

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