risk

Yoga Can Wreck Your Body?

Yoga Can Wreck Your Body?

Taya / News / , , , , , / 2 Comments

According to a recent New York Times article, yoga can wreck your body:

…for many people, a number of commonly taught yoga poses are inherently risky. The first reports of yoga injuries appeared decades ago, published in some of the world’s most respected journals — among them, Neurology, The British Medical Journal and The Journal of the American Medical Association. The problems ranged from relatively mild injuries to permanent disabilities […]

Read the complete article here, and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Leap, and the Net Will Appear

amyh / Reflections, Thoughts / , , , , , , , / 0 Comment

Leap Source: http://gabistevens.blogspot.com/2011/05/last-week.html

Blessed to be living with a kitten, I am compelled to watch little Dusty as she explores her very big, mysterious world. As I wrote in a previous post, the kittens were a litter of three – her two brothers have since found a home together. Dusty is now a permanent fixture in our house.

Watching Dusty sniff, scratch, run and jump is an amazing journey of discovery. The most mundane of objects become wildly interesting to her. I often catch her staring with absolute intensity at something, and then realize with laughter that she is analyzing the ceiling or a sock. Her inquisitiveness is infectious.

On the weekend, I was enjoying some sun in the backyard when I saw her climbing a tall tree: climbing, stumbling, swatting at her tail, ignoring her mother’s cries below and climbing more, into the heart of the tree, far above what her mother thought safe.

Then she squatted low and considered a jump. She bounced a little to test her feet. Then LEAPED and landed with a bounce on the grass below. Unbelievable! My first thought was how reckless and dangerous an act that was. The arrogance of youth right? She could really hurt herself!

But after those first few panicked thoughts, I realized how important it is to leap sometimes. So often in our lives and yoga practices, we refrain from doing things because of a dull, uninformed concern or fear of the unknown – we hesitate to try new poses, we stop before reaching our true limit, or we tell ourselves that we’ve found our “edge,” but really we are well within our comfort zone. We don’t take our yoga practice to new places, because we don’t know what’s out there or how it will treat us.

Sometimes taking risks doesn’t work out how we hope. But sometimes it yields results far more stunning than we can imagine – Dusty’s delight of flying for the first time, the feeling of wind and space, before the pat of soft grass under her paws. Sometimes we need to leap, and trust that the net will appear.

Courage To Fall

Melina Lake / Associations, Reflections, Thoughts, Tips, Yogis / , , , , , , , , / 0 Comment

blogs.forbes.com

In a conversation with my pal Jennifer before class started last night, she filled me in on some changes she is making in her life. Risks she’s decided to take because the saying, you never know until you try, deems to be true (funny how clichés tend to be true). Yet, making a big change, or trying something foreign or different often brings a sense of fear along with it.

For instance, I find myself going to lengths of comparing pros and cons before I make a big decision that will bring change to my life. I’m unsure if the idea for change sparks from a right feeling or desire, or the need for a challenge. So I weigh all the thoughts surrounding the risk for change and take my time before making a final verdict. Then I stop and ask, who cares?! Why do the things we lean towards need to be justified if they feel right?

Last week in a Vinyasa Power Flow class, I took several risks. My shoulders and arms violently quivered as I attempted four arm stand and side crow over and over again. I pushed myself because it felt right. I was determined that my body could manage. I knew the worst that could happen was I’d fall, and I did. Flat out like a pancake I just splattered onto my mat. My body, at that point had enough. But instead of harping on my decision to take this risk with my body, I laughed. Falling is actually kind of fun. Instead of beating myself up over failing to do the pose, I gave myself credit for trying and making progress.

Why is risk taking in yoga, when if done improperly could result in injury, so carefree? So unruffled? We will inevitably fall out of the pose, but we hold our dignity while we do it. We know that after falling, we’re merely right back to where we started and nothing less.

This notion is so simple in our yoga Kula, yet so hard in our outside community. How do we incorporate the courage to fall into our daily lives?

To quote the risk taking Jennifer, I’ll always have what I have now, so if this change doesn’t work out, I’ll be right back here. And here, the now, isn’t such a bad place to end up.

How do you bring your yoga mentality into your daily life?

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