namasteph yoga blog

We’re having a discussion in my yoga teacher training about how yoga has evolved. I wrote up a long post and felt it was worthwhile sharing here. Here are some of my thoughts:

I did not mean to offend anyone by bringing up the Ashtanga controversy of the late 1990s. I was simply sharing how the *yoga media* at the time was talking about it – and I was not that deep into yoga to really be in the know. All I remember is that when all this power yoga stuff started becoming popular there seemed to be quite a bit of concern about it.

If you are under 35 you probably do not remember how yoga used to be in the 80s and 90s. It was different. It was definitely gentler and more “esoteric.” Yoga studios weren’t franchises. Yoga teachers were not celebrities, except for “Lilias” who appeared on PBS. If you watch old yoga videos, you’ll see more mature women in leotards doing more classical hatha yoga styles. I had not heard of “yoga flow” in 1995 and it certainly wasn’t an option at the local yoga studio I went to in Los Angeles. A good amount of yoga was still guru-based – many of the original gurus who had brought yoga to America were still alive. (Actually, in my mid-20s, this sort of yoga scared me. I preferred the new agey local studio to any sort of “real” yoga at the time.)

If you look at old issues of Yoga Journal, you’ll see a dramatically different publication from the commercial pseudo-women’s magazine it has become today. Back in the 90s, Yoga Journal was a more serious publication that featured pictures of BKS Iyengar vs. the perpetual skinny young white woman on most of their covers today. (Not that I have anything against skinny young white women, I was one for a very long time.)

The introduction of hatha flow starting in the late 90s has made yoga much more hip and appealing to young, fit, mainstream people, especially young women, who do get a lot of benefit from the practice. Unfortunately, I feel the commercialization of yoga has been bringing in elements that were never intended by the original yoga gurus. A tendency to focus on physical fitness and appearance over the spiritual benefits is one of the primary problems. Yoga Journal is a horrible leader in this area – last year they had a search for the next “yoga model.” With this sort of atmosphere, it’s not surprising that Ford model Tara Stiles, who has never bothered to get her 200-hour Yoga Alliance certification, feels qualified to run her own teacher training program in her 20s.

On the other side, there’s a focus on “lineages” with celebrity gurus taking the place of the wise men from India who originally traveled to the U.S. to share their knowledge. (Don’t get me wrong, some of those “wise men” were corrupt and abused their power – such as Amrit Desai and Muktananda.) Many of these lineages are now taught in group classes without the benefit of the guru-student relationship to provide one-on-one training and support. Because of this, there is a trend towards cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all yoga.

I’m not saying that all yoga “franchises” are all bad. I’ve been trying out Bikram Yoga lately and I can see a lot of benefit from it. But what makes Bikram Yoga most successful – its franchise model that teaches teachers to use Bikram’s own language to guide classes, and its emphasis on uniformity – is its biggest weakness. Fortunately, most Bikram poses aren’t too dangerous, though you could certainly hurt yourself in the class or pass out if you are not careful.

The problem with certain lineages like Bikram or Ashtanga is that they are set in their poses, and once the guru dies, there’s not a lot of room or permission to change up the sequence. Then there is a tendency towards religious defense of the particular pose sequence, and no moderating influence from the original guru.

Some of these styles may not last in the long run. I look at an older lineage like Sivananda, which is dying out, it seems. I’ve really enjoyed the Sivananda classes I went to, and thought the adjustments I got there were the best I’ve ever had – but the practice itself is not modern and cannot evolve. Sivananda’s basic class consists of 12 asanas and some pranayama. Three of the poses are very problematic for people with neck issues – headstand, shoulderstand, and plow. You can do a moving dolphin instead of headstand. But there’s not much room in the practice to modify otherwise.

Ultimately, I think yoga studios need to do a better job of filtering their students into appropriate classes. In my vision, the yoga studio of the future would actually be more of a wellness center, where, when you first join, they sit you down, assess your physical health and capabilities, and then recommend a sequence of classes and wellness practices for you. If this were done, then people like my 40-something friend wouldn’t be jumping into Ashtanga class with minimal previous hatha experience and only the bad form of his Kundalini yoga practice as precedent. (And I love Kundalini yoga but there are huge problems with it as well.) This is my friend who herniated his disk after going to Ashtanga classes here at Yoga Yoga. And he’s not fat, or out of shape, and so probably didn’t think twice about doing Ashtanga. But was he flexible enough to be trying those transitions between poses or doing the Marichyasana series? Apparently not!

Not all yoga is for every body, though I do believe there is some form of yoga for everyone. The studios need to do a better job of educating their teachers and their customers…but this may also naturally evolve as modern yoga matures. Hatha flow in its various forms has only been really popular in the past 10 years, and it’s attracted a lot of very young people into yoga. As people grow and mature and find that they need something different, yoga will change again.

I tried Bikram Yoga last year after buying a 10-class pass on one of those group deals websites. I had mixed feelings about it (you can read my review here). Well, I said I’d go back, but with all the things going on in my life, it took me a year to get back to hot yoga. This time, I came even better prepared. My secret weapon? A wet washcloth I rolled up and froze in the freezer. I brought it, along with an extra towel into the room, with me and wow, it was really nice to have! By the time the class was done, it was a warm, wet washcloth, but it still felt nice to use to wipe my face off.

And how was my second class? Much better than the first. Granted, I’m in better shape than I was last year. I’ve been doing Aikido in a hot, un-airconditioned room in a very heavy gi. Comparatively, hot yoga in skimpy clothes isn’t so bad. And this time my teacher was a little gentler – she didn’t bark orders so much as guide.

At the end of my second Bikram yoga class, I felt fantastic. I think I understand a little more how this has become a “cult.”

I’d still be careful if going to a hot yoga class. Proper hydration is critical. Take it easy and stop and rest when you need to.

I think every yoga person needs an extra yoga mat. You never know when you might need one – maybe your friend has stopped by and wants to try yoga out for the first time, or maybe you spilled coffee on one. So if you are looking for a gift for the yogi in your life, here’s a great idea – get them a custom yoga mat with their name or initials embroidered into the mat. YogaPup sells these online for a very reasonable price.

YogaPup sent out a custom yoga mat to me to try. You fill in a form with the words you want (I chose a few words to inspire me while doing yoga), and you can also select your font and placement. They offer many different colors as well. The mat I got was 1/4″ thick, and it is a good quality basic mat with a decent amount of “spring.” It’s not one of those super high-end mats, but honestly, after having gotten one of those as a gift, I prefer the weight and thickness of the YogaPup mat. (The other, “high end” one, which I may review later, is so freakin’ heavy! There’s no way I’m taking it with me to class!)

The embroidery is really nice. It does not seem to “injure” the mat in any way, though I don’t know how it will hold up over time. I only have one small complaint, and that is, I wanted to have the text on the top of the mat, not the bottom (so I could read it while using the mat). I’m pretty sure I had indicated that, but the text came out on the bottom. Given that I had moved and there was some lag time in our communication, and I was just getting a “review copy,” I didn’t make an issue of it. You just might want to send them a note to be clear on which way you want your text to show up when you make your order.

On the YogaPup website, they also claim the following about their mats:

*Textured surface to ensure the mat never slips

*Durable foam that is easy to roll up

*Latex free

*All mats are free of Phthalate inks

*No heavy metals are used

Given the price and the neat customization aspect, I can say that YogaPup is a great bargain if you want a good quality mat with a personal touch.

Yikes – from the folks who do the “People of Walmart” – an entire site with pictures of “Girls in Yoga Pants.”

It’s pretty offensive. They have, for example, a category called “Titty Tuesday.” Be forewarned, if you are a woman and you go to this site, you can expect to be pissed off.

Yuck.

Was anyone truly surprised when it came out recently that John Friend, founder of Anusara, is a bit of a playboy? Exploitation of female yogis has been a problem in yoga ever since it came to America, with charges of sexual impropriety and outright harassment against “gurus” such as Muktananda, Amrit Desai (who was kicked out of the ashram he founded), and even Yogi Bhajan (who brought my beloved Kundalini Yoga to America).

In this environment, where women are often made very vulnerable in a teacher/student relationship, we really need to be careful about male predators in a world that is currently dominated by women. Unfortunately, the current trend in yoga is to make it about shallow things like “becoming more sexy.” It’s even worse when women become part and parcel to the objectification of women in yoga. When I critique this trend, such as what yoga model Tara Stiles is doing, inevitably, some clueless man will come and comment that I am just “jealous and bitter.”

There is never, ever any acknowledgment of the greater problem. Never. The issue, for them, always comes down to this: If you don’t like the trend towards sexploitation in yoga, if you don’t like Tara Stiles selling yoga as “sexy,” if you don’t like Ana Brett showing her nipples off in a Kundalini Yoga DVD, you are “jealous and bitter.”

Here’s the latest comment I got on my Tara Stiles critique. The guy spends half his comment giving me a psych evaluation. I’ll post his comment in italics and my responses in bold:

Sorry Steph,

It does come of as jealous and bitter, very much so. The lengthy and verbose denial further deepens the mire. Oh so unattractive.

I’m sorry you aren’t getting my point after I explained it in length, and yet, ironically, your comment to me in response is one of the longest I’ve received on my blog…by the way, I’m really not interested in being “attractive” to you. Believe it or not, we women actually have other things that fulfill us besides being “attractive” to every man who comes across our paths!

With all due respect, the 200hr and 500hr certifications are generic and ubiquitous. I have seen any number of “certified” inept calisthenics instructors parading as yoga teachers. Most of them list their their “x”hr certifications in a laundry list of qualifications ranging from hatha to kundalini to tae bo. I guess if you claim to have a range of yoga mart energetic healing techniques, it makes you more authentic.

Have you ever done a 200 or 500 hour yoga training? If you had, you would not dismiss it so cavalierly. It’s a lot of hard work.

What amuses me are the underlying emotional issues that you have with your body and aging that peek out, albeit unintended in your original post and rebuttals.

No, I think you are projecting your own misogynistic views onto me. Given that I’ve had many males come onto this blog to claim “jealousy” each time I critique sexploitation in yoga, I’m fairly certain most of you think I’m ugly, fat, and sit at home crying as I eat ice cream and bon-bons.

I doubt you’ll understand that though.

What clinched the deal for me was actually attending several classes at Strala yoga. The fact is this: Tara can teach. Her classes rock, they are down to earth and FAIRLY safe.

I have experienced all sorts of classes over the last 15 years and have a fair idea of instructors capabilities. A lot of amazing teachers had devoted a life to practicing yoga as a way of life instead of accumulating meaningless certifications. Dharma Mittra, BKS Iyengar, Vanda Scaravelli to name a few have never heard of 200 hr or 500hr certifications.

Initially, I was going to write that I was glad you feel you are getting something out of Tara’s teaching, though my main issue with her is how she markets herself and yoga, not what she does in her classes. But as I’ve analyzed your comment more, I can’t help but get a strange feeling that you are protesting on her behalf way too much. I have to wonder why you are so attached to vehemently defending her here. Why are you going to see her as opposed to another teacher? Is it because you want your yoga teacher to be young and pretty? Maybe you wanted to have a “model” as your teacher?

Ironically I actually support your right to be jealous and bitter. Absolutely, the girl is young, has some serious celebrity endorsements (I don’t particularly care, but in this commercial day and age….You get the picture). She has a following, has a personal brand (personally I dont give a damn about that either). Tara has money, her significant other is a cool yogi (A serious and good teacher in his own right). Hell she really does have it going on, and jealousy would be warranted and perfectly understandable. This is America and we divide the world into losers and winners ( I do not agree, but then again, I simply live here), she is the present it girl, however temporary and you are a never could be.

Obviously, you do care about her being the “it girl,” because here and at the end of your comment you slam me for being “a never could be.” You would only throw out that snarky insult if you were yourself attached to celebrity and fame. Look, I left Los Angeles because I got tired of all that crap. I really don’t care to be famous. Trust me on that one.

What is worrisome really is your flat out lack of acceptance that you are just as susceptible to jealousy and bitterness as anyone else. To say that you are not motivated in the slightest by any of these is ridiculous. Satya and Swadhyaya are something you may have encountered in your vaunted 200hr certification.

Nope, I’m not jealous of Tara. She, like many other women who have built their careers and self-esteem off of their beauty, will be into a shock when she hits 40 and suddenly she’s no longer the “it girl.” (It might happen sooner than that.) How is she going to feel when her husband leaves her for a younger “model”? When she’s no longer given media attention because she’s just another average-looking middle-aged woman? Look at how Demi Moore has destroyed herself over her focus on staying young. She’s had to go to rehab. She’s a mess. She can’t let go of her youth and beauty and she has nothing to replace it. No, I don’t envy those women at all.

Yes, there will be feedback on a public forum. If you voice your opinion shrilly and stridently, the echoes will be shrill and strident too. To consider yourself above any such reproach because you own this blog is another reflection of your denial. You have been deluded by a glittering piece of commercial drivel to voice your say, without having taken the time to experience the person underneath.

I’m not sure what you mean by “glittering piece of commercial drivel” – are you referring to Tara’s book on yoga? At any rate, given your righteous outrage over any critique of Tara, it’s ironic that you’d lambaste me for my own feedback of her. She’s a public figure, and is also therefore not above “reproach.” As for experiencing “the person underneath” – have you experienced “the person underneath” in Tara? I doubt you have, if you’ve just shown up for her public yoga classes. If you’ve experienced more…well…I don’t know, something about what you said suggests to me you have some sort of unhealthy attachment/projection in regards to her. I’ll give you a clue, in case you’ve got a bit of White Knight fantasies going on with her: She’s just not that into you. If she’s nice to you after yoga class, it’s because you are her customer.

See if you can take a class with Tara, if it helps you face the uncomfortable feelings in your self, you may just come out a changed person. Changed for the better that is.

Ummm yeah…this is where you sound like someone who has joined a cult or something. I had people say this kind of stuff to me about Landmark Forum. “You have to go experience it yourself to be able to judge!” Umm, no thank you, I don’t need to travel to New York just to appease your angst that I don’t like the Tara Stiles style of sexploitative yoga marketing.

By the way, I did check the IP address you posted your comment from, and it originated in “Richardson, Texas.” So it does seem like you must have gone way out of your way to attend a class of hers. Which kind of confirms my suspicion you’ve got some Tara Stiles Stalking going on here.

Yes Steph, we do get it. We really do. You are a generic item on the bottom shelf at yogamart, she has her own store.

No, you don’t get it. At all. But you couldn’t leave without another insult over the fact that I am not a famous yoga teacher, even though you claim to not be swayed by such things. Sorry to burst your bubble. I am not interested in being a famous yoga teacher…I am not interested in being a full-time yoga teacher, period. I only teach one class per week right now, to old people, as my seva. I do it out of the goodness of my heart. I do it because I enjoy it, and I get great joy in working with the elderly. And trust me, my elderly yoga students are one-thousand times “cooler” to me than Tara Stiles ever will be.

* * *

It’s pretty clear to me, after going through this guy’s comment line-by-line, that his interest in Tara Stiles is more than in just her being a “great” yoga teacher. Whether or not he’s admitted to himself his attraction to her, and his anger at other women, it’s probably a good idea to be aware of the types of projection that our students might be doing in class. This guy professes an intimacy with Tara that I doubt he has in the real world. In this sense, I have to wonder…are young female yoga students possibly setting themselves up for sticky situations with male students? Are there any women yoga teachers out there who have had men become obsessed with them? Have you been “stalked” by your yoga student? Or, if you are a female yoga student yourself and not a teacher, have you felt “creeped out” by any men in your class? If so, I’d like to hear your story. Please comment below.

Is the New York Times out to get yoga? You might think so, if you read their recent article, “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body,” a scary tale of injuries, strokes, and hip replacements. The article is adapted from the book “The Science of Yoga: The Risks and Rewards,” by William J. Broad, to be published next month by Simon & Schuster.

I’m sure the article upset a lot of yogis, and it was definitely one-sided – the therapeutic aspects of yoga were completely ignored. But I would definitely recommend reading it, because it showcases a darker side of yoga that we don’t hear a lot about in the yoga community. I touched upon some of my concerns about extreme, strenuous yoga in a blog post about the potential dangers of Ashtanga, but it’s not Ashtanga alone that might be the issue. Any yoga that is more about pushing the body beyond its limits could be problematic. I wonder if workout yoga styles like vinyasa flow have taken yoga down a path that might end up becoming more extreme as time goes on – will the yoga of the 2020s be more like frenetic, gymnastic kickboxing workouts than yoga?

At any rate, I’d recommend reading the article, and especially the comments, which are interesting. Here’s a comment I found particularly pertinent:

Laura Maria Censabella of Brooklyn, NY wrote:
Years ago I studied Sivananda yoga in Manhattan after years of studying ballet. I loved the practice for its sanity: no looking in mirrors; few competitive glances around the room; hour and a half long classes with ample warm-up and cool-down time; and 12 or so basic postures repeated from class to class. These 12 postures served as foundation poses so that meditation could occur. Individual yoga teachers added variations that grew out of these basic poses, and one could choose to do them or not. Last year, after years of doing yoga on my own, I decided to return to yoga classes. Imagine my surprise when they turned out to be what felt like yoga calisthenics classes to a soft rock accompaniment. From class to class, even with the same teacher, there was little continuity of poses, increasing the risk of injury since you never mastered anything before you moved on. Who knew yoga had thousands of poses and why was it important that we do all of them in a macho quest to master them all? Surely there are a smaller number of basic poses that are beneficial to the body, and by slowly holding them one can go deeper mentally and physically. I fear that yoga has become Americanized to its detriment, and perhaps this new brand of yoga has become like New York: fast-paced, competitive, and a little mean.

Hmm. Has yoga become a little mean? Maybe it has.

I’m always looking for tips on helping my hamstrings. Recently, I found the following interesting comment on Metafilter by a person who found improving day-to-day posture helped with flexibility. I hope it helps someone. Better posture can’t hurt regardless!

I had the same problem. I was never able to touch my toes, no matter how much stretching I did. After I developed some serious back problems this year, I started doing physical therapy and Pilates. A few months later, I can touch my toes and my hands go down about 6 inches lower than they ever could.

The one thing that made the difference wasn’t more stretching, it was paying constant attention to my posture throughout the entire day. Here’s what I learned that worked for me:

Your hamstrings are built for strength, but they’re not designed to stay clenched all day. If you spend too much time with your hamstrings contracted, then you’ll never be able to stretch them past a certain length. There are two telltale signs of postures that force you to clench your hamstrings: slouching with your hips forward, and sticking your head out forward of your shoulders. Also check that your seat isn’t too high when sitting. Your chair should let you put your feet flat on the floor.

The solution lies in strengthening your pelvic floor and deep abdominal muscles, and using them to maintain your posture. Those muscles are designed to be able to stay slightly contracted all day. When standing, slightly contract your urethra and anus muscles, and you should feel your pelvic floor rise and your lower abdominals move inwards. Make sure your gluteus and your outer abdominals (the “six-pack” muscles) are relaxed. At that point you should be able to relax your hamstrings. It’s hard to stay focused on that all day, but after a couple of weeks of practice it will become more automatic, and you’ll start to notice the difference when you do stretching.

I was in a yoga teacher training workshop over the weekend, and our teacher mentioned off-hand that a number of senior teachers in a certain yoga tradition that he chose not to name were getting hip replacement surgery! I was, of course, extremely curious to know what tradition he was talking about, but did not want to waste his time after class to ask him about “yoga gossip.” After the workshop, however, I regretted not asking, as it would be a good thing to know if a particular type of yoga was likely to cause such devastating injury.

So what was he referring to? I racked my brain to consider the options. Was it Bikram? Well, Bikram might cause some issues due to the hot room, but I don’t think there are enough hip openers in Bikram to cause major hip problems. What about Anusara? I don’t know enough about it, but with its focus on arm balances, perhaps the bigger danger there would simply be falling on your face! Iyengar seems unlikely, considering its focus on alignment and props. Kundalini yoga certainly entered my mind as a good possibility – there’s no alignment, and doing too many frogs could possibly not just cause hip problems but tweak your knees. But I felt that he wasn’t talking about Kundalini yoga, since for many yogis, Kundalini is a bastard off-shoot and not really considered a true yoga “tradition.”

Ashtanga was the last thing to come to my mind, and – apologies to you die-hard Ashtanga practitioners – the one that immediately registered an “a-ha!” Who knows if that’s what he was really talking about, but I decided to take a trip through the Internet to see if there was any correlation at all between Ashtanga and hip replacement. I found one very interesting thread on an Ashtanga discussion forum.

One person shared the following:

Yup, I’ve given up ashtanga as of 7 months ago.  Got too old.  My left hip disintegrated and I had total hip replacement surgery.  Ashtanga may have contributed but if it hadn’t been ashtanga, it would have been something else, maybe.  I’m able to exercise at the gym on a stationary bike, treadmill, and elliptical machine but agree with neti that nothing gives you the total mind /body workout of ashtanga.  I plan to go back to a light, gentle yoga practice starting with an appointment I have coming up with a teacher who has hip replacement students.  Would love to hear from any other board posters who have had hip replacement surgery.

Right off the bat, this post shows one of the problems with assessing the long-term effects of strenuous yoga practices. Was this person’s hip replacement due to Ashtanga or something else? We really can’t know. But someone with a medical background weighed in to say:

After working in orthopaedics I could never justify, let alone recommend, this form of practice for any length of time. It was really the beginning of the end for me.
If I could offer any advice it would be to enjoy it in youth, and prepare to let it go completely in maturity. 

And someone else chimed in:

 …some primary series poses can be problematic to older people with disintegrating bones.  Many of the standing poses, especially the one leg balancing poses, are not good.  Poses that place a strain upon the hips, like bjujapidasana and the maris, contribute to the problem.  When I showed my David Swenson primary series practice card to my physical therapist she recoiled in horror and started pointing out all the poses that would further injure my hip.  I’m not saying that ashtanga causes hip replacement surgery, just relating my personal experience.

Now here’s the big elephant in the living room, not just for Ashtanga but for many yoga traditions. Much of the way we teach yoga now has nothing to do with how yoga was traditionally taught for centuries. It’s only been in modern times that we’ve had big drop-in classes where anyone on the street of any fitness level could jump into a yoga class. We really haven’t done enough studies to know whether certain yoga poses are actually good for long-term practice or some are just good “for show.” By that, I mean, I suspect many of the more complicated and eye-popping yoga poses were created not for regular exercise, but to demonstrate the power of yoga to an audience.

I mean, really, is there any real benefit in terms of physical health or improved quality of meditation by doing  the Ashtanga posture karandavasana shown in the picture above? Is lotus pose in and of itself necessary to achieve deep meditation? No.

One study on Ashtanga Yoga has shown that more than half experienced an injury lasting longer than a month:

The 110 practitioners surveyed, 68 (62%) reported having had at least one injury lasting longer than one month, and some practitioners reported more than one injury. A total of 107 musculoskeletal injuries were reported. The rate of new practice-related injuries was 1.18 injuries per 1,000 hours of practice. If recurrence of pre-existing injury and non-specific low back pain of unknown origin were included, the injury rate became 1.45 injuries per 1,000 hours of practice. Injuries related to the practice of Yoga were most common in the lower extremities, especially in the hamstrings or knees. None of the practitioners reported suffering permanent impairment from their injuries; however, this may be a consequence of the sampling procedure (see Limitations of the sample and survey, below).

I presume one of the limitations of the survey would include the short-term vs. long-term nature of the study. A short-term study would not be able to judge the effects of the body into old age.

Now, I can imagine some Ashtangis will complain and say that this doesn’t really represent Ashtanga or that people who get injured aren’t listening to their body and it’s “their” fault, not the fault of the practice. Look, I’ve done some Ashtanga prep classes where you learn the primary series. There are many things I like about the primary series. But you are in denial if you think that Ashtanga doesn’t have a bit more possibility of injury vs. a more gentle form of yoga, especially when it comes to the more advanced poses.

Granted, I’m not an Ashtanga Yoga devotee. I haven’t personally experienced the benefits of a regular Ashtanga practice. But my impression (as an outsider) is that there are some, not all, but some Ashtanga practitioners who let their Ashtanga affiliation go to their heads a little bit. They identify too much with the yoga practice as not just a badge of honor, but their identity. But achieving a challenging pose isn’t about being spiritual, it’s about ego. And from that attachment to the Ashtanga egoic “high,” some Ashtangis seem to have lost their objectivity.

Here’s just one example – a blog post by an Ashtanga teacher who claims that Ashtanga yoga practitioners who turn to Iyenger for help on proper alignment are simply trying to “distract” themselves from their yoga practice! This sentence totally blew me away:

I feel what is really going on is not a wish to learn about alignment but a wish for distraction in what is happening in our own Ashtanga practise, perhaps a wish for distraction for the lack of ‘progress; or the injuries that keep occurring.

Seriously? If someone is having recurring injuries, isn’t it probable that something is wrong? And maybe they really do need to go to a qualified Iyengar teacher for some help!

This teacher then goes on to claim that many injuries in Ashtanga are simply psycho-somatic, and blames this on some sort of deficit of will upon the part of the student:

Again the experience of viewing oneself on the mat daily has become too intense or reached an uncomfortable place and the welcome distraction now comes from injury/pain with the blessing of the healthcare practitioner. 

Seriously, if you find a teacher like this, who blames your dislike of a practice and your actual injuries on your own personal failings, run, don’t walk, out the door.

Now, I’m sure most Ashtanga teachers are not this insensitive and clueless. I’m also not trying to wholesale condemn Ashtanga here. If you are physically fit and flexible, and you want a challenging yoga practice, Ashtanga may be for you. But I don’t think Ashtanga is for everyone – certainly not older people who have never done yoga, not people who are injured, and not people who aren’t talented physically (meaning, people who simply aren’t athletic in nature and have a hard time with basic yoga postures).

Yoga practitioners under 50 who have been athletes, gymnasts and dancers may be the best candidates for rigorous Ashtanga practices. But even then, I wonder if perhaps over time those who have been fit and athletic in their youth might benefit from dialing it down a bit as they get into middle age and beyond.

The most important takeaway in all of this is: BE CAREFUL! Perhaps you are starting out in Ashtanga with a very strict teacher who, like the person I quoted above, doesn’t take injury seriously. Listen to your own body! If you feel Ashtanga (or any other yoga practice) is pushing your body too hard, find another type of yoga! Don’t let someone guilt trip you into injuring yourself. Yoga should not be about achieving difficult postures. Yoga isn’t about asana for the sake of asana. It should be about a whole mind/body practice that nurtures and inspires you, not one that leaves you bruised and battered.

I received a NamaSTAY yoga towel earlier this year and I’ve been meaning to review it again beyond my initial impressions. It’s a good idea to test drive something like a yoga towel for a little while before making a final verdict. Since I received my yoga towel, they have discontinued the color towel I have (light blue) and now offer different colors: charcoal and purple, and coming soon, green and reddish orange.

I’m assuming the fabric is basically the same – because the fabric is one of the main features of the NamaSTAY yoga towel. It’s a very thick, plush “microfiber” that despite it’s softness is amazingly non-slip.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here, so let me back up a sec. There are two basic types of yoga towels out there – ones that have little non-stick “grips” on them, and ones that don’t. The NamaSTAY yoga towel uses a simple pocket on each end to keep the towel secured to the mat instead of little plastic non-stick balls. The pockets are nice in that they also help keep the curled ends of the yoga mat more flat on the floor. I’ve also found that sometimes those non-stick grips tend to create a bumpy surface to sit on with other yoga towels – and in this respect, the NamaSTAY towel wins on comfort.

The only downside I’ve found to the stay-put pockets is in Bikram. If you are in Bikram class and you get to the part where they ask you to pull your towel up to cover your ankles (I think this is in tortoise pose? I’ve only done one full Bikram class so far), you have to pull the back of the towel off the mat and it’s just not that quick and easy to do with the pocket. But that’s a minor complaint, and you could just as easily leave the back pocket out in a Bikram class if you wanted to.

How does the towel do otherwise? Well, I find that it soaks up moisture and the fabric is amazingly “sticky” – not literally sticky, but “sticky” in that you don’t slide all over the place on the towel. I’m still amazed that such a plush towel can have such a nice, firm “grip” to it. Granted, no towel is perfect and you shouldn’t expect to be like Spider-Man with it – if you have super sweaty palms I can’t guarantee you won’t slide a little bit in a long downdog – but this towel really does well in the no-slip department.

The towel seems to wear well and it is washable. Overall, I think it’s a great yoga towel and it’s one of my favorites. Thumbs up.

A year later, I see a link coming in to this blog from the Accidental Yogist, which is a great Los Angeles-based yoga blog. Apparently, some yoga blog awards were given out, and my blog was on the list – but I must have missed the email. However, in searching for the “Online Nursing Programs & Awarding the Web” website, I didn’t find much of anything, and a search on 2010 Top Yoga Blogs revealed a site that seems to be trying to do search engine optimization on massage schools as a means to generate ad revenue. Are these awards scams or not? Oh well, it’s still a compliment if you get one – the spammers are perhaps looking for blogs with decent traffic to link back to them.