Publication last spring of William Broad's The Science of Yoga: The Risks and Rewards provoked a storm of controversy among American yogis. Partly it was the air of sensationalism that surrounded some of Broad's highly-charged claims: first, that yoga could cause serious, even life-threatening injuries, and second, that the entire yogic enterprise had begun as a Hindu "sex cult."
But the real source of dismay, perhaps, was that yoga, which has flourished in the Obama years as something of a pop-culture "wild child," was finally being observed and evaluated by the outside world. And not just by adults, but by research scientists to boot. Could this newfangled grassroots movement -- which can morph into a girl-power rave party at the drop of a yoga mat -- actually survive "serious" scrutiny?
Broad suggested that it might, but only if yoga were to shed its deep-seated narcissism and penchant for celebrity glitz and begin repositioning itself as part of the mainstream "wellness" movement. How? By establishing more professional teacher training programs with stricter licensing standards, for one. That would help reduce the incidence of injury and might allow fledgling yogis to treat a wider range of health problems more credibly. And second, by subjecting yoga's far-flung health benefit claims -- some of them dubious on their face -- to more rigorous scientific testing and validation.
Needless to say, for a movement that seems to harbor -- no, pride itself on -- a zealous disrespect for "Western" medicine and that also defiantly resists government intrusion into its internal affairs -- however unseemly those affairs may be -- Broad's sobering and decidedly adult-sounding message didn't exactly catch fire.
Which is why -- sadly, perhaps -- the latest scientific research work of the National Institute of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is likely to produce yet another round of shrugs -- or, depending on the media fall-out, another caustic and contemptuous backlash.
The Center, with its annual budget of $107 million, isn't exactly the scientific or medical mainstream. But it does appear to be following in Broad's footsteps by setting out a formal -- and some would say, rather traditional -- experimental research agenda for yoga. It's subjecting yoga -- and the millions of human bodies practicing its asana postures -- to advanced muscular-skeletal tests (with wires and electrodes, the whole nine yards), but it's doing it with a degree of impartial care and integrity that's unusual -- even incorporating highly-trained yoga instructors directly into the research process.
The test results, so far, are mixed. One NCCAM study supervised by Dr. Karen Sherman of the Group Health Clinic in Seattle found that yoga could provide some relief from lower back pain, a widespread ailment that has resisted conventional therapies. But NCCAM also found that yoga's impact was modest, and that other treatments including spinal manipulation, a hands-on massage technique, were equally effective. (In fact, NCCAM's collection of "recommended practices" for lower back pain doesn't actually list yoga.)
Other NCCAM-funded research by Dr. George Salem at the University of Southern California found an even more surprising result: Many yoga postures aren't working on the joints and muscle groups that yoga teachers typically claim; and worse, in some cases they are adding, not relieving, stress, at least to the physical body.
Take the vaunted "Warrior Pose" sequence. It's one of the most popular and widely practiced asana series -- often touted as a means of instilling balance control. But Salem's tests found that another asana, "Tree Pose," was actually far more useful for this purpose. In his training program at USC, Salem recommends downplaying the Warrior sequence and eliminating or modifying the Sun Salutation and Downward-Facing Dog, two other poses at the heart of contemporary yoga practice.
NCCAM's researchers have also begun to inventory other ailments that yoga marketers and teachers consistently claim the practice will provide relief for -- and have found several popular claims wanting. Asthma? The Internet is filled with short instructional videos claiming that yoga's deep-breathing techniques will widen bronchial tubes and make asthma attacks less likely. But according to NCCAM, there is no sound evidence to support that claim.
And arthritis? Even Broad, citing the work of immunologist Kevin J. Tracy and Indian scientist Shirley Telles has endorsed the view that yoga can surely help with degenerative bone diseases like osteoporosis that afflict millions of older people especially. But Salem, who's launched a research program entitled "Yoga Empowers Seniors," disputes that view -- as does a recent review of the scientific literature on yoga and arthritis, which finds that the current evidence of a positive yoga benefit is inconclusive, citing severe methodological weaknesses in study design.
What does yoga actually help with? Despite their skepticism, NCCAM researchers clearly expect to document yoga's positive health benefits over time. But much as Broad did in his book, they are cautioning that far less is actually known -- and even less has been conclusively proven -- about how yoga actually helps when it does, and that anecdotal evidence alone, even from satisfied yoga customers, isn't statistically representative, and can't be treated as scientifically valid.
Even in the best cases, some benefits attributed to yoga may not even be unique to yoga. For example, in a number of recent studies, researchers have compared yoga's impact with that of other non-traditional treatment modalities, including simple stretching exercises. While yoga provided a positive benefit, the other techniques did just as well, casting doubts on yoga's perpetual claim to therapeutic uniqueness as a mind-body healing system.
Past studies have also shown that non-yogic meditation techniques such as TM and qigong can have just as much therapeutic value as yoga does for depression or substance abuse -- with less potential for physical injury.
So far, the work of NCCAM hasn't attracted much media attention. But expect all that to change as more and more studies come online, and the research begins to challenge -- as well as support -- other long-standing yoga health claims. Many critics are likely to take issue with NCCAM's experimental research methods which, thus far at least, seem to replicate the industry's over-emphasis on yoga's physical or postural aspects, downplaying its potential psychological and spiritual benefits.
Still, with the yoga industry continuing to suffer fall-out from the John Friend Anusara sex scandal and from bizarre developments like the Lululemon murders, there are worse things than a government "stamp of approval." Over time, a stronger scientific imprimatur could bring the popular practice more mainstream credibility, allowing it to tap a portion of the almost $2 trillion U.S. wellness market -- tantamount to striking gold.
And in the short term, yoga will surely gain a measure of protection -- and added visibility -- by being brought under the roof of a much wider range of "alternative" treatment modalities, including acupuncture, massage, and Pilates.
But can American yogis voluntarily step down from their Olympian heights and agree, in effect, to be just one of the gang? They may not have much choice if they expect to survive -- and in the end, exploit -- the onward march of science.
For more by Stewart J. Lawrence, click here.
For more on yoga, click here.
WE do need more research because the truth is there has been a big increase of joint injuries, repetitive strain, and now hip and knee replacements of some of the big name teachers. Injuries are telling us we need a big wake up call that something is not quite right in the asana world.
My work as a teacher has been to help people focus on posture alignment not pose alignment. The result after 20 years of working and teaching as a yoga teacher, posture therapist, and body worker is YogAlign. Wake up yogis !! The world is not flat and neither is our spinal column. Try to walk without bending your knees and now ask yourself what it the benefit of bending over with your knees straight? There is none unless you want a flat ass from over-stretched sacral ligaments. We have been led down a slippery path and its high time to get real with functional bio-mechanics. www.yogalign.com
Other books exposing yoga are ExPosed: The painful truth behind yoga and pilates and
Super Human Yoga & Pilates - Hardcover: D.C. Kevin Khalili
For a good example, see my review of Stephen Cope's (Kripalu) new book "The Great Work of Your Life" http://bit.ly/RkN43L, which is about the influence of the Gita on 11 famous people. Plus there are a lot of related links there that make my point.
The Bhagavad Gita is even showing up in corporate america as a guide to business success, replacing the long-standing "The Art of War".
Bob W.
Is yoga's heavy commercialization trumping its "enlightenment" potential? A lot of people seem to think so. But in the end, it probably comes down to what you, the "consumer," decide you want for yourself, and the conscious choices you make.
Doesn't it always?
"True or False? Physical Yoga Has Influenced America More than Spiritual Yoga."
http://bit.ly/q3JlTf
I also had the pleasure of interviewing Phil (link in the above article).
Love to hear your views on this. Is this a new train of thought for you, or have you already processed it into your thinking?
Bob W., Associate Publisher
elephant journal
I don't mean a lot of disrespect - but this is what yoga has become. Everyone is selling, as if it'
s second nature, making sure their website and photo are plastered somewhere. Your own magazine is filled with a plethora of sexy "confessional" stories designed to grab the reader - whether they are even true or not, I might add - and thjeir chief aim is to promote the identity and services of your "gallery" of authors and yogini wannabes.
In many cases, you are serving as an unabashed business marketing platform for established yoga celebrities like Sadie Nardini, Elenea Brower, Amy Ippolitti - and the rest of John Friend's Anusara Hall of Shame.
Do you realize how few everyday middle class folks seeking better health care for themselves and their families even care about the yoga "blogosphere"? They know nothing of it - and have no need to? It doesn't speak to them.
We already have a yoga industry that's a carnival show - and a public laughing stock. What's its next incarnation? Bordelllo?
Yoga was the counter-culture borne from the riots, protests to Vietnam, the draft- which were on the high and culturally we were looking for another answer. An answer more informed than our western beliefs of TAKE OVER and SUBJUGATE. A time to DROP OUT and DROP IN, to yourself searching for a new world order.
Nothing to do with physical asana poses. Nothing to do with how you sit when you do chest presses in the gym. Nobody telling you that you are to blame, or someone else is for your own voluntary "step-in" to life. You held your own owners manual.
May this purview be a reminder that you OWN you and dare to question, how much of something are we willing to make into a business and for what reason? Religion, Playground monitor, walking on your local HS track and/or which poses or profession are we willing to belittle to loft another, and why? Just sayin'.
Look at Healthcare, and look no further, Big Brother is on your mat.
Some will learn the hard way -- by getting sued by students who get injured in their classes
Some will learn the hard way -- by getting sued by insurance companies looking to recoup medical expenses from patient's yoga injuries
Some will learn the hard way -- by being subject to regulation and licensure to uphold the integrity and skill within the yoga teaching industry
It seems you want to lay the responsibility for yoga growing up solely on the students. It is not the student's responsibility to police the teachers who purportedly have more knowledge and background given thier training and are being paid for their expertise. It shouldn't fall on the student's shoulders (or back or knees or neck or..) to get injured X many times before yoga teachers stop denying the mounting evidence that this physical practice has some profound pitfalls that should be addressed openly. Where is your admonition for the teachers on how THEY can learn to grow up in this industry - even the ones who have been in the industry 20+ years and still wave the "safe as mother's milk" flag, as long as you are in my class and if you get injured I'm sure it was your ego or some subtle misalignment in your body that caused it. A better approach is to encourage teachers to support more rigorous and objective research on the dangers and benefits of the practice and discuss this openly within the community
Nayeema Akter
www.anamayaresort.com
What I'd like to know is where you found evidence of a "zealous disrespect for Western medicine," in the yoga community? Certainly not among respected members, like Timothy McCall, M.D. Certainly not among anyone I've ever encountered or trained under. Who, exactly, is disrespecting Western medicine and do they, in fact, represent a majority of yoga teachers/practitioners? Doubt it.
You imply that yogis would take umbrage at equating the impact of practices--like meditation--to other modalities. On the contrary. The yoga community promotes and participates in many of the other alternative options you mention. It's not a contest.
Also, the Warrior series is NOT touted as instilling balance. Warrior poses are strengthening postures. Balance poses--such as tree--are touted as instilling balance.
However, I do think you are the (delightful) exception. Yoga teacher training programs have flooded the market with much younger people, mainly women, who do not have advanced degrees - or even college degrees - whatever their life experience may be, and it shows in the way that they comport themselves, and the spirit that they bring to the practice. Frankly, I am surprised that you don't recognize that. I think it's all around.
Second, I do think there is a very strong "Yoga Uber Alles" mentality among this same teacher corps - and indeed among many,students, too. Yogis may see other mind-body modalities as valid, but they often proudly think of themselves as the "first among equals." Basically, they've bought into the yoga hype because it's also a form of self-promotion,
There's even been quite a bit of competition BETWEEN yoga "brands," because this is the level, emotionally, spiritually and professionally, at which many people are operating. And on top of it, it simply derives from the logic of the marketplace; commercial yoga is certainly not immune to brand competition.
All part of the emerging dialogue, I suppose, assuming there is one. And I think there should be one - and it should be a two-way dialogue, not just an attempt by some public health agencies to create their own research agenda, methodologies and protocols. When many yogis read about these "official" efforts, they simply turn up their nose. Probably would be wise to be more pro-active.
One of my deep disappointments when I read Broad's book was that he didn't debunk the ridiculous myths I often hear in yoga classes. Things like, twists detox the body by squeezing the organs. Please. If a good spinal twist could wring toxins out of your liver, backing the car out of the driveway or getting a good poke in the side could be life-threatening events. Same goes for the argument that hot yoga is detoxifying. Maybe for the dirt in your pores, but, really, a nice pee would do more.
There are many crazy claims made about poses like shoulderstand, headstand, etc. . . Maybe I just know enough to stay away from the wifty, half-trained teachers.
funny. yoga's not on there. one of the top injuries in this country is being a pedestrian. commonly referred to as "walking down the street"
and while i'm not inclined to say yoga is perfect, it's not, i would readily say that my shoulder injury that manifested in a yoga class was far more likely caused by the wonky way i sleep.
i like yoga. i like science. i hate sensationalism. yoga's not perfect but nothing is and all of the time spent on this ongoing brouhaha could probably be spent better meditating.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/types-of-yoga-unconventional_n_1856174.html
Includes her "Tantrum Yoga"
Either that, or I've been suppressing a tantrum, myself ...
What I have seen is that the right angle templates for many yoga poses are the reason for the injuries because they do not simulate how we move in real life function. We try to fit our round bodies into square and right angle poses like down dog, and the body gets injured because we are not made to bend that way. People may not feel the strain at the time but I have seen that repetitive practice of these poses without proper alignment of the spine, leads to a gradual destabilization of the joints.
When yoga poses require one to keep the knees straight while bending forward from sitting or standing, there is strain in the ligaments of our hip and knee joints and I liken it to driving a car with the brakes on.
When I teach, I instruct people to keep the natural curves of the spine at all times, and avoid right angle body positions like plow and seated forward bends. I have found that many yoga poses actually reinforce and contribute to poor posture and cause imbalance via repetitive abnormal motions.
We need more research to find out why sometimes yoga hurts and sometimes yoga heals. www.yogalign.com
In truth, how many of these postures really derive from classical yoga, as opposed to later fitness and exercise traditions. Warrior? Down Dog? It sounds like you might want to be in contact with NCCAM. They are not really steeped in yoga, but seem to feeling their way, but refreshingly, suggesting that we start from scratch, rather than the hype.
I think they are quire concerned that a number of federal agencies have already blessed Hatha yoga as a "total" solution to public health. There are a lot of yoga marketers who would love to see things go this way.
Also yoga poses are not ancient at all but actually derived from Western Military drills, contortionists, and women's gymnastics. Check out the book Yoga Body by Mark Singleton where he did an extensive research project funded by Cambridge and found out that there is no evidence that yoga asana as practiced today is ancient as is yoga philosophy. So we do need to use science to test the biomechanics of yoga poses as we do with any other kind of body movement program which is what yoga has become to many people. The roots of yoga; conscious breathing, study and practice of ancient texts like the Yoga Sutras is most certainly beneficial and ancient however jumping into pushups, standing with the feet together, touching toes etc is never mentioned in yogic texts and this is what needs to be researched from a bio-mechanical level.
Kudos for shedding light on this topic and keeping the discussion alive. I'm very excited about yoga morphing and joining the mainstream wellness movement. Shining the light of science on yoga will further its evolution.
After all, there was a time when everyone believed the world was flat...so, wondering why we believe what we do about certain poses may reveal some new breakthroughs. Michaelle has been doing this work for four decades, and brings in wisdom from bodywork and fitness training for a more holistic perspective.
I'm a student of Michaelle Edwards and a graduate of her YogAlign teacher training on Kauai. I live in San Francisco, home to all flavors of yoga, and I can relate to what you are saying on many levels. I was able to help with the yoga study Michaelle mentions with Dr. Mager, and we're just starting to scratch the surface. Just because something has "always been done that way," doesn't mean it's right (or works in our modern context).
Albert Einstein said "The important thing is not to stop questioning." Do your own research, listen to your body, observe other bodies, continue reading studies and question those too. Yoga encourages us to listen to our inner wisdom. We still have so much to learn. Looking forward to what the next decade holds!
What you have told me is very disturbing but unfortunately sad and true. I have had yoga teachers tell me that the pain in my back was from my weakness and also statements like 'the pose begins when you want to come out and superglue your nipples to your thighs!'. The classic was when I heard a yoga teacher say that 'injuries were part of healing and was the asana revealing your samskaras and the injury would allow you to be more whole in the long run'.
I met a woman at a yoga journal conference who told me a well known teacher adjusted her in a pose and the pressure tore her lateral collateral knee ligament. She had to have surgery and never even told him what happened. I believe that it is every students' responsibility to share their experience with the teacher. If a teacher does not provide a student with knowledge, accountability and compassion, its time to find a new teacher.