If you are turning to some other modality to improve your yoga, then this is a red flag in your practice. There is nothing wrong with a little PT from time to time to address an issue, or doing a little cross training to balance yourself because you love to ride your bike or play golf.
I recently read an ad on FB advertising a strength training program.
One of their testimonials was from a woman who had been doing yoga for about 30 years. She started in the early 90’s. She said that she basically taught herself from watching a yoga program on TV. Red Flag #1
She says that she got into the more extreme poses, (???) extreme stretching (???), inversions and arm balances around 2014. Red flags #2 & #3
She finally received her yoga teacher certification in 2017. She says that she never had any injuries or pain, but found that her balance and stability were getting worse and that her gait became uneven. Red Flag #4
Apparently, this strength training program helped her. But yoga could have also helped her.
Let’s address these red flags one at a time:
Red Flag #1 – TV, or video, or online classes might be a way to get interested in yoga, but yoga is not supposed to practiced without an experienced teacher guiding you. There are so many subtleties and nuances to poses that it is impossible to do them correctly without guidance. I have been practicing yoga since the early 80’s and I still have a mentor and I take classes with teachers who will correct me.
I know that there are a lot of students who do not like to be corrected. They feel as if they are being criticized, but that is not what the corrections are about. Yoga can be very harmful if done incorrectly.
Red Flag #2 – Extreme poses??? I know what she means by extreme poses, but I would not call them that. I would call them advanced poses. You have to be an advanced practitioner to do these poses correctly. And if you are an advanced practitioner, they will not feel extreme. If they feel extreme, then you are over-stretching and causing harm to your body.
For example: there is a quadricep stretch that is often taught in yoga classes. You can call it a variation of Anjaneyasana (Low Lunge) or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana II (Thigh stretch with back shin up the wall) or, some call it Ardha Bhekasana (Half Frog Pose).
This is a thigh stretch, not screaming pigeon pose.
I’ve also heard it called King Arhtur’s Pose. But some people call it Screaming Pigeon Pose. If that is what you call it and if that is how it resonates in your body, then trust me, you are doing something wrong. Most likely you are over-reaching your capabilities and potentially causing your body harm. This pose is challenging for people because we sit with our hips flexed most of the time. This pose puts our hips into extension.
Whenever I do this pose in class, I offer the pose in stages. The first stage is with the back shin entirely on the floor, the second stage is with the knee halfway back towards the wall with the ball of the foot on the wall and the final stage is with the shin on the wall. I always look at my student from the front when they are doing this pose to see if they are misaligning their hips.
If not corrected, over time this could lead to sciatica, hip and low-back pain.
If the quads are being stretched beyond their capacity, the hips will shift. This creates all sorts of imbalances and pain in the hips, low back, thighs, knees and even ankles. This also causes that intense “screaming” sensation in the thigh or hip joint.
The first Yoga Sutra on asana says that “The asana should be a balance of effort and ease”. As soon as someone starts using words like “extreme” I immediately think that student is using more effort and less ease.
I do know some yoga practitioners who can do any pose in Light on Yoga. They can only do them when they are warmed up and if they are not warmed up, they will not force themselves into the posture just to show you that they can do it. When they do the postures, the asanas look beautiful and effortless.
The second yoga sutra on asana says: “When the effort to produce the posture becomes effortless then infinite being within is reached.” This effortlessness is not achieved in any pose that feels extreme.
Building a yoga pose should be like a flower blooming.
You can’t rip a rosebud open to see the beautiful flower hidden inside.
You have to be patient.
I always say that building a yoga pose should be like a flower blossoming. You can’t rip a rosebud open to see the bloom, you have to be patient.
Red Flag #3 – This practitioner mentions extreme stretching. Again, the stretching should not be extreme, it should be pleasurable, manageable. Yoga is a balance of “Sthira”, effort, strength or stability and “Sukha”, flexibility, ease or mobility.
When you are working in a pose, you should have the feeling that you could hold the pose forever. If you don’t have that sense then something is wrong. If you feel as if you cannot wait to come out of the pose, then you are applying too much effort. You could be forcing yourself into the pose, or doing the posture incorrectly. One indicator is that you are holding your breath, gritting your teeth, or tensing your jaw, shoulders, brow, butt, or some other body part.
It is better to stretch a little everyday than a whole lot on one day. Some practitioners go all out on one day, but don’t do anything the other days of the week. This lends itself to injury.
AND, yoga is a combination of sthira – strength and sukha – flexibility. It sounds like this person was working solely on their flexibility – hence the strength training program.
Red Flag #4 – The Iyengars always said that the practice of today should not adversely affect the practice of tomorrow. This is a very deep and profound statement because it means that you have to observe the effects of your practice on your body and mind. You have to develop the sensitivity to know what you are doing and how it feels. If you don’t pay attention minute by minute, then you will get to the stage where your balance, stability and even your gait are compromised.
The person in this article turned to strength training to help improve her imbalances. You might turn to physical therapy for similar problems.
But, this is why I returned to Iyengar yoga: alignment, balance, precision, strength, flexibility and the ability to perceive what you are doing are all paramount to the practice, not the poses.
I started with Iyengar yoga in the mid 80’s. Then I moved away from my teacher and couldn’t find another local Iyengar teacher. I experimented with other styles of yoga, but I ended up injuring myself. I could have ended up like the person in the article who turned to something outside of yoga to fix me. But I knew that I wanted to find my way back to Iyengar yoga.
My mentor recently asked me if I thought I would have gotten injured if I had simply stuck with Iyengar yoga. My answer was: “I don’t think I would have.”
The bottom line is that you can’t only learn yoga from watching TV. You need a teacher to guide you. You have to practice regularly. You have to balance strength with flexibility. And you have to practice with integrity and patience. If you are turning to some other modality to improve your yoga, then there is something wrong with your yoga practice.
Is your yoga practice a balance of effort and ease? Do you feel that you are doing extreme things in your yoga practice? Do you notice an improvement in your body and mind? Or, are you going backwards. If things aren’t going well, let me know. You don’t need to do something else. Yoga can help. And maybe I can help you.