The article “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” caused serious outrage among the yoga community last month. Criticism of the article was relentless, and I won’t rehash critiques or defenses here; a Google search will yield more than enough.
My first impression was that the anger wasn’t over the fact that people get injured doing yoga, but rather that the article somehow impugned yoga by stating that yoga injuries happen. Was that a secret? Why would we be less likely to sustain injury while practicing yoga than, say, riding a bicycle or bending down to tie our shoes? (Don’t laugh – I really have hurt myself while tying my shoes. It was a long time ago.)
Not What You Do, But How You Do It
A smart person once told me, “The way you do one thing is the way you do everything,” meaning that the attitudes and habits you bring to the activity of tying our shoes, to overuse an example, will be the same as your approach to writing a paper or walking your dog. It is the way we use ourselves that matters, not the specific activities we do.
In other words, if we endgain in one activity, chances are we endgain much of the time. Even in yoga. The way to diminish the risk of yoga injuries is to inhibit our desire to endgain and to attend to the means whereby. The way to diminish the risk of any injury is to inhibit our desire to endgain and to attend to the means whereby.
In fact, I propose that when we go about any activity in a non-endgaining way it becomes not only less injurious but also easier, more fun and more fulfilling.
