In Response to an MSN Article

Yesterday, MSN.com featured an extensive article titled Bad Karma: When Yoga Harms Instead of Heals.” While we at Yoga Bear are HUGE yoga fans, we think it is important to address any and all press associated with yoga in order to educate and inform our readers and the yoga community.

The article was quite extensive and opened with a personal story shared by a woman who pushed herself too hard in yoga class and after weeks of pain, saw a doctor and was diagnosed with a bulging disk. The article went on to explain that, “Nearly 4,500 people ended up in the emergency room after yoga injuries in 2006, up 18 percent since 2004,” according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. This statistic, while relevant for 2004, does not compensate for the rise of people doing yoga in 2008. What if there are 20% more people doing yoga? In that case, the overall injuries would actually be down. The article should be showing injuries relative to the amount of people doing yoga.

Another problem we had with the article was the headline and the overall sensationalism of yoga being detrimental to health. The words “Yoga Harms Instead of Heals” surely grabbed reader’s attention but did little to explain the specific cause or the solution.

Susan Eaton, an injured yogi turned teacher who was quoted in the article said she avoids injury by “modify[ing] poses like headstands to avoid compression of the spine and hyperextension of the neck,” she says. “And even in poses that don't affect my neck, I don't push anymore. I don't go to that place of uneasiness, and that's what I teach my students.

We think Eaton represented yoga best when she said, “Yoga is about practicing mindfully in your own body — and your body is different from everyone else's.”