My 2 cents worth......

"Hey, did you hear yoga is bad for you now?" That's the greeting I got from my husband when I got home from work the other day. He was referring to the NY Times article about how yoga wrecks your body. Just like most things I think are non-sense, I didn't pay much attention. Unfortunately, just like most things that I think are non-sense, it doesn't ever go away.

So, in case there hasn't already been enough commentary on the topic I figured I'd add my 2 cents worth.

Let me ask you a question......If a zebra steps onto a yoga mat isn't he/she still a zebra? If an aggressive, competitive person steps onto the yoga mat isn't he/she still an aggressive, competitive person? If a person is an adrenalin junkie off the mat he'll still be looking for the adrenalin rush when he steps on the mat.

The yoga mat does not have magical powers of transformation. It's the conscious practice of yoga that contains the magical powers. Let me repeat that.... It's the CONSCIOUS practice of yoga that contains the magical powers.

Do you remember baby walkers? When my oldest was a baby I used a walker all the time. I loved it and so did she. By the time my second, Tayler, was born the walker had been deemed a danger to babies. Really?? It wasn't the walker that was dangerous it was the unconscious parents who put their babies in them and then didn't watch them that caused the injuries to the babies.

It's the same with yoga. It's not yoga that's the problem it's the unconscious people who practice without paying attention to their body that's the problem.

If a jack-ass decides it's a good idea to ride his bike into a brick wall will bicycles be considered dangerous?? If a jack-ass decides to take yoga classes and hurt himself is it yoga that's dangerous? NO! A jack-ass is still a jack-ass even when he wears fancy yoga pants and carries a Jade yoga mat.

Come on people..... Don't you think it's time for people to take responsibility for their own actions? Do we really need a warning label to tell us that the food should be taken out of the plastic wrapper before we put it in the oven? Do we need another label to tell us that the food will be hot after we take it out of the hot oven?

When did we stop using common sense?? If you have a shoulder or neck injury do I really need to tell you that practicing shoulder stand is not recommended?! If you are a hot-headed person with high blood pressure what would make you think that taking hot yoga would be a good idea?

Besides people!! Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years. It wasn't until we started using it for purposes other than what it was intended for that people started getting injured. Remember that yoga is to be used as part of an eight fold path to enlightenment.  If you use yoga instead as an excuse to hang from the ceiling from a silk scarf - you may get injured. If you use a bicycle as a boat - you may get injured. Duh......