French-Indian Tao Porchon-Lynch, 97, is proclaimed the oldest yoga teacher by the Guinness World of Records. She is seen in the picture doing yoga at 93. (Photo : Reuters)
All the twisting and bending must have some limits.
Overdoing yoga or doing it the wrong way may prove to be more damaging than beneficial, warn health experts.
A yogi, a person who practices yoga, should consider one’s physical condition and capabilities when choosing the right styles of yoga and when trying on new styles, reported Want China Times.
Hangzhou-based yoga instructor He Min said that with “years of yoga practice,” she now sleeps well at night, generally embraces a positive outlook on life, and no longer feels the pain in her joints. Prior to practicing yoga, He suffered from arthritis, depression and insomnia.
He told Want China Times that wrong practice, however, can “lead to injury.” She also said that there are people who would consider yoga as “a shortcut to lose weight.” Some even have the tendency “to overdo it.”
That is when the problem sets in.
Dr. Qi Qiang from the orthopedics department of Peking University Third Hospital said that a person’s spine and joints may suffer from injury “when moved excessively.” That is why Dr. Qi suggests that when people do yoga, they do it “moderately” because it is ideally “a gradual process.”
Dr. Tan Qiuxiang from Henan Province treats many patients who have injured ligaments caused by practicing yoga.
Yoga is a 5,000-year-old Indian tradition popular in many countries. It is a kind of discipline with a spiritual dimension involved where a yogi utilizes one’s body and mind to improve one’s state.
There are some 90 or more styles of yoga, which are mainly classified as either traditional or modern.
Traditional yoga styles include bhakti (Sanskrit for “devotion”), the “yoga of devotion” or “yoga of universal love”; hatha; japa (from Sanskrit “jap” meaning “to repeat internally” or “to utter in a low voice”); jnana or gnana (means “wisdom”), the “yoga of knowledge”; karma; kriya, the “yoga of purification;” laya (Sanskrit for “absorb” or “dissolve”); raja; and tantric.
Modern yoga styles include core vinyasa by New York-based Sadie Nardini, author of “The 21-Day Yoga Body” and host of the daily TV show “Rock Your Yoga;” prana flow by U.S.-based Shiva Rea, founder of Prana Vinyasa & Samudra Global School for Living Yoga; and forrest by Los Angeles-based Ana Forrest.
June 21 is World Yoga Day as officially proclaimed by the U.N. and its specialized agency, UNESCO.
India, not surprisingly, hosted the very first International Yoga Day held this year. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a yogi himself, led the outdoor celebration in New Delhi.
