By: William J. Broad
Published on: January 5, 2012 Accessed on: January 7, 2012
Summary: While yoga has been seen for many years as a health exercise, Glenn Black, a yoga teacher in New York believes that yoga can cause more damage than good. Black believes that yoga has the potential to cause much damage to a person's body if they push their bodies past their physical limit. While many different experts on yoga have entirely evaded the issue that yoga can damage your body, more evidence shows that it can be harmful. Teachers and people are pushing their bodies too hard to accomplish poses that have risks towards the body. By continuously pushing their bodies to the limit, couple yoga teachers have created disabilities to their own bodies. However, the potential risk a pose may have differs from person to person making it hard to determine whether or not a certain person should be doing a certain pose. Black claims that some people should stop doing yoga altogether because of the harm it may cause.
Response: I found this article very interesting. In Western society, yoga has swept across the whole world as a great exercise that helps exercise your body while lowering certain health risks. Many people have jumped onto this yoga bandwagon without thinking twice. This article helps shed some light as to what effect yoga may really have on the body. It is very surprising to me to hear that yoga can be damaging after hearing so much of a great healthy exercise it is. Living in India where yoga was created, I wonder if yoga has the same effects on the famous gurus or if the western world has taken yoga too far. I personally wouldn't be too surprised to hear that they have. I have to admit that I have always been quite skeptical as to if yoga really did help the body. Now I know that many thing may have more harm than benefit.
Definitions
Emporium
1. "He now lives in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and often teaches at the nearby Omega Institute, a New Age emporium spread over nearly 200 acres of woods and gardens."
2. Definition: noun. a place of trade; especially: a commercial center
Origin: Latin, from Greek emporion
First known use: 1586
3. All the girls at school couldn't wait for the weekend so the could go to the new emporium that was built.
Confer
1. "He called the pose, said to stimulate the thyroid, 'one of the greatest boons conferred on humanity by our ancient sages.'"2. Definition: verb. to bestow from or as if from a position of superiority
Origin: Latin conferre to bring together
First known use: circa 1500
3. The smart student in class was conferred the position of honor student for his great academic excellence.
Acolyte
1. "Among devotees, from gurus to acolytes forever carrying their rolled-up mats, yoga is described as a nearly miraculous agent of renewal and healing."
2. Definition: noun. one who attends or assists: follower
Origin: Middle English, Anglo-French, acolit, from Medieval Latin acoluthus
First known use: 14th century
3. An acolyte of a famous business man visited our school to show us the ways to success.
