Increasingly, studies began to appear on the Internet that yoga is not only not a panacea, but also often harmful to health.
Certified Vajra Yoga Instructor
Why do people choose yoga as their main body work? Most often, because it is a smooth and slow practice, it does not require serious effort, does not exhaust. And according to many experts, it even heals. A person comes to a class in some cool fitness center, and then they twine him, and on his head, and twist, and bend (not immediately, of course), and one day something will jam in his back, and he won’t be able to get out of bed. Will a person associate this with yoga?
Ashtavakrasana – the pose of eight angles. Beautiful but very dangerous
Maybe, maybe not. The point is that not all asanas are created equal. Many of them harm the most important part of the body – the nervous system. How? Damaging her main “protector” – the spine. Let’s take a look at some of the more popular group exercises that shouldn’t be practiced. Reasons and alternatives are attached.
Trikonasana, triangle pose. It is usually performed with legs wide apart, arms spread and the body tilted to one leg across the side.
The Good: strengthens the legs, improves the mobility of the hip joints, opens the chest.
Harm: during this asana, the spine is in such a position that the strengthened legs will not bring any joy. A deep tilt to the side is not provided for by nature – the transverse processes on each of the vertebrae are confirmation of this. Regular performance of this asana will lead to displacement of the vertebrae, pinching of the nerve roots and pain not only in the back.
Alternative: Strengthen your legs with utkatasana, chair posture, with arms spread out to the sides. Legs, back and chest will work here. Another option is the same trikonasana, only without turning and bending to the sides – stretch your head up, with your hands to the sides, and increase the mobility of the hip joints in other asanas.
Parivritta Trikonasana, inverted triangle pose. Everything is the same as above, only the body is also twisted, and the practitioner reaches for the leg with the opposite hand.
The Good: traction of the back of the legs, massage of the abdominal organs.
Harm: have you ever seen real scoliosis visible to the naked eye? Google it. So, during the twisting, your spine, which has physiological bends back and forth (and not left and right), takes on just such a shape. No matter how you stretch. Handsomely? Physiological? Healthy? No. Dislocations of the vertebrae and intervertebral hernias are very likely.
Alternative: you can perform the correct version of Trikonasana, described above, and, while rolling in the hip joints, bend forward until the back of the legs is stretched. Fix the position without deepening the slope through the pain, and rest your hands on your hips. Stretch forward from the coccyx to the crown. The slope can be deepened at the expense of the hip joints as the muscles are ready, but the back should remain flat. And the massage of the abdominal organs occurs in almost any inclination. For example, in Uttanasana, where, when bending forward, the stomach lies on the hips, while the legs are slightly bent and take a subordinate position in relation to the extended back.
Uthita Ardha Dhanurasana, half-bow pose. Balance on one leg with a bend and grip on the other leg from behind.
The Good: increases the flexibility of the spine, tones the abdominal organs, strengthens the legs.
Harm: one of the most popular treatises on yoga, dating back to the XIV century AD, says: “By practicing asana, a person acquires stability of the body and mind, freedom from ailments, flexibility of limbs and lightness of the body” (“Hatha Yoga Pradipika”). Not the spine should be flexible, but the limbs. This is how nature created us. Let’s say the humerus has one attachment point, so we can rotate with our hand in different directions. Each vertebra has at least six such points (two intervertebral discs, two articular processes, above and below). Our spine has extra mobility, flexibility is useless.
Alternative: any balance asana with a straight back. For example, Vrikshasana, the tree pose, or Shivanatarajasana, the dancing Shiva pose. Strengthen your legs – be healthy!
Janu Shirshasana, head to knee pose. At the same time, the second leg is bent, the foot is pressed against the thigh of the extended leg.
The Good: tones the liver, spleen and kidneys.
Harm: in this position, most practitioners cannot keep the pelvis and shoulders in the same plane. If performed regularly, subluxations are possible and, as a result, diseases of the abdominal organs. And no tonicity of the liver and spleen will help here.
Alternative: Pashchimottanasana, tilt to both outstretched legs. Tones up all the organs of the abdominal cavity, stretches and relaxes the muscles of the back, does not harm the spine.
Parivritta Janu Shirshasana. The same slope, only lateral, with twisting.
The Good: uses small intercostal muscles.
Harm: we remember the position of the spine – it is creepy in this position. But here’s another question: why use the small intercostal muscles? To improve breathing? After all, they are responsible precisely for raising and lowering the chest during breathing.
Alternative: let’s then do pranayama, full yogic breathing, sitting in Vajrasana, for example. The same intercostal muscles, only the back is straight.
Hanumanasana, longitudinal split.
The Good: strongly stretches the muscles of the front and back thighs, allows you to take a cool photo for Instagram. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Envy is all, envy.
Harm: in most practitioners, the hip joints are not open to such an extent that the pelvis does not rotate relative to the shoulders. This position leads not only to subluxation, but also to displacement of the pelvis. Consequence: female and male problems.
Alternative: transverse twine. This is the ideal. In the simpler version – Upavishta Konasana, a wide-angle pose, forward bend with a flat back and legs wide apart. The hip joints open up perfectly, the back of the thighs is stretched, the main thing is gradualness. For stretching the front of the thighs, Ushtrasana, camel pose, from the knees is suitable. In this position, it is important to put your hands back as far as possible so that when the pelvis is raised above the feet there is no strong deflection in the lower back.
Matsyendrasana, seated twist.
The Good: massage of internal organs.
Harm: see asana number two.
Alternative: learn to do the abdominal lock, uddiyana bandha (“Google” to help), and even better – nauli. And then in any pleasant position you can massage the abdominal organs. And it is absolutely not necessary to curl up for this.
Urdhva Dhanurasana, the well-known “bridge”. This also includes the following posture – Dhanurasana, the bow posture, where there is a deflection and gripping of the feet from a prone position.
The Good: all muscles work, reveals the front surface of the body.
Harm: deep backward bend. Let’s turn to anatomy again. Our vertebrae have spinous processes in the back – these are the tubercles that everyone can feel, having slightly rounded the back. It is they who protect us from unnecessary deflections. Everything has a limit. Above this limit, there is a fracture and subluxation. Have you ever noticed that gymnasts only bend in one place, as if something broke in the back? Do you know that professional athletes are very sick people?
Alternative: Purvottanasana, a pose of stretching the head up with support on straight arms and outstretched legs. All muscles work in the same way and the front part of the body is stretched, only without harm to the spine.
Sarvangasana, stand on shoulders.
The Good: increases the flow of fresh blood to the thyroid and parathyroid glands.
Harm: This asana cannot be called incorrect. But you need to understand that it is only for prepared strong and better male bodies. Although women love her most of all. Now let’s imagine the average woman who comes to class. She most likely has a large pelvis and a poorly developed shoulder girdle. And now we lift this heavy pelvis up and all its load falls on the weak thoracic and cervical spine. It’s not hard to guess what will happen – subluxations.
Alternative: for affecting the thyroid gland – the throat lock, or jalandhara bandha.
Halasana, plow pose.
The Good: restores the nervous system, massages the abdominal organs, stretches the spine.
Harm: at the heart – again proportions and a heavy pelvis as a load on the weak parts of the spine. In addition, in this position, overstretching of the ligaments surrounding the vertebrae often occurs, which leads to loosening of the entire system.
Alternative: Kurmasana, the pose of a turtle, in which, from a sitting position, we lay our head on the connected feet slightly set aside from the body, rounding our back.
Shirshasana, stand on forearms.
The Good: calms the nervous system, nourishes brain cells, stimulates the heart and blood circulation.
Harm: yes, there is no harm, if this asana is performed by a physically prepared person, a man is better. It is better for women not to meddle in such a jungle, you will be more whole.
Alternative: the function of inverted asanas is perfectly performed by Shashakasana (“bunny ears” pose), Adho Mukhka Shvanasana (dog head down), Ardha Chakrasana (from a supine position, we raise the pelvis with support on the feet, put to the buttocks), Urdhvo Padasana (lying on the back with raised straight legs).
There are many more dangerous asanas in modern yoga: some of them are varieties of the ones described, some are too complex to be given in general groups. One thing is invariable – understanding the key link. In our body, this is the nervous system. Check each new exercise and movement for spinal hazard. One more thing. Yoga is not “squiggles” on the rug, but philosophy! But more about that some other time.
With the wishes of good health, calm mind and light body, yoga instructor Elena Lukashova.