Posts Tagged ‘practice’
The yoga community is still experiencing the fall-out from last week’s NYT Magazine article, “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body.” The article has gone far and wide, with varied responses from yoga practitioners and yoga haters. Here’s a breakdown of some of the more interesting responses, both positive and negative (YogaDork has also provided some responses from the community – and gets bonus points for the brilliant blog post title that summarizes my general feelings about the NYT’s yoga coverage: “Is The New York Times Wrecking Yoga?”).
ABC News: 4 Ways to Practice Safe Yoga – Surprisingly, ABC News had one of the better, more proactive responses. This little newspiece on their website gives readers some concrete tips on how to respect their limits and find the right teacher. In their television news segment, they give us a couple of balanced and reassuring soundbytes from Dr. Loren Fishman. Thumbs up, ABC News! Who woulda thunk?
Jules Mitchell in action - photo by Paul R. Giunta
Jules Mitchell has a no-nonsense, pragmatic and investigative approach to yoga. The Yaapana Yoga mentor has a background in engineering and mathematics, and she’s currently working on a Master’s Degree in Exercise Science, with a focus on yoga and injuries. She spends her weekends leading anatomy courses for yoga teachers and she wrote the Leeann Carey Yoga advanced teacher training Anatomy program.
A long-time student of Leeann Carey (the founder of Yaapana Yoga), Jules describes her approach as “a teaching style rooted in therapeutics that blends compassion and discipline.” In this email interview, the Los Angeles based teacher tells us why she prefers teaching private yoga classes over large-scale group classes, her fascination with the function of yoga poses and complexities of the human body, and her work as director of the South Bay Yoga Conference.
I understand that you’re doing your master’s thesis on the subject of yoga and injuries. Could you tell me how you became interested in this?
Because I suffered some overused injuries, of course! After about 5 years of a vigorous flow practice with dangerous but creative transitions and sequences designed to exhaust the body, I noticed that my left knee, my right shoulder and my right hamstring attachment were aggravated during and after class. I powered through it, thinking that they yoga would heal it. I never considered that perhaps the yoga was the source of it. Continue Reading
Therapeutic yoga isn't all asana! (all photos by Alexis Gagnon)
So last weekend I had the pleasure of experiencing the first annual Montreal International Symposium on Therapeutic Yoga (Oct 29 & 30). The title of the symposium implies a serious, focused and perhaps even dry event. But in reality it was dynamic, engaged and even fun! It challenged some of my existing preconceptions of therapeutic yoga and introduced me to a community of teachers and practitioners who are doing very worthwhile work. I’m starting to think that the therapeutic crowd might just be the real outliers of the North American yoga scene.
I’ve been to a fair number of large-scale yoga gatherings over the years, from the swanky Omega Being Yoga conference at the Marriot Hotel in Fort Lauderdale to the grassrootsy Yoga Festival Toronto. MISTY falls somewhere in between – hosted at the Delta Hotel in downtown Montreal, the space had that contained business conference feel, yet the event itself was intimate and low-key, with an intentional non-commercial feel (no marketplace – a few tables were set up with local yoga projects and studios, and a local book vendor selling yoga books, but that was it).
Here are some of the things I learned:
Therapeutic yoga is not only about the physical body ~ I was under the impression that therapeutic yoga was all anatomy and technique, and about sacrificing the spiritual aspects for biomechanics. But, for some reason, I was surprised at how many references there were to the magic and wonder of yoga, to the breath, to union. The difference, I found, was in the language. The TY (therapeutic yoga, obv) community use a more precise language, even when speaking of the mystical. For example, in Rita Trieger and Antonio Sausys‘s session on “Yoga for Cancer,” some discussion was given to the physical benefits of yoga for cancer patients and survivors, but much more time was devoted to the purpose of classes as a sacred space and a community for healing. Continue Reading
Still from my video conversation with Loren Fishman.
Loren Fishman, MD is the co-chair of the upcoming MISTY (Montreal International Symposium on Therapeutic Yoga) convergence, October 29 & 30. We recently had a Skype conversation about his work in the field of therapeutic yoga, but the quality of the video recording was low. I captured his gems of wisdom in this Q&A interview.
In addition to being Medical Director of Manhattan Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in New York City, Dr. Fishman is also author of seven books, author or editor of more than 70 academic articles, and a world-recognized pioneer in the treatment of piriformis syndrome and rotator cuff tear.
He has earned wide acclaim for his ability to diagnose and cure all types of back pain. Dr. Fishman has applied yoga to the treatment of sciatica, scoliosis, rotator cuff syndrome, multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and shoulder pain. He is also known for his great taste in bowties, and he graciously agreed to wear one for our video interview.
Therapeutic yoga is still considered a new and growing field, but you’ve been straddling the yoga and medical worlds for a few decades now. How do you do this? Is it difficult to bridge these two seemingly different worlds?
I went to India to study with B.K.S. Iyengar years before I went to medical school. When I met Mr. Iyengar, he said, “Why do you want to learn my yoga?” and I said, “Because I want to heal.” A big motivation for going to medical school was to figure out how yoga works.
How does Pop Montreal (one of the best music festivals on the continent) celebrate its tenth anniversary? With a free Arcade Fire show in the downtown core last night (because, as you all know, Montreal is Arcade Fire’s beloved hometown). And how does Montreal prepare for a free outdoor show with an expected attendance of 100,000 people? With a little yoga, of course, accompanied by music from Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld and Pat McGee of Stars.
Moksha Yoga teachers Jess Robertson and Dina Tsouluhas lead a group of about 50 yogis through an hour-long lunchtime class under cloudy skies. The rain finally broke just before savasana, but the hearty yogis held their ground and relaxed through the light autumn drizzle.
I didn’t participate in the class because my back issues still make it difficult for me to do a vinyasa routine, but I lurked around the edges, soaked up the atmosphere and talked to inquisitive passersby. The event was part of Car-free Montreal Week (officially and awkwardly known as “In Town Without My Car!”) and funds were raised for Kanpe, a Haiti rebuilding project.
Jess Robertson welcomes everyone.
Pat and Sarah rocking out by the pylons and port-a-potties.
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