0:00

Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve

0:02

camera. It's ready. Are you welcome

0:08

to stuff Mom never told you? From

0:10

house stuffworks dot com.

0:16

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Kristen

0:19

and I'm Caroline, And maybe

0:21

we should start the soft Caroline where it's

0:23

inhaling. Oh

0:26

not significate microphoe. I'm

0:28

sorry, Sorry, it's deeply

0:30

inhaling. We're talking about

0:32

yoga today, and

0:35

I thought of doing this

0:37

topic while in yoga class last

0:40

weekend. I was Caroline

0:42

and I had been emailing back and forth about

0:45

what to talk about

0:47

in the next week the coming week's podcast,

0:50

and as I was in a

0:52

downward dog, it hit me, Hey,

0:55

why don't you talk about yoga. Yeah. There's

0:57

actually been a lot in the news lately about

0:59

how, oh my god, yoga is gonna kill you.

1:02

You can really hurt yourself, and I've kind of skimmed

1:04

those articles and I've been a little skeptical. Just uh,

1:06

I mean, I agree that you could probably hurt yourself. I

1:09

have taken yoga classes where I've been pushed

1:11

a little too far by some over zealous

1:13

instructors. So yeah,

1:15

you can definitely get some over extension problems.

1:18

Um. But before we get into the

1:21

dangers of yoga

1:24

and why yoga is suddenly making

1:27

headlines, let's talk a little

1:29

bit about what yoga is exactly

1:31

and how it became popular in the United

1:33

States. Because popular it is. Indeed,

1:36

um thanks Madonna. Yes,

1:39

thanks to partially to Madonna. Around

1:42

fifteen point eight million Americans practice

1:44

yoga as of two thousand eight. That

1:46

number may now be closer to

1:48

twenty million as of two

1:51

thousand eleven. And with all

1:53

of that yoga ng it is now

1:55

a six billion dollar industry,

1:58

which is not surprising if you go into a store

2:00

like Lulaman, which is the quintessential

2:02

yoga supply store, because

2:05

yoga pants and fensa,

2:07

yoga tops, and yoga towels. I

2:09

need a yoga towel, for instance. It

2:12

is take like a hand towel. You

2:14

can take a hand towel to yoga. But I'm talking

2:16

about when, especially if you take Bikram

2:19

or hot yoga, which I have done, you gotta

2:21

have a towel and take the whole beach towel.

2:24

Yeah, but there are these special towels that

2:26

specially wick away your special yoga

2:29

sweat for a special price of like two

2:32

thousand dollars. Yeah, and I think

2:34

all you said there were what twenty million people who

2:36

do yoga, Yes, I think all of them were in

2:38

my hot yoga class. When I took it for a couple

2:40

of months, it was crowded, a little

2:42

crowded. There was there was one of those half off coupons.

2:45

People flocked to it. You can tell how

2:47

angry all the regulars were. I stuck

2:49

with it for a while until I almost died. That's

2:52

why we're talking about this yoga

2:55

as it's probably known that it is an ancient

2:57

tradition from India and

3:00

first mentioned in a text called

3:02

the Vadas just

3:05

five thousand years old.

3:07

And the word yoga comes from

3:10

the sandscript for union

3:12

or yolk, and that

3:15

union implied is the joining of

3:17

the mind and body.

3:20

And a lot of these these yoga tenants

3:24

were orally passed down. They

3:26

weren't written down, so so we don't really

3:28

know when the poses

3:31

got more of the focus.

3:34

Yes, but in the nineteenth century,

3:36

a member of the royal family in a region

3:38

in India where one of the first how to books

3:41

to include poses, and a century

3:43

after that, the Maharajah

3:46

invited a yoga teacher known for his mastery

3:48

of what was that asanas

3:50

or poses, and this

3:53

particular teacher had begun teaching ashtanga

3:55

yoga. Kristen, she's nodding. It's a

3:57

vigorous routine of flowing postures. So

3:59

we're getting into more with the focus on the physical

4:02

instead of um the rest

4:05

of the other seven limbs

4:07

of yoga, which involves spirituality,

4:09

breathing, enlightenment. And

4:11

this method was eventually passed on and evolved

4:14

into the forms that we're used to seeing today.

4:16

Should we mention the what they ate limbs

4:19

of yoga are because I feel

4:21

like this provides the theoretical

4:23

background of why people started doing yoga

4:26

in the first place, and then we'll explain how

4:28

that relates to the more gym

4:31

and cardio fitness yoga

4:33

that's so popular today. So

4:35

you have the yama which your first the ethical

4:38

standards of yoga, such as uh

4:40

doing no harm unto others in that

4:42

crowded beak room classroom, Caroline

4:45

should not have elbowed anyone. Not

4:47

okay, she's so accusatory.

4:49

Ni yama refers to the guidelines of self

4:52

discipline, which makes a lot of sense.

4:54

It does take self discipline for me to drag

4:56

my behind and do yoga class. Sometimes

4:59

Asana, which are the

5:01

poses, also refers to the physical exercise

5:03

of yoga, and then prana yama refers

5:06

to breath control, which is a

5:08

means of linking the mind and the body,

5:10

going back to that sanscrit of union

5:12

or yog um. For instance, in the

5:15

yoga that I take, we

5:17

practice j i E Breath, which

5:20

sounds like you are

5:22

breathing harshly through your

5:25

throat, sort of constricting your your

5:27

throat to have an audible breath,

5:29

which you're supposed to pay attention to to help keep

5:32

you focused as you move through all

5:34

the exercises. And in the final four are

5:37

Pratyahara, do Ana, Diata,

5:40

and Somebody. And

5:42

I know that my pronunciations are probably

5:44

not quite spot on for any yogi's

5:46

out there and all of those involved transcending

5:48

the physical world concentration

5:51

on one thing such as an austina meditating

5:54

on nothing at all, this comes up a lot in yoga

5:56

as well. You're you're clearing your mind

5:59

of anything except moving

6:01

your body into these specific

6:03

poses. And then the somebody,

6:05

which was the last one I mentioned, refers to the ultimate

6:08

goal of yoga, which is a transcendental

6:11

state of the self where you realize your interconnection

6:14

with the divine and living

6:16

things. Yes,

6:18

and I wonder if Madonna feels the connection.

6:21

I'm sure she does. She is actually

6:23

my friend Emily, who is a yoga

6:25

genius and she's been practicing and teaching forever.

6:29

Uh, kind of blamed Madonna or credited

6:31

credited her as as However, you look at

6:33

it um with sort of helping yoga

6:35

get into the mainstream, because you know, she's pretty ripped

6:38

and and people tend to kind

6:40

of idealize the yoga body, like how

6:43

live you can get and limber and everything,

6:45

and so yeah, my friend was talking about how

6:48

in the ninety nineties people

6:50

started getting more involved with yoga as a

6:52

way to get in shape and lose weight, and it sort

6:54

of started to lose that spirituality

6:57

aspect. Right now, the most typical

6:59

kind of yoga that we'll see

7:01

in the States is hatha yoga, which emphasizes

7:04

the asana and prana yama

7:07

limbs of yoga, which are the physical

7:09

exercises combined with

7:11

breathing control. And Caroline, It's

7:13

interesting you bring up Madonna because

7:16

that celebrity yoga connection

7:19

UM is not a new thing. It didn't

7:21

start in the ninety nineties. It actually

7:23

came from that

7:26

Mysore Palace in India where

7:29

yoga really started to spread

7:31

around um the East and then coming

7:33

over to the West. And one teacher

7:35

in particular named Indra Devi trained

7:38

at that palace and then she took her skills

7:40

to Hollywood where she recruited stars

7:43

such as Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson,

7:45

and Marilyn Monroe. Yeah, there's a

7:47

picture of Marilyn Monroe. What is it the backbo

7:50

Yeah, the bo pose. And supposedly

7:53

Marilyn Monroe gave credit to her

7:56

yoga for her great legs.

7:59

Interesting. Yeah, well,

8:01

so now we have power yoga where

8:04

people flow quickly from one move to the next,

8:06

and bickram slash hot yoga, which

8:08

we talked about earlier, where the room is

8:10

above a hundred degrees and this is supposed to help

8:12

you limber up, loosen your muscles,

8:14

and remove toxins faster. Or

8:17

if you're me, pass out. Did

8:19

you pass out? Well? I got really close

8:22

two times. Because you can't eat too

8:24

much or too little. You've got to hit that

8:26

that very fine line before you go to hot

8:28

yoga and spent an hour in a really hot room or ninety

8:31

minutes as the case maybe. And

8:34

uh, my last time in hot yoga

8:36

ever, I did it for several months. Um

8:38

it was a substitute teacher because my teacher

8:40

was out and this woman who was really

8:44

really made for the advanced classes came

8:46

in and made us do all this stuff and I almost passed out. I

8:48

just halfway through the class just rolled at my man left

8:50

because you shouldn't push yourself. You can hurt yourself.

8:53

I've only taken hot yoga once

8:55

and it was a couple of weeks ago, and I

8:57

can completely identify with that. I

8:59

may get it through the class, but I

9:02

definitely had to sit out of a couple

9:04

of exercises because it

9:06

was it was so intense that

9:08

heat. Once there was sort of a hump that I

9:10

got over finally, but then

9:12

at one point I started to get chills, and

9:15

thankfully it was towards the end of the class.

9:18

And uh, yeah, is

9:21

intense. Yeah, but one of the problems, I mean,

9:23

it's it can be enjoyable. I I enjoyed

9:25

it, especially when it was winter and

9:28

I'd go spend an hour in a in

9:30

a hot room. But one of the problems with it

9:32

is that it does make you feel like you're more

9:34

limber than you are, and so it

9:37

is possible to overextend, which is one of

9:39

the main injuries is muscle over

9:41

extension that yoga teachers

9:43

see. And even though Hatha

9:45

and bakraum are two

9:47

of the most common ones that we'll hear about, there

9:49

are some other types of hatha

9:52

yoga. A younger yoga, for

9:54

instance, is meant to practice

9:57

postures or Austina's held for

9:59

a long ger period of time that focuses

10:02

more on your alignment.

10:04

And then you can also take jiv amok

10:07

to yoga, which delves deeper into some of the more

10:09

spiritual elements of yoga, really

10:11

focusing on that mind body

10:14

union. Right, this is my yoga voice.

10:16

If you haven't noticed yoga slash npr

10:19

um, well, there are other benefits of yoga,

10:21

definitely besides just that that

10:23

connection that you're talking about, Kristen,

10:27

this is a scary voice that I had, y

10:29

old you, old smoking

10:32

grandmother exactly.

10:34

They're one and the same. Um.

10:37

According to web m d and according to anyone

10:40

who's ever taken yoga for any length of time,

10:42

the stretching releases all that built up lactic

10:45

acid that builds up in your muscles and causes

10:47

stiffness, stiffness and pain, and

10:50

breathing exercises can improve lung capacity

10:52

and stimulate relaxation responses,

10:55

and you get this decrease in I'm

10:57

sorry if I butcher it catacholamines,

11:00

which is the hormone produced by the adrenal gland

11:02

in response to stress, and so it also

11:04

lowers blood pressure and slows

11:06

your heart rate. Right um.

11:08

A lot of times when you hear about yoga, these kinds

11:11

of health benefits are touted

11:13

over and over and over again. Um.

11:16

In addition to what you mentioned, Caroline,

11:18

you're building, you know, the basic muscle strength.

11:20

It can ease constipation. There

11:23

you go about that. You don't even need yogurt

11:25

for that, right um. And

11:27

then it also eases symptoms

11:29

of chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia,

11:32

arthritis, back pain. But

11:35

one reason why research

11:38

on the therapeutic effects

11:40

of yoga is still kind of

11:42

thin is because pharmaceutical

11:45

companies fund a lot of clinical

11:47

trials and they don't have that

11:49

huge of an interest in funding

11:52

yoga trials. Because you can't condense

11:54

the effects of those autinas

11:56

and all of that Jai breath down

11:59

into a pill exactly.

12:01

But the question is the question that we must

12:03

get to, the question everyone's minds, Caroline,

12:07

is it safe? Is yoga

12:09

safe? Yoga

12:12

is safe if you do it correctly

12:15

and correctly using quotes because

12:17

it's different for everybody, and that sounds

12:19

like pretty much any type

12:22

of exercise except maybe maybe

12:24

like slow walking. Um,

12:27

you can still trip trip

12:29

all the time. I run into door frames. Nothing

12:31

is safe for me. There was one uh

12:34

notable incident in college when

12:36

before class I went jogging,

12:39

tripped, skinned not one, but

12:41

both of my knees, and then

12:43

had to go to class walking through the entire campus

12:46

with two just bloodied,

12:49

heinous kneecaps. In high school

12:51

one time I fell up the stairs. So

12:55

it's a miracle I make it through daily life. Um,

12:59

but but yoga though I still

13:01

have not. I haven't managed to skin my knees

13:03

in yoga. So am I am? I good

13:05

to go? Well, there are definitely

13:07

some concerns that are a little bit deeper

13:09

than skinning knees, although I'm sure that's

13:11

painful. According to a New York

13:13

Times article from January five,

13:16

Yoga can wreck your body. They're not asking

13:18

if it can, but they're telling you how

13:21

it can. And it is scary.

13:23

Yeah. This is coming from a book

13:25

published by a New York Times reporter William J.

13:27

Broad called The Science of Yoga The

13:30

Risks and Rewards. Now

13:33

from the get go, let us let us point

13:35

out the fact that I think William

13:37

J. Broad, while he clearly did

13:39

do his research, he's got a little beef against

13:42

yoga. He's got a personal bone

13:44

to pick with yoga because during

13:46

an extended side angle pose, which

13:49

can be tough on your back, you've got to ease

13:51

into it. Basically, if you've never taken

13:54

yoga, think of an extended

13:56

side angle is having your your legs

13:58

spread out and and just leaning

14:00

over really far to one side. And

14:03

while doing this he threw

14:05

his back out because of a previous injury

14:07

he had, he had ruptured a disk in his lower

14:10

back and was actually taking yoga

14:12

as a form of therapy for his

14:14

back side angled too

14:17

hard and problem.

14:21

According to Glenn Black,

14:23

who is a yoga teacher, that William Broad

14:25

talked to the vast majority of people

14:27

should just give it up, give up yoga.

14:29

Altogether, because you are so likely to hurt

14:32

yourself that it's not even worth it.

14:34

On a side note, Um, when I first

14:36

read this article about Glenn Black, the

14:38

yoga teacher, I kept reading it as Glenn Beck

14:41

and it it really

14:44

got things going off on a on a strange

14:46

start in my brain. Um, Yes, he

14:48

thinks that Glenn Black, not Glenn

14:50

Beck. Um ended up undergoing

14:53

spinal surgery because

14:55

of sustained injury from practicing

14:58

yoga for number

15:00

of decades, even though his specialty

15:03

is rehabilitating people who had sustained

15:06

injuries from yoga. Yeah, he underwent spinal

15:08

surgery in after developing spinal

15:11

stenosis. And it sounds horrific.

15:13

It's a condition in which the openings between the vertebrae

15:16

begin to narrow, compressing spinal

15:18

nerves and causing excruciating pain. And

15:20

without treatment, he said he might have actually lost the ability

15:23

to walk. And when Broad asked him,

15:25

Uh, you know, do you think it's just aging, like maybe

15:27

you know your body is just worn down, your old man,

15:30

he said, Nope, it's yoga. Well.

15:33

Black makes a good point about

15:36

why yoga might not be for

15:38

everyone, because it certainly takes a lot

15:40

of core strength to move your body

15:42

down, up and sideways, um

15:45

and twisting it every which way.

15:48

And he points out that the contemporary

15:51

body and how it basically sits in an

15:53

office chair all day long, it's

15:55

not very well prepared to walk into

15:58

a yoga studio and

16:00

grab your feet behind your

16:02

back and pull right. I

16:04

am from years of sitting in a desk chair

16:06

at the newspaper, and even now, UM,

16:09

I still have hip flexibility problems.

16:11

So when I take pilates or something, I

16:13

have to be really careful about some of the

16:15

poses and stretches I go into because things

16:18

start popping and I get this look on

16:20

my face and the teacher comes over. She's like, Oh my god,

16:23

are you okay like to worry about me.

16:25

It's just my hips. I'm a desk rat.

16:27

It's fine, but yeah. Black

16:29

says that yoga is for people in good physical

16:32

condition, or it can be used therapeutically.

16:34

It really shouldn't be for a general class.

16:37

And the whole issue that William J.

16:39

Broad, who wrote the book Science of Yoga,

16:42

takes with how yoga has

16:44

been promoted is he says

16:46

that there have been documented

16:49

injury reports in journals

16:51

such as Neurology, the British Medical Journal,

16:53

and the Journal of the American Medical Association,

16:56

but they have been completely

16:58

ignored by

17:00

a yoga, famous yogis

17:02

and uh seminal books

17:04

that have promoted yoga. For instance,

17:06

he quotes Swami gets Nanda, a

17:09

yoga guru who made ten world tours

17:11

and has founded ashrams on several

17:13

continents, who said that real yoga

17:16

is as safe as mother's milk, to

17:19

which William J. Broad would say, poisoned

17:22

mother's milk. Yikes,

17:25

that is so intense. But yeah, I mean it's

17:27

true. It's

17:29

it is safe and it is healthy,

17:32

and I mean I love yoga,

17:35

but you can't if you do it wrong, you can

17:37

really hurt yourself. Well, let's point out

17:39

the specific kinds of injuries

17:41

that William jay Broad brings

17:44

to light, such as yoga

17:46

foot drop, which is an unresponsive

17:48

peripheral branch of the sciatic nerve deprived

17:51

of oxygen, deadening it in

17:54

a certain pose called of

17:56

as rosina, which is when you

17:59

are seed it with your shins

18:01

underneath you sort of like if if you

18:03

kneel down to prey, you would be in a vagasina,

18:06

right. But he's also this is also a case study

18:08

of people sitting in vagasina for

18:11

a real long time. Yeah, that one guy they

18:13

were they were talking about had been sitting in it for hours

18:15

every day, like hours and hours. And then

18:17

they talked to a woman who, um,

18:20

was she doing a headstand and she either

18:22

went into it too hard, she just put too much weight

18:25

on her very delicate neck and ended up suffering

18:27

a stroke afterward. Yeah, the whole

18:30

stroke issue, um might might

18:32

raise the most red flags with people because

18:34

depending on the kind of headstand

18:38

as you mentioned and other poses, Uman,

18:40

you can reduce your blood flow

18:42

to the basil or artery that

18:45

feeds different structures in your

18:47

brain and can possibly induce

18:49

a stroke. Right broadsides

18:53

two research by neurophysiologist W.

18:55

Richie Russell who said that some posts

18:58

could cause strokes and brain injuries

19:00

could even occur from over extending the neck. He

19:02

said that extreme motions of the head and neck

19:05

could end up producing clots and swelling.

19:08

And we're not done yet. People

19:11

who are now probably a little concerned

19:13

about their yoga class

19:15

that they might be taking after they lit in to this podcast.

19:17

There are lower back injuries that are commonly

19:20

cited among yoga instructors, and this

19:22

is not surprising to me. There have been

19:24

times when I have gone into um

19:26

a wheel posture, which is basically a backbend,

19:29

and thought to myself, Hey, you know what,

19:32

Kristen, you should not be in

19:34

a backbend right now. Exactly your

19:36

back was not properly warmed up from it. Yeah.

19:39

Columbia Research team published a

19:41

survey of yoga teachers, therapists, and doctors

19:43

in two thousand nine asking what

19:45

were the most serious yoga related injuries that they've

19:48

seen. They sided, like you said, lower

19:50

back is number one, shoulder, knee,

19:52

neck, and then stroke

19:55

came in very distant towards the end. It's

19:57

rare, but it's a risk. And

20:00

yoga has become more popular

20:02

in the United States in recent years.

20:04

There's also been an uptick in the

20:07

number of emergency room

20:09

visits caused by yoga

20:11

injuries. Right according to the

20:13

Consumer Product Safety Commission in two thousand,

20:15

there were thirteen such visits, in two

20:17

thousand one twenty, and in two

20:19

thousand two that number had risen to forty

20:22

six. But if you take a look at

20:25

the combined e er and

20:27

doctor's room or doctor's office visits.

20:29

This is from the Huffington's post from two thousand

20:32

seven, Kristen there were it's fifty

20:34

five hundred emergency

20:37

room and doctor's office visits,

20:39

which works out to about three point five

20:42

injuries for every ten thousand

20:45

yoga practitioners. And this is coming from

20:48

a column by doctor even Norlock

20:50

Smith. And three

20:52

point five out of ten thousand practitioners. That

20:54

might seem like some some dicey odds,

20:57

but then she says, well, hey, let's compare that to golf

21:00

thing injury, right, And injuries

21:03

related to golfing are three

21:05

point nine out of every one thousand

21:08

golf players much more common

21:11

to sustain an injury on the

21:13

greens than on your yoga

21:15

mat, right, I mean you're doing all that swing in

21:18

with clubs and stuff, and all that that dangerous

21:20

golf cart driving recklessly around

21:23

the from T to t. Put

21:25

the mint you look down. Um.

21:28

She also looked at weight training injuries

21:30

and said that between two thousand

21:32

seven, nine hundred and seventy

21:35

thousand people went to the e er

21:38

with weight training injuries. Oh and that's

21:40

that's not surprising to me at all, because a lot of

21:43

times with yoga, at least you have an

21:45

instructor, whereas with weight training, a lot

21:47

of times you will see some folks out there at the gym

21:49

who are just gung ho on

21:52

their own, and some iron exactly

21:55

yeah and and and they don't monitor

21:57

what they're doing very well. I feel like there are a lot of people who just

21:59

yank the way it's up. But it's funny

22:01

that you say gung ho because my friend Emily, who I talked

22:03

about earlier, said that while she thinks

22:06

that yoga is for everyone, and

22:08

you know, here when she says for everyone, she's incorporating

22:11

both the spirituality, you know, and the

22:13

breathing and the poses.

22:15

Um, she thinks that those gung home

22:18

masochists, as she calls them, should

22:20

maybe find something else to do because

22:23

they are more likely to be pushing themselves

22:25

to a dangerous level in yoga.

22:27

UM. And not only are

22:30

there those types of exercisers

22:32

possibly more at risk for yoga

22:34

injury, but web MD also warrants that

22:36

certain poses can put you at

22:38

greater at risk of bodily harm if

22:41

you have conditions such as severe

22:43

osteoporosis, high or

22:45

low blood pressure, your problems,

22:48

spine problems, and if

22:50

you're pregnant. But I know

22:52

that there is there's there's yoga that you

22:54

can do while pregnant, but you probably just want

22:56

to take care of your body a little more, a

22:58

little more carefully, be a little more

23:01

gentle with it. Um. And

23:03

speaking of the whole issue of instructors,

23:06

one thing that broad points out this

23:08

is the guy who who wrote The Science of Yoga

23:11

points out is maybe these

23:14

these injuries could be mitigated

23:17

if there was more regulation for

23:19

who could teach yoga right

23:21

Broad rights in his book that the field is

23:24

on the whole completely unlicensed

23:26

and unregulated. He said,

23:28

there's no such thing as a registered yoga therapist.

23:31

Applicants for registration usually face no

23:33

requirements to establish their education credentials,

23:35

to pass national exams, or to show

23:38

other evidence of expert proficiency.

23:41

But to me, you you

23:43

can determine whether

23:45

or not you are, you

23:47

know, being led by a capable

23:50

instructor. A lot of times, Um,

23:52

the yoga place that I go to has

23:54

a number of different instructors,

23:57

but they're always emphasizing paying

23:59

it to into your own body, knowing

24:01

your limits. It's referred to as as

24:03

your edge. You don't go beyond your edge. Some

24:06

days I can do a backbend. Some days

24:08

I can't, you know, And and sometimes

24:10

your ego will get in the way and say, hey, well I did a backbend

24:13

in the last class, I gotta do in this time

24:15

and next thing, you know, you have a lower back

24:17

injury. UM. Which is why in

24:20

order to avoid being one of those statistics,

24:23

it's really important to uh take

24:26

in a beginner mindset, listen to

24:28

your body, do the post that's right

24:30

for you, pay attention to instructors who will offer

24:32

modifications. UM.

24:35

I think that's one one big sign of a

24:37

good yoga instructor. UM. And

24:39

also again pick the right teacher and

24:41

the right approach. You don't have to go to

24:44

hot yoga and sweat buckets

24:46

and maybe pass out right.

24:48

And there was one one of these articles that we read

24:50

talked about specifically talked

24:52

about headstands. Things like headstands,

24:54

very advanced postes. You know, don't keep

24:57

going to a teacher if they're all you know, first

24:59

class in a beginner's class, at

25:01

the beginning of the class, making you do something

25:04

like a headstand. And that made me think of one

25:06

of my hot yoga classes. One

25:08

of the teachers, UM, I would say,

25:10

halfway through a ninety minute class. Yeah,

25:13

had us doing attempting headstands,

25:15

and of course, you know, there were people who were very experienced

25:17

in the class and they shot up no problem. But then there

25:19

were people like my friend and me who were you

25:22

know, rolling over, like falling

25:24

off the wall. And and I know of someone

25:27

who goes to Bagram

25:29

every morning Monday through Friday,

25:31

and that's incredible, And I wish I had

25:33

that kind of endurance and self

25:36

discipline as well to be able to do that, because it probably

25:38

does feel great to sweat out talks and every single

25:41

morning, but you have to know your

25:43

own limits. And also for me, I know that

25:45

I that I can't wake up that

25:47

early and get my body moving. Um.

25:50

But Sarah Miller over at the All

25:53

also took a

25:55

pretty funny approach to the whole uh

25:58

yoga kerfuffle that started off at

26:00

the New York Times magazine, and she

26:02

basically says that, yes,

26:04

you can get injured doing yoga, but you

26:06

can also get injured walking across the street.

26:09

Yes, as I have, I'm

26:11

sure, but yes, she said

26:13

that this whole hysteria that's

26:16

built up around hurting yourself in

26:18

yoga is just part of the whole You're gonna

26:20

die hysteria. She blames

26:22

the New York Times for building stuff up like

26:24

that. Oh, that their health coverage is a little sensational.

26:27

Yeah, exactly, And

26:29

she says that look, people do stupid things

26:31

and hurt themselves, citing the guy

26:34

who sat on his heels for hours every

26:36

day who ended up getting a dead nerve.

26:38

She said, most people would not

26:41

sit there for hours. First of all, who has the time?

26:44

That's true, um, but it's it's another

26:46

thing of the whole issue of paying attention to your body.

26:49

That might sound like some

26:51

kind of new ag mumbo jumbo.

26:53

Listen to your body and what it's telling you. Know,

26:55

this is the same reason why you

26:58

will stretch out, but for you go on

27:01

a jog somewhere, or you

27:03

know, you might not want to sprint on

27:05

concrete for excessive amounts of time because

27:08

then you might develop shin splints. I think

27:10

it's just because we are learning

27:12

more about the um

27:14

impact of yoga and as more people are coming

27:17

um into the yoga fold and is becoming

27:19

more of a standard exercise

27:21

for people. Um, it is important

27:23

for us to pay attention to these risks. But

27:26

let's not let's not blow the

27:28

risks out of the water. If you're

27:30

paying attention to yourself and you have a good instructor,

27:34

then you can reap a lot of

27:36

health benefits from it, right. But

27:38

one of those health benefits is not necessarily

27:41

raising your metabolism. You're not going

27:44

to get super runner, weightlift

27:46

or fit doing yoga. And this is

27:48

from Broad, William Broad,

27:50

who we talked about. The writer. He

27:53

had a Q and A with health Zone, which is a Canadian

27:55

website, and he said that that's a big myth

27:57

that yoga is good for losing weight. He says that

27:59

it allows how's your metabolism to lapse

28:01

into a low lower state of activity,

28:04

which means that you burn fewer calories, but you

28:06

can't discount muscle tone though exactly.

28:09

He does go on to say that yoga does other things

28:11

on a psychological level that can help you to lose

28:13

weight because it builds discipline and helps break

28:15

the stress eating cycle, which just makes

28:17

me think of cookie monster. Um.

28:19

And he points out that if you look at most yoga teachers

28:21

are obviously more live than lumpy

28:24

his words, um and yeah. He says

28:26

that it does it obviously helps flexibility

28:28

and strengthening. But he says, the ultimate

28:31

magic bullet and modern fitness is aerobics

28:33

and cardio stamina. So

28:35

maybe you you alternate. I mean, if if

28:37

yoga releases all of that lactic

28:39

acid that might build up in your muscles

28:42

while you are on the treadmill or the elliptical

28:44

machine or whatever form of

28:46

extracise cardio exercise suits

28:49

to the most, and maybe it's a nice complementary

28:53

regimen exactly, But

28:55

don't um, don't go up in wheel

28:58

pot, that's my tegaway. Don't gopen wheel lush

29:00

here if your back is not ready to wheel.

29:03

So combine your your

29:05

cardio with your yoga. But

29:07

ladies and gentlemen, do not forget to breathe. Because

29:10

my friend Emily, the expert who I'm going to keep citing

29:12

because she's awesome, says that

29:14

when you realize that you're not breathing, it's

29:17

actually a sign that you've gone too far and

29:19

should back off. And so I think you should remember

29:22

that and pay attention to what your body is telling you. And

29:24

also, Caroline, if you forget to breathe, that

29:26

you are abandoning the prana, yama, yoga,

29:29

g limb Oh my god, I'm sorry. And it's

29:31

the way that you link your mind and your body,

29:34

so certainly you must

29:36

you must pay attention to the breathing.

29:39

And I know that some people will do

29:41

yoga strictly for fitness,

29:44

but I gotta tell you all of the

29:46

the sort of calm yourself, know

29:48

yourself, clear your mind um

29:51

aphorisms that are told out during my ninety

29:53

minute yoga classes. I totally eat those up.

29:55

I love them. It's my may time

29:58

all right, now that I've geeked out on yoga time

30:01

to hear from similar listeners, what do you think

30:03

anyone who has sustained a yoga injury?

30:05

Um, who knows exactly what William J. Brought

30:08

us talking about? Let us know, also,

30:10

yoga enthusiast um, yoga instructors

30:12

out there. If we have, um,

30:15

you know, left anything out,

30:17

let us know. Mom Stuff at Discovery

30:20

dot com is the email address,

30:22

and we've got a couple of emails here in the

30:24

meantime to share. And this one

30:26

is coming from our recent episode on whether or not gay

30:28

households are more egalitarian.

30:31

And this is coming from Keith, who

30:34

lives with his partner and

30:36

wanted to share his division of household labor

30:38

as far as healths work goes. We found our niches.

30:41

I take out the trash, pick up all the rugs,

30:43

chairs, etcetera. For Rosie the

30:46

room BA to vacuum clean

30:48

the bathroom, wash the cats water fountain,

30:50

which is amazing. By the way, what is the catwater

30:52

fountain? I want to know? Um. And I

30:54

also lot the floors. He keeps

30:57

the living room tidy, cleans the cat box.

30:59

Okay, that's all I can think of, So maybe

31:01

we need to evaluate to which

31:03

I told Keith that cleaning out

31:05

the cat box should count as at least two chres.

31:08

Yeah. Well you know they sell those cat boxes

31:10

that self rake, oh

31:12

like a hundred bucks. Um. But he says

31:14

that we do show dishwashing as we have no dishwasher,

31:17

and whoever cooks, the other person does the dishes,

31:19

and we alternate cooking with a few fend for yourself

31:22

nights thrown in, and we alternate lawnmowing

31:24

responsibilities. I'm definitely

31:26

the one who nags when things aren't done when

31:28

I want them done to my specifications.

31:31

Um. A great insight from your podcast, because

31:33

I think I can pick a fight where one

31:36

isn't needed. Great insight from

31:38

your podcast, because I think I can pick a fight

31:41

when there is no need for one. My advice we

31:43

don't swept the small stuff and give a copy

31:45

to your housemate. So thanks Keith.

31:48

Okay, this is from Amanda about

31:50

our Legos podcast.

31:53

She said that I have a three year old daughter who

31:55

loves her Legos. It's become a weekend tradition

31:57

for her to play Legos with my husband. Oftentimes,

32:00

Hello Kitty and Mimi. Hello Kitty's sister

32:02

will fly around on their Space Shuttle, lightsabers

32:05

in hand to fight the bad guy astronaut who kidnapped

32:07

Mario. Peach doesn't get kidnapped

32:10

Holy Mario. Afterward, they love

32:12

to go home to their Lego house, which has a kitchen, bedroom,

32:14

supercomputer room with lots of lovers, classroom,

32:16

and pet giraffe. I don't

32:19

think that was in my Paroddesus said. All

32:21

of these except the giraffe and Mario are Lego,

32:23

and the most pink there is is in the Hello Kitty

32:25

House. I'm going to be speaking to a group

32:27

of teachers and training at my local university

32:29

about encouraging females in the stem fields

32:32

and plan to bring several of my daughter's toys plush

32:34

white and red blood cells, foam multi

32:37

sided dice, and her Lego space shuttle.

32:39

My daughter loves the color purple and does do more

32:42

role playing with her toys than her male cousin of the same

32:44

age. But I think that making sure you put thought

32:46

into what toys you let your children, male or female

32:48

have, is the best way to encourage

32:50

them in the right direction. Thank

32:53

you, Amanda. Yes, indeed, thanks

32:55

to a man It and Keith and everyone who has written

32:57

in mom Stuff at Discovery dot

32:59

com. This where you can send your letters.

33:02

You can also find us on Facebook,

33:04

Like us, leave a comment there, and

33:06

follow us on Twitter at mom Stuff

33:09

podcast. And you can read how

33:11

Yoga Works by the delightful Molly

33:14

Edmonds at how stuff

33:16

works dot com.

33:20

Be sure to check out our new video podcast,

33:23

Stuff from the Future. Join how stup

33:25

Work staff as we explore the most promising

33:27

and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow.

33:30

The house stuf Works iPhone app has a ride.

33:32

Download it today on iTunes,

33:39

brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve

33:41

camera. It's ready, are you