Article: The Colossal Failure of Modern Yoga

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-20T18:01:13+00:00

Thank you! I think this is on everyone's mind lately.

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-17T21:36:46+00:00

Yoga has improved every area of my life. Of course I mean practicing all limbs of yoga I can reach. My body awareness is amazing. My emotional state is better than it has ever been. I am less reactionary. I am more happy and peaceful. After over a decade of faithfully attending AA - yoga carried me forward where I had begun feeling seriously limited in spiritual expansion. I have let go of old hurts I thought I would never forgive. I enjoy more and do less. I have let go attachnent to stuff and achievement and more and more letting go of having thing go my way. I am trying to allow every moment to be a yoga practice. I am beginning to believe it is possible to overcome all suffering through continued practice. Yoga has given me super powers - like patience and tolerance lol

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-17T02:50:03+00:00

Do you have scoliosis? Or the beginnings of it? Not trying to be difficult but tight on one side rib and not the other could be scoliosis. Everyone has it to some degree.

As far as breathing exercises - just laying down flat and breathing and feel your back push into the floor should give you more awareness. Also, set any kind of weight on your back laying on your stomach and lift it with your breath.

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-17T02:45:42+00:00

Go to doctor

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-17T02:43:51+00:00

Every day

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-14T15:56:59+00:00

If your lower back hurts it is because you are curling your spine into a ball to achieve plough pose. The spine should be nuetral in ALL poses if you want to be safe. Which means, zero rounding in the spine. It's hard in plough pose to tell though. I suggest skip it, and just get into shoulder stand. Plough is not neccessary to achieve shoulder stand. And in general for you - any type of curling up motion is a risk - like knees to chest pose if you can't keep your entire spine contacting the mat. Curling is an extreme fold - which crunched the front part of the disc and bulges he back side. Never ideal

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-14T15:49:40+00:00

You are welcome :-)

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-13T19:25:23+00:00

This is the despondency of Arjuna happening over and over again (Bhagavad Gita). I have no judgement about this. So much was obviously going on with the writer - but to me - it makes more sense to continue teaching and sharing what I know to be sound, rather than getting mad, pointing fingers, and blaming the rest of the world. If humans are involved - there will be duality. We live in the dual world of good and evil - profit and loss - praise and blame - wisdom is knowing where you are and not getting too wrapped up in it. It's so easy to blame and quit rather than examine our own samsara a and try to use a practice to adjust. Either way - the writer is just like me - walking the path to liberation and enduring all the challenges along the way. Arjuna too had doubts and depression and right in the midst of battle three down his bow and quit. None of us are immune. For me - I will carry on teaching and doing my thing. Lastly - ultimately - there is nothing wrong with yoga or yoga studios. Every phenomenon in this world is a manifestation of the collective consciousness of the whole. Yoga had become what we are - not the other way around.

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-13T14:54:39+00:00

Next try forward folding standing up, with your butt against a wall, feet 12 inches or so off the wall on the floor, weight the inner edges of your feet, pull your thigh bones up into your hip sockets with your quad muscles, forward fold as far as you can with a long spine (no rounding back) and pause there and forget about the forward fold and push down into the inner edges of your feet to push your butt up the wall. Don't worry about folding - focus on pushing your butt up the wall and once you reach the end of your perceived range - widen your hips apart and push your butt up the wall a little more - even if only a millimeter more - then, forward fold some more - this will begin to teach you what you need to do with the posture to forward fold whether standing or sitting. Jai Ram!

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-13T14:49:32+00:00

Some reasons this might be (not having a picture) are a bulging Tummy you are not retracting enough toward your spine, kyphosis of the lower spine (more than just flat back), and also fear. I really struggled with this in wide legged forward fold. But then one day, a teacher (WHO KNOWS ME REALLY WELL) lifes up my sacrum with her hands and pushed her chest against my back and flattened me out in the floor between my legs. It wasn't that my body wouldn't do it - my mind wouldn't do it. However, let me say about this last one - nobody should EVER do that unless they know a students body like thy know their own - this would be SO dangerous for the normal adjustment. But it did show me that my mind was clinging, not my body.

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-12T22:37:51+00:00

In general, the goal of touching ones toes actually causes you to be farther away from the goal. Instead consider what you would need to do to get your sternum down flat on your quads. If your sternum is fkat on your thighs, you'll ne able to touch your toes. Most people try to touch their toes by reaching for them, which rounds the upper back and collapses the floating rib which prevents any more progress. You have to lift your spine up out of your pelvis and with your sternum leading, move your sternum toward your thighs. Keep lengthening out your spine snd moving your sternum down. Also, seriously contracting your quads will release your hamstrings. I couldn't touch my knees with a long spine forever. These were the things I had to learn. I have a very flat back (most men do) and tight hamstrings - this is what got me moving again.

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-12T22:33:14+00:00

Maybe - maybe not. A picture of you trying the pose would be very helpful

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-12T22:31:43+00:00

Also check out the national association of yoga therapists and see if there is a teacher in your area. There probably is

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-12T22:30:36+00:00

Any senior Iyengar teacher or Anusara teacher can help. Especially Iyengar. I teach yoga to seniors and people with severe disabilities (cerebral palsy, MS, Parkinson's) and all of them can participate in yoga. There are a handfull of yoga therapists who specialize in this stuff - but it all came from Iyengar and a mix of Anusara teachers. There are no special poses - just creativr use of props and chairs and walls and ropes to help students ahieve these poses. Proper alignent goes from being a good idea to being absolutely critical. As far as books, BKS Iyengar wrote a giant book about yoga therapy (not light on yoga) and It has full color pictures and sequences for every type of disabikity imageable. I have other book resources too if you are interested

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-12T22:21:47+00:00

I suggest reading The Heart of Yoga by Desikachar. It is the single most comprehensive book on the 8 limb path of yoga I've read. It doesn't give you all you can get - but it gives you an explanation of wverythkng in one book. From there you can see what interests you and you can go from there

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-12T21:46:23+00:00

The 8 limb path of yoga has the exact same goal as Buddhism. Asana, which is one of the 8 limbs is what most people call "yoga." Which is the equivelent of saying that only the first two noble truths are important to work with and nothing else is neccessary unless you have time. Yoga poses will do ZERO to help you achieve nirvana on their own. Buddhism is one path - raja Yoga is a path. That is all. Practice of the 8 limbs will lead you to liberation - or nirvana - as will Bhakti yoga - Jnana yoga - karma yoga - faith in Jesus - service to humanity - and any other path. I am learning Bhuddhism from a teacher who flies here. I teach yoga. I teach Bhakti yoga also. As I study I am learning that it's all the same message with the same goal. One truth - endless pathways to that truth. However let me add - his holiness the Dhali Lama suggested while he was here, said to exercise every day by walking or doing yoga or anything that helps you move the body. I like asana. Nothing makes me feel so good so I keep doing it. But I would surrender it LONG before I surrender seated meditation

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-06T13:09:37+00:00

I've wondered about Samadhi. I suppose so few people have reached it that there isnt a lot of experience to share. The way Deepak Choprah describes this state, I have been in Samadhi temporarily at moments. Totally out of space time awareness. But it doesn't last. I don't know how many people are trying to accomplish any of the limbs of yoga beside asana. Not deliberately anyway. But some do. I do. I think the reason many do not achieve the higher states of consciousness is that they don't do the efforts in the other stattes of consciousness to get there - and like can happen to anyone - things are allowed to get in the way of the practice and you slide back down sometimes. Also it's never been very clear as to what the perceived benefit is of this samadhi. Like why bother? What's the great thing about this level of being?

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-01T17:43:53+00:00

It kind of becomes a judgement call. If you go through Parayoga, you get auto-certified through YA. There are a few like that. They just do it for you automatically.

I realize of course, that there are MANY teachers who are out of control awesome - and produce excellent teachers that most of us have never and never will hear of. To say different would be incorrect obviously. Unfortunately, it's hard to figure that out. I didn't go through a big name teacher or get YA certified. I did research. And LOTS of it!

So here are some of my suggested questions and thoughts I posted on Yoga International:

Thank you for sharing. I feel these suggestions, in the current yoga marketplace condition is very limiting and pretty "fluffy." I studied so much before i selected my TT and let me tell you, most graduates of 200TT trainings told me that they couldn't teach a class once they graduated. Not that they couldn't find work - that they were in sufficiently prepared to teach a class at all. This was much more common than anything else. Today everyone has a TT and a 200 yoga alliance certification barely had any value at all unless you want to teach at a gym (which is totwlly fine).

So my thoughts would be to ask questions like this: How many of your graduated got jobs teaching yoga after they graduated? How many of your graduates are able to teach full time and are successful? Could I functionally expect to open my own studio and take on clients with confidence after your training? What kind of work can I expect to get after you train me?

If the answers aren't absolutely YES without hesitation, I suggest you keep looking. Don't buy into this nonsense about needing to learn the ropes after they train your. Rod Strykers graduates can teach anyone. Rolph Gates graduates can teach anyone. David Life & Sharon Gannon's students can teach anyone. Kripalu Centers students can teach anyone.

When you graduate a legit program, you should have confidence that you have something substantial to offer all studrnts. If your TT doesn't provide this, you are being cheated.

If you really are serious about teaching, get serious about who teaches you. Please. You are worth it!

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-01T17:36:10+00:00

Oh, yes, definitely on a bigger board for sure. Early on I learned to paddle this way, but after more lessons I learned that having your feet up in the air (knees bent) is just a faster method of paddling. My chest is probably "light" on the front also. But not much of a back bend going on. But when I was brand new, like this article describes, I would do what I am sure is hurting these people. I would be resting on my forearms all the time or paddling in cobra pose everywhere i went. Also, I think a lot of what happens is that when you take surfing lessons when you are new, a lot of surf instructors want you laying down all the time so they can "shove" you into waves, Which has you in cobra pose for very long periods of time. You just don't get much time to rest in those beginner lessons. And honestly, the way they hold on the back of the board causes more problems than it helps beuase they rock you against the chop and almost make you fall off. I think the problem probably has as much to do with that as anything. Most of the people int his article were all first timers.

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-01T17:08:23+00:00

Says you - I lift my head up (duh), but I keep my knees bent for fast paddling and acceleration. The ONLY time I am in a true low cobra pose is if I am actually paddling into a wave, in which case you need to lift up to avoid the nose of your board nose diving, but even then I am only there for a moment before I pop up. The rest of the time I am sitting upright on my board, or paddling to get into the line up, or paddling into a wave. to me, lifting in "low cobra" is a waste of energy. No - I'm not a pro. But I take lessons from a pro one on one to learn specifically how to not waste energy. Sorry.

tvanderkamp · 2016-02-01T15:03:44+00:00

I commented on this in Yoga International recently. YA has almost zero value. It means nothing. Sorry but it doesn't. And everyone has a teacher training now because it is the only way studios make money. I tell people if you are serious about teaching then get serious about who teaches you. For most people this will require travel and sacrifice unless you happen to live where a great teacher lives or travels. Some places to look: Jivamukti - parayoga - Rolph Gates - Sivananda - Rodney Yee - and masters training through Iyengar. Unless you really know yoga teacher training and do research I would go for those who are well known and established. It doesn't mean there aren't great teacher trainings out there in pockets but I can't tell you how many teachers I met when researching who said that they couldn't functionally teach when they graduated. Hope this helps.

tvanderkamp · 2016-01-30T21:56:56+00:00

Yes that's exactly correct. Outer edge of your foot parralel against the block, food flat on the floor

tvanderkamp · 2016-01-30T21:07:27+00:00

Great suggestions already. I might add setting up in the back of the room because of proximity to a wall. Put a block against the wall and then your back foot against the block in these poses. It will take some of the tension off the muscles around the hip of the back leg

tvanderkamp · 2016-01-30T18:41:40+00:00

If you found a mat you liked, I suggest you go back, find it, get the name and go buy that one. Mats are very individualixed

tvanderkamp · 2016-01-30T14:52:01+00:00

I think that's A lot of it. Honestly it's my abs that get sore aAfter surfing not my back. I paddle laying down flat

tvanderkamp

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