Since yoga is such a popular fitness class, there is a demand for yoga teachers. There is no official board or regulating power to certify a person as a yoga teacher which allows for anybody to be able to teach a yoga class. This causes issues because yoga teachers are not properly equipped to spot a dangerous pose or stretch. For example, inversion poses, any pose that places the head below the heart, include such poses as the shoulder and head stands. Shoulder and head stands can cause major spinal injuries. In William Broad’s article “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body,” Broad writes about a yoga teacher, Glenn Black, who is known to help clients who have sustained yoga injuries. Through Black’s own experience of receiving spinal surgery due to spinal stenosis, Broad brings to light just how dangerous yoga can be. In the article, Black warns about the practice of yoga as a treatment, “My message was that ‘Asana is not a panacea or a cure-all. In fact, if you do it with ego or obsession, you’ll end up causing problems.’ A lot of people don’t like to hear that” (Broad). Patients and doctors should be aware of the problems that come along with yoga, and not just the idea that it is a safe all natural treatment. People who are afraid of medication want to believe that yoga is all natural and therefore harmless and a good replacement for prescription medication, when in fact yoga can be more harmful than a prescription
Since yoga is such a popular fitness class, there is a demand for yoga teachers. There is no official board or regulating power to certify a person as a yoga teacher which allows for anybody to be able to teach a yoga class. This causes issues because yoga teachers are not properly equipped to spot a dangerous pose or stretch. For example, inversion poses, any pose that places the head below the heart, include such poses as the shoulder and head stands. Shoulder and head stands can cause major spinal injuries. In William Broad’s article “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body,” Broad writes about a yoga teacher, Glenn Black, who is known to help clients who have sustained yoga injuries. Through Black’s own experience of receiving spinal surgery due to spinal stenosis, Broad brings to light just how dangerous yoga can be. In the article, Black warns about the practice of yoga as a treatment, “My message was that ‘Asana is not a panacea or a cure-all. In fact, if you do it with ego or obsession, you’ll end up causing problems.’ A lot of people don’t like to hear that” (Broad). Patients and doctors should be aware of the problems that come along with yoga, and not just the idea that it is a safe all natural treatment. People who are afraid of medication want to believe that yoga is all natural and therefore harmless and a good replacement for prescription medication, when in fact yoga can be more harmful than a prescription