Good Sweat
How William J. Broad became yoga’s public enemy number one: An interview
"I don’t want to hype (the dangers) because, yes, the numbers are small. But the consequences are extraordinarily high. I don’t do shoulder stand or plow anymore—I avoid poses that stress the neck, because I’ve seen what can happen." —William J. Broad
In January, William J. Broad’s New York Times article entitled “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” set off a firestorm of controversy in the yoga world. It was a chapter adapted from his recent book, The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards, which hadn’t launched at the time. And a publicity stunt extraordinaire.
After reading his book, we caught up with the award-winning science writer (and longtime yoga devotee) to ask him about why he made the decisions he did and how it feels to be yoga’s public enemy number one.
Check back on Monday, when we ask Broad about the subsequent reactions to his John Friend yoga scandal story, and his thoughts on the future of yoga. —Lisa Elaine Held
At this point, the yoga world is just plain angry with you. A San Francisco Chronicle reporter summed it up with this: “I do not know why the New York Times dislikes yoga so much.” How do you respond to that, especially as a longtime yoga practitioner?
I’m sorry that people feel that way, and that’s certainly not the impression I want to leave. I personally love yoga, but I’ve received lots of letters from people with injuries and I’ve talked to women who have been victimized by philandering gurus.
The whole epilogue of my book goes on about about how this is the beginning of a bright new age for yoga. But for yoga to grow up and be the incredible discipline it is, it has to be accountable. It has to have normal feedback mechanisms and have the objectivity of science and the reflection of self-scrutiny. If it doesn’t, it will just keep fracturing into competing styles and making more claims. And the claims are getting worse and worse because there are billions of dollars at stake.
Broad: "For yoga to grow up and be the incredible discipline it is, it has to be accountable."
As a science writer who’s generally covered subjects like nuclear proliferation, how was the process of researching and writing about yoga different?
Wow. It was harder in many respects. A lot of nuclear and germ warfare stuff is secret, but the scientific literature on yoga was quite diffuse, and in many cases it was contradictory. Bombs come down to physics, which can be more precise. The yoga science was spread out, across different countries and individuals. It took me much much longer to research than I thought. My plan was to do it in 9 months; it took five years.
Your goal, in the book, is to focus a scientific lens on yoga, to counter the haze of misinformation that surrounds it. Aren’t there limits on what science can say about a spiritual practice like yoga?
That’s part of it, but yoga also makes thousands of claims that are open to empirical inquiry, like yoga will help you lose weight or make you feel great. The thing that was the most daunting, and this gets into the weeds a little, but yoga science doesn’t have any big patrons. There are no drug companies or governments spending billions on yoga studies. Most of the science is done by researchers who have a personal interest and have to scrape the money together, so the studies tend to be small and often not great in terms of their quality.
The book looks at the risks that have been identified, such as injury, and at yoga’s incredible benefits, like lifting mood, improving sex lives, and injury rehabilitation. Why excerpt the chapter that focused primarily on injury? Was that your decision or one made by the Times?
It was totally the decision of the magazine editors. They looked at the book, and that’s what they picked. I never saw the web headline (“How yoga can wreck your body”) until it appeared online. I was still comfortable with it though—it’s a good, racy headline. Judging from the response, I think their choice was excellent. I knew it was an issue, but I had no idea how huge it was.
And the vast majority of the responses were positive. They came from teachers, former teachers, studio owners, you name it, and even more surprising were all of the injury horror stories that people started sending.
Okay, but one of the most common criticisms of the excerpt is that you didn’t compare the rates of injury to other physical activities and that the number of injuries was so small that it was overblown.
I know. People say, these injuries are similar to sports injuries or injuries you get from any physical activity, and I go, ‘Really? Strokes? Parts of your brain dying? People dying from strokes?’ This type of stroke kills about one in twenty people—they’re one of the most serious injuries you can suffer, and they’re not associated with running, or even football, which does have a record of brain injuries.
Also, that goes to the issue of, who funds yoga? Who is going to pay millions of dollars to figure out what the baseline rate of yoga strokes is and then compare it to other fields? Those studies have never been done. I think that’s a fine criticism, and I would love to see that data, but it doesn’t exist.
Here’s what I know: These things are real. I don’t want to hype it because, yes, the numbers are small. But the consequences are extraordinarily high. I don’t do shoulder stand or plow anymore—I avoid poses that stress the neck, because I’ve seen what can happen.
We want to know your thoughts and comments, below!
Check back on Monday for our interview with Broad about his John Friend yoga scandal story.
Enemy? All the yoga instructors I know are thankful for Broad’s article because it shinned light on an important element of yoga that wasn’t being discussed. Everyone was aware of it but no one was talking about it. Now people are talking.
I think it does a service if only people can drop the ego and stop feeding the hype. Injuries are REAL and are SERIOUS. If this gets studios to really tap into teaching proper alignment and not encouraging rock star asana, then it is a good thing. I think the yoga community has been overly defensive.
I personally loved the NYT article. I’ve practiced yoga on and off for about 14 years, and throughout that time I have acquired injuries that are most definitely a result of irresponsible yoga teachers. Now I am much more careful as to where I go and what postures I practice. The whole issue speaks of just how dangerous it is to have instructors with no deep understanding of anatomy teaching classes that could potentially damage people. To teach yoga one should have more than just a 200hr training course and should have knowledge of the human body. Further, a lot of hardcore yogis that I have met vocally look down on science. Perhaps they like feeling like they are part of something mystical or special that can’t be described logically. But in reality, the only way the full benefits of yoga will be realized is if yoga melds with science to look at how such a practice is actually beneficial. So, kudos to Broad for speaking out, it needed to happen. In response to this I am really hoping to see people drop their yoga egos and focus on what’s actually good for the body, as opposed to what looks good or outstanding.
I didn’t even realize the yoga community had reacted defensively or angrily to the article. I would like to see some evidence of that sited. The handful yoga teachers I have spoken with, at my school and elsewhere online, have all been interested in the article. Anything that encourages greater self awareness is good, and if there were people who were practicing yoga with a a kind of blissful ignorance of the possibilities of injury, then maybe a few of them have started thinking more about how they are practicing now.
[...] One of yoga’s public enemies. (Well + Good) jQuery('#what-were-reading').load('/ajax/fetch.php?section=hybrid_box'); Share This [...]
Yoga is a beautiful opportunity to develop skills in mind and body. However I have torn ligaments in my shoulders and have hurt the sacrum numerous times. Though instructors tell you to do what feels good in the same sentence they tell you to push to your edge. We all know our edge is usually beyond the norm. In itself this does not make yoga a dangerous activity. What makes it dangerous is the drive toward competition. We all want to go that extra stretch but there is a need for teaching that explains the body and not just the pose. Instructors who are offended by the article need to look back to what yogas intent was.
This piece is not very meaty. Doesn’t say much.
Why doesn’t someone ask him, if he is a self awoved non expert about the deeper aspects of yoga, why is he subsequently publishing a completely one sided piece on yoga as a sexual stimulant and guru bashing?
There is no mention of the many yogic spiritual leaders who are truly working to offer humanity some relief from suffering internally and externally.
It was one of the poorest pieces of biased journalism I’ve seen in a long time. Gives one pause for thought, is sensationalism/fear mongering his game to sell books? Nuclear and Germ Warfare, and Now The Great Silent Killer– Yoga.
What’s going on with this? Distortion is a formula for wealth. And when you already work for the newspaper, it’s a sure bet.
After Broad’s article came out, I crunched the numbers on yoga injuries using the same National Electronic Injury Surveillance System data he mentioned in his article. (The resulting blog article: http://derekrose.com/wp/?p=1977)
Only I used eight years of data (2002-2010) instead of the two years that he did. I found ONE woman who suffered an intracranial hemorrhage (bleeding within the skull), a 58-year-old who suffered the injury on March 8, 2006. (She was admitted to the hospital, and the system didn’t track her from there).
Aside from two concussions from children falling off “yoga balls.” (i.e., swiss balls), that was the ONLY incident of any type of yoga-related brain damage in eight years of monitoring the 90 U.S. hospitals in the NEISS system.
In other words, we’re talking about an injury that is very, very rare. And cranial hemorrhages are not unique to yoga. Again, referencing the NEISS system:
* on March 3, 2007, a 73-year-old female out walking developed an intercranial hemorrhage.
* on Sept. 7, 2007, a 32-year-old woman working out at a gym had a seizure. Was diagnosed with subcranial bleeding with respiratory distress.
* That same date, a 61-year-old male out jogging developed a headache that was diagnosed as a subarachnoid hemorrhage. (a type of stroke)
* On Oct. 11, 2008, a 55-year-old woman out walking fell and was diagnosed with an intercranial hemmorhage.
There were a couple other incidents of brain bleeding associated with exercise, but you get the idea.
So for Broad to imply that “parts of your brain dying” is somehow unique to yoga is just false. You can hurt your head doing any number of physical activities.
More importantly, looking at one type of serious injury to the exclusion of all others is a logical fallacy. Heart attacks are also a very, very serious injury … they are not associated with yoga but they are with running. In 2010 alone, NEISS hospitals reported eight fatalities from heart attacks from people who had been running. There was just one yoga-related heart attack reported to NEISS from 2002-2010, and it wasn’t fatal.
My point isn’t that running is dangerous — I’ve run a number of marathons — but that Broad is really being a scaremonger here.
[...] yoga made him horny….He wanted to make love to a street lamp." —William BroadOn Friday, we spoke with William J. Broad, the New York Times science writer and author of The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards [...]
Interesting, again media overhyping and misleading readers, I would have like to have known this BEFORE or while reading the article.
But I totally agree, brining awareness to the body and it’s abilities should be the no 1 priority of any teacher, it comes back to making one accountable for one’s actions and not placing them blame on someone or anythnig else. Alignment is key to any pose, so if the teacher is aware so should the student.
[...] week, Broad gave an interview to the blog Well + Good NYC in which he was asked about the controversy: Okay, but one of the most [...]
I am glad that attention is being directed toward a safer yoga experience. Unfortunately yoga has become way too big a business (coming from a studio owner who’s business is very small) and yoga teacher trainings are (held on an honor system because no one actually checks) popping up ALL over the place. All too often you see a bio of a well intentioned person who became a yoga teacher (after a few weeks in the Caribbean) and 24 months later that same person is training other people to become yoga teachers? A flexible string body does not instantly create a yoga teacher..and certainly not a trainer of other teachers. Trying to get the body to be in a physical position that it either has not been properly prepared for or just isn’t right for it is an injury waiting to happen. Try focusing some attention on the other 7 limbs..its amazing what comes up when you do. There are no short cuts in yoga, there are however people who believe they have found or created them..I think the article has been helpful and I’m planning on reading the book.
[...] we’re highlighting our top stories from the past month. Here’s what you may have missed:How William J. Broad became yoga’s public enemy number one: An interview “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” set off a firestorm of controversy. We asked the author [...]
[...] Hurt.” It’s been a controversial year in yoga. Join king instigator William Broad (of “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” fame) and others for a panel discussion.5. Take a community class. Free classes will be offered [...]
[...] down to talk about the New York Times‘ “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” article (and the firestorm it set off) with its now infamous author.“I do have my bullet-proof vest on,” William J. Broad [...]
Since the government does not regulate yoga, statistics on yoga injuries are not accurate or readily available. There is some information on emergency room visits that were reported however
it seems that most injuries go unreported so arguing about the lack of serious injury numbers is not productive. Go to http://www.yogainjuries.com if you have been injured to complete a survey of how, when and where your injury occurred. The results will be published next year in a new book I am writing.
Personally I know of dozens of people who have been injured from the plow pose. I live on a small island with a population of about 65,000 and a PT friend told me he has treated two clients within the past year with compression fractures( broken necks) from practicing plow pose.
I am a yoga teacher, bodyworker and a posture educator and I have worked with countless numbers of people who are injured from yoga or who have suffered long term joint destabilizations from practicing yoga in what I call the straight knee or right angle lock down positions. I think that many yogis are over-stretching the important shock absorbing ligament mechanisms in the human body in the lower back, popliteal (knee) region, neck, shoulder and foot areas. Many yoga pose positions do not simulate how we use our body to move functionally in real life. We cannot take one step forward without bending one of our knees and yet in yoga we stretch our body with both knees straight in the quest to get flexible in the hamstrings or release the back. What this does over the longterm is stretch the ligaments that keep the sacrum in a 30 degree nutation to provide shock absorption between the upper and lower body regions. Ligaments should not be stretched !!! Yogis practice passive joint stretching in ways that I believe in the years to come will lead to joint destabilization, compression and replacements. It is already happening to so many yogis just like ballet and gymnastics. I talk to people everyday who have practiced yoga for 10 or 15 years and now they need knee and hip replacements or they have sciatica and plantar fascial pain.
I invented a new, safe, and powerful way to do yoga and I call it YogAlign. I combined my knowledge of anatomy with self guided bodywork and yoga poses that simulate how we use and move the body in real life over 15 years ago. I did this because my knees, neck and lower back became unstable from 20 years of the right angles of down dog, plow, and forward bending in yoga. I have treated hundreds of yogis with what I call the saggy sacrum syndrome and helped them get their lumbar curve and butt muscles back in function. My method combines the science of flexibility with body positions that make anatomical sense. There are no straight lines in nature and the human body is no different. Our spine has curves that need to be supported and protected not made to be flattened or hyper-flexed or extended by doing right angle based yoga poses that reflect the unnatural design of a chair. go to http://www.yogalign.com and please email me with any questions you have. I wrote a book on it called YogAlign, pain-free yoga from your inner core and I back it up with case histories, and anatomical facts with a global perspective of the human body.
[...] no secret that some aspects of yoga can be dangerous. But we all sign a waver before rolling out a mat, and whatever the teacher asks us to do, we [...]