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Yoga Injuries – An Article Recap Pointer, via YogaDork

Pictured, “Nice Thing ‘Bout Getting Old(er)”

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“a beginner’s view : the intent of this blog is to incrementally build a body of thought that works toward integrating various topics, yoga, fitness, and the arts – it’s a process…”

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Yoga Injuries – An Article Recap Pointer, via YogaDork

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Intro

Pros & Cons

i won’t rehash all the various pros and cons of : what kinds of injuries can happen during yoga, why they might happen, when they might happen, if being injured during yoga means it is or isn’t yoga

but i will say i’m really glad people are talking and debating and thinking about it

i’ve had friends and students from texas to vermont, ok, well, from texas and vermont 😉 contact me or tell me they’ve been “in discussion” with their teacher or class about injuries during yoga

so i think that’s great!

The Article

what this article is for, is to point the reader to the best most comprehensive article listing i’ve come across so far

i’ve read “some” of these, and know “some” of the folk involved, digitally anyways 😉

so yogadork in nyc does a pretty good online job of poking fun of yoga yet providing pretty dependable information to chew on

her article, appropriately named, after a series of like articles from her helped stir the pot the ny times lit a fire under (meaning this issue was always here, just needed heating up), is :

“Complete and Exhaustive Guide: Yoga Community Responds to NYT ‘How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body’”

from this article you can reach a very very wide gamut of opinions and thoughts

folk i’m familiar with and can recommend from my perspective, include jill miller and nancy alder

sites i’m familiar with i’d trust to listen to with an open ear include yoga journal, the kripalu center, recovering yogi, and yoga tune up (the latter also run by jill miller)

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Listening to Yourself for Guidance

Intro

easily the best and most reachable thing for any one of us to do regarding what to do or not do during yoga to prevent injuries and maximize our experience

ok, now, have said that…

i’m gonna say the following, with it meant mostly for seniors like myself, but also anyone of any age who finds things in what i’ll say that appeals to them – not “too” unlikely, we oldsters were youngsters once 😉

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The Problem With “Listening” to Ourselves

i know that i have “listened” to the wisdom in my body many a time in the past, and got hurt

I know that many people my age have the same lingering doubt about fully trusting themselves, i hear it often in class, over coffee, at the check-out line :

“i figured i could do blah-blah-blah, but i guess (hahaha) i really couldn’t (oohhh, that hurts)”

fully trusting the wisdom in our bodies presumes we know what and how to hear what’s being said, and translate it properly through over half a dozen decades of mis-steps, warnings from others, injuries, and just plain natural accidents

we know we don’t know what condition our condition is in, to paraphrase an old song from “the day” –

how strong or what weak points our spine has –

which joints have lost more mass than we’d realized –

how our muscles has slowed their response time –

how knowing we know more and yet don’t know enough means we’re gonna take longer making decisions which might mean not moving that mis-aligned knee back in place quick enough

there’s some of the above i didn’t even know i needed to know before i got my fitness certifications

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Learning What to Listen For

so i’m not saying not to listen to oneself, one’s personal wisdom, the wisdom nature has ingrained in each of our bodies, or, that it’s not possible to have that kind of wisdom available to us

it is, it’s there, we do have it in us, from birth and before

i truly believe that

but it’s not a turnkey listening experience

we get a lot of static and variant messages as we grow up, as we raise our children, as we continue to age

the trick is to learn what to listen for

and for me, if i’m gonna listen to my body, i need more information about my body

how does it talk to me? when is it serious and when is it playing with me, teasing me to see if i’ve got some gumption?

how do i do this without breaking the message machine, my body?

the trick then becomes how to learn to know what to listen for

folks, things like the article above from yoga-dork, with avenues of offered wisdom, is one route

finding teachers that’ll answer questions in a way you trust that your experience then validates as right for you

doing your own research: reading, dvds, classes – there’s tons of stuff

i’ll tell you right now, i’m not a real dumb person, and i’m interested in my health, and like the idea of developing myself into a better person (that’s the spiritual part 😉 ) – and it’s been a tough go

i’m fortunate i have a wife who’s also interested in all this (actually she got me started on learning more through fitness workshops etc)

you can do it alone, but you don’t have to…

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Nice Thing ‘Bout Getting Old(er)

this is an ebook i put together organizing some of the article i’ve written on this site about fitness, yoga, aging, and creativity

it’s meant to be a nibble-at-it, reference, enjoy-the-poems collection that hopefully leads you to other learnings, your own things to learn, about you

there’s no affiliate links in it, i won’t know you got it unless you tell me, and i don’t offer it on my website

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Final Thoughts

i’m enjoying doing fitness and yoga classes with my wife, mostly for seniors –

but also for most anyone who’s de-conditioned, i know what that’s like 😉

and we’ve surprised a few fairly fit classes we subbed at with what we brought to their fitness class they hadn’t expected, especially in terms of awareness and fitness information

i’m also enjoying doing my photography, and writing my poetry

find what you like to do to be and stay more fit

discover things you like to do

and you’ll be a long way toward listening to your own wisdom, from your body and your soul 😉

namaste´ – con dios – god be with you

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Other Yoga-Adan Links You Might Like

Poetry Series

eBook Page – All Available Titles

Press Release for “Nice Thing ‘Bout Getting Old(er)”

“Nice Thing ‘Bout Getting Old(er)” eBook Listing on Amazon Books

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