Yoga Can Hurt You, Too

Yoga is acclaimed as a healing, relaxing, and generally safe pursuit, but the exploding number of practitioners in the US should know that injuries are fairly common and that the problem is growing, reports the New York Times Magazine. Sprains, dislocations, broken backbones, and even strokes are suffered by yoga participants who are not physically primed for the activity. The story quotes one yoga teacher who has been in the field four decades as saying that the "vast majority of people” should quit altogether.

A big part of the problem is that many of the new converts are office workers who view yoga as a relatively easy and Zennish alternative to more vigorous exercise. They sit in chairs all day, then go to yoga class and contort their bodies into all kinds of positions—possibly under the tutelage of an inexperienced teacher who doesn't know when enough is enough. Click for the full story, which cites a "growing body of medical evidence" to make its case. (More yoga stories.)