Have you taken a yoga class that made me think, “That was magical! I now feel like all my physical and emotional ailments are gone!”?

Have you taken a yoga class and afterwards thought, “I don’t feel so awesome. I may have done something to my back.”?

There’s a good chance these opposing feelings could be experienced by two students who took the exact same yoga class. No two people will walk away from a yoga practice feeling identical. It just doesn’t work that way.

With the above in mind, it’s important to acknowledge that it isn’t exactly helpful to make grand statements about how a yoga practice (or really anything) will impact someone.

Can yoga heal someone?

I’ve heard it many times:

“This shape will heal [insert injury here] if practiced consistently.”

Shoot, I know I’ve been guilty of saying such things when teaching! Especially teachers who are newer in their teaching journey, we just say the things we were told in our teacher trainings or mindlessly repeat what our teacher(s) say without thinking about our statements critically.

Is there any real harm in telling students that standing on your hands in Hands to Feet Pose will heal carpal tunnel syndrome? Not really. But these broad, probably unvetted claims about a yoga shape aren’t necessarily supporting students in their practice.

Imagine being someone who suffers from carpal tunnel syndrome. Because you were informed of its healing properties, you do Hands to Feet Pose for five minutes every day for a full month and you find zero relief. Your trusted yoga teacher told you that the shape would heal your ailment but nothing has changed. There’s potential for you to feel frustrated and defeated.

Of course the promise that the practice of yoga heals goes beyond the physical. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been told that certain breath practices will heal (and even cure!) a practitioner’s anxiety. Again, imagine being diagnosed by a medical professional with anxiety. Your trusted yoga teacher tells you time and time again that the breathwork they’ve been guiding in class will relieve you of your anxious feelings. After a few months of consistent practice nothing changes. Now what?

Yoga teachers have a duty to support their yoga students to the best of their abilities. Yoga teachers don’t have a board or true governing body to keep certain behaviors and misgivings in check. (I could insert some thoughts about Yoga Alliance here but that might be saved for a later blog post. Plus, I have conflicting beliefs on whether or not yoga teachers should even have an overarching organization that handles such things. Again, thoughts for another post.) Ultimately, it’s up to the teacher, and maybe the studio(s) that employ them, to set clear moral and ethical standards.

From my perspective, it is highly unethical to make blanket statements about how a yoga shape or meditation practice will heal or fix a student’s body and/or mind. But, again, those ethical standards are up to the individual teacher to set for themselves.

At the same time, yoga does have the potential to help people feel better. I know that yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises have helped me manage my anxiety. I also know that simply moving my body - yoga or other physical movement practices - help me feel better in my body and mind. However, my experience is my own and it’s not my place as a yoga and fitness teacher to assume all people will have the exact same experience.

Can yoga harm someone?

“Don’t press your knee beyond your toes or you’ll harm your knee.”

“Engage your core so that you don’t hurt your back.”

Have you ever heard these statements in a yoga class? If you took my classes in the first few years of my teaching career then you most definitely heard ME say those things! I was full of uninformed cues in my early teaching days.

For a while, at least in my yoga circles, there seemed to be this trend where yoga teachers discouraged students from doing just about anything in order to keep them safe. For instance, in 2017 I took a workshop class with a well known yoga teacher who was visiting the Twin Cities. I was so excited to take their class because I heard some really great things! However, I was quickly disappointed. The two-hour workshop that was advertised as a practice on fun transitions turned into a lecture on why we shouldn’t do certain shapes because there was a high likelihood that we would injure ourselves. The entire workshop - again, it was two hours long - involved participants doing one yoga shape. The teacher guided us through Bow Pose, but we could only do it with our abdomen supported by a bolster as that was the only way to protect our knees.

This type of teaching, in my opinion, has created a false belief that the human body is fragile. Unintentionally the constant reminder to not do something or to avoid something has created a culture of yoga students who are fearful of their bodies.

Now it is absolutely true that there’s potential for one to hurt themselves in a yoga class. I have countless overuse injuries from my yoga practice. But humans can get injured and hurt themselves doing just about anything! Currently I’m dealing with an elbow injury from walking my dogs. Am I now afraid of walking my dogs? No! I just need to be more mindful of how I’m holding their leashes when we walk.

Harm can come in many forms, especially in spaces where there’s a group or individual in a position of power. Without going down a much larger rabbit hole, it’s worth noting that harm within yoga spaces goes well beyond a practitioner hurting their neck in Shoulder Stand. Yoga and similar practices have the potential to harm a practitioner when the teacher or guide is using their position to prey upon and/or negatively influence those in their classes. Yoga teachers, always be mindful of the influence you have over those in your classes. Take it seriously and don’t take advantage of that influence.

Can all of it be true in some way?

And now the dreaded moment where I point out that there’s no clear black and white - there is only gray.

Can yoga heal someone of an ailment?

Maybe.

Can yoga hurt someone physically, emotionally, or mentally?

Maybe.

Yoga has the potential to do so much good for a practitioner. Yoga also has the potential to do harm towards a practitioner. The practice, regardless of how you approach it, is going to impact everyone differently and we can’t make promises that everyone will be impacted in the exact some way. It’s important that all yoga practitioners and teachers approach the practice with a critical lens. Never be afraid of asking questions and be weary of those who discourage discussion.