March 21, 2012 • 33 mins
How did yoga become popular in the U.S.? In this episode, Cristen and Caroline take a closer look at the health benefits and physical risks of practicing yoga. Tune in to learn more.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff Mom never told you?
From house stuffworks dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline, And maybe we should start
(00:22):
the soft Caroline where it's inhaling. Oh not significate microphoe.
I'm sorry, Sorry, it's deeply inhaling. We're talking about yoga today,
and I thought of doing this topic while in yoga
class last weekend. I was Caroline and I had been
(00:42):
emailing back and forth about what to talk about in
the next week the coming week's podcast, and as I
was in a downward dog, it hit me, Hey, why
don't you talk about yoga. Yeah. There's actually been a
lot in the news lately about how, oh my god,
yoga is gonna kill you. You can really hurt yourself,
(01:03):
and I've kind of skimmed those articles and I've been
a little skeptical. Just uh, I mean, I agree that
you could probably hurt yourself. I have taken yoga classes
where I've been pushed a little too far by some
over zealous instructors. So yeah, you can definitely get some
over extension problems. Um. But before we get into the
dangers of yoga and why yoga is suddenly making headlines,
(01:28):
let's talk a little bit about what yoga is exactly
and how it became popular in the United States. Because
popular it is. Indeed, um thanks Madonna. Yes, thanks to
partially to Madonna. Around fifteen point eight million Americans practice
yoga as of two thousand eight. That number may now
be closer to twenty million as of two thousand eleven.
(01:52):
And with all of that yoga ng it is now
a six billion dollar industry, which is not surprising if
you go into a store like Lulaman, which is the
quintessential yoga supply store, because yoga pants and fensa, yoga tops,
and yoga towels. I need a yoga towel, for instance.
It is take like a hand towel. You can take
(02:14):
a hand towel to yoga. But I'm talking about when,
especially if you take Bikram or hot yoga, which I
have done, you gotta have a towel and take the
whole beach towel. Yeah, but there are these special towels
that specially wick away your special yoga sweat for a
special price of like two thousand dollars. Yeah, and I
think all you said there were what twenty million people
(02:36):
who do yoga, Yes, I think all of them were
in my hot yoga class. When I took it for
a couple of months, it was crowded, a little crowded.
There was there was one of those half off coupons.
People flocked to it. You can tell how angry all
the regulars were. I stuck with it for a while
until I almost died. That's why we're talking about this
yoga as it's probably known that it is an ancient
(02:57):
tradition from India and first mentioned in a text called
the Vadas just five thousand years old. And the word
yoga comes from the sandscript for union or yolk, and
that union implied is the joining of the mind and body.
(03:20):
And a lot of these these yoga tenants were orally
passed down. They weren't written down, so so we don't
really know when the poses got more of the focus. Yes,
but in the nineteenth century, a member of the royal
family in a region in India where one of the
first how to books to include poses, and a century
(03:43):
after that, the Maharajah invited a yoga teacher known for
his mastery of what was that asanas or poses, and
this particular teacher had begun teaching ashtanga yoga. Kristen, she's nodding.
It's a vigorous routine of flowing postures. So we're getting
into more with the focus on the physical instead of
um the rest of the other seven limbs of yoga,
(04:07):
which involves spirituality, breathing, enlightenment. And this method was eventually
passed on and evolved into the forms that we're used
to seeing today. Should we mention the what they ate
limbs of yoga are because I feel like this provides
the theoretical background of why people started doing yoga in
the first place, and then we'll explain how that relates
(04:29):
to the more gym and cardio fitness yoga that's so
popular today. So you have the yama which your first
the ethical standards of yoga, such as uh doing no
harm unto others in that crowded beak room classroom, Caroline
should not have elbowed anyone. Not okay, she's so accusatory.
(04:49):
Ni yama refers to the guidelines of self discipline, which
makes a lot of sense. It does take self discipline
for me to drag my behind and do yoga class.
Sometimes Asana, which are the poses, also refers to the
physical exercise of yoga, and then prana yama refers to
breath control, which is a means of linking the mind
and the body, going back to that sanscrit of union
(05:12):
or yog um. For instance, in the yoga that I take,
we practice j i E Breath, which sounds like you
are breathing harshly through your throat, sort of constricting your
your throat to have an audible breath, which you're supposed
to pay attention to to help keep you focused as
(05:33):
you move through all the exercises. And in the final
four are Pratyahara, do Ana, Diata, and Somebody. And I
know that my pronunciations are probably not quite spot on
for any yogi's out there and all of those involved
transcending the physical world concentration on one thing such as
an austina meditating on nothing at all, this comes up
(05:55):
a lot in yoga as well. You're you're clearing your
mind of anything except moving your body into these specific poses.
And then the somebody, which was the last one I mentioned,
refers to the ultimate goal of yoga, which is a
transcendental state of the self where you realize your interconnection
with the divine and living things. Yes, and I wonder
(06:19):
if Madonna feels the connection. I'm sure she does. She
is actually my friend Emily, who is a yoga genius
and she's been practicing and teaching forever. Uh, kind of
blamed Madonna or credited credited her as as However, you
look at it um with sort of helping yoga get
into the mainstream, because you know, she's pretty ripped and
and people tend to kind of idealize the yoga body,
(06:42):
like how live you can get and limber and everything,
and so yeah, my friend was talking about how in
the ninety nineties people started getting more involved with yoga
as a way to get in shape and lose weight,
and it sort of started to lose that spirituality aspect.
Right now, the most typical kind of yoga that we'll
see in the States is hatha yoga, which emphasizes the
(07:04):
asana and prana yama limbs of yoga, which are the
physical exercises combined with breathing control. And Caroline, It's interesting
you bring up Madonna because that celebrity yoga connection UM
is not a new thing. It didn't start in the
ninety nineties. It actually came from that Mysore Palace in
(07:27):
India where yoga really started to spread around um the
East and then coming over to the West. And one
teacher in particular named Indra Devi trained at that palace
and then she took her skills to Hollywood where she
recruited stars such as Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson, and Marilyn Monroe. Yeah,
there's a picture of Marilyn Monroe. What is it the
(07:49):
backbo Yeah, the bo pose. And supposedly Marilyn Monroe gave
credit to her yoga for her great legs. Interesting. Yeah, well,
so now we have power yoga where people flow quickly
from one move to the next, and bickram slash hot yoga,
which we talked about earlier, where the room is above
(08:10):
a hundred degrees and this is supposed to help you
limber up, loosen your muscles, and remove toxins faster. Or
if you're me, pass out. Did you pass out? Well?
I got really close two times. Because you can't eat
too much or too little. You've got to hit that
that very fine line before you go to hot yoga
and spent an hour in a really hot room or
(08:30):
ninety minutes as the case maybe. And uh, my last
time in hot yoga ever, I did it for several months.
Um it was a substitute teacher because my teacher was
out and this woman who was really really made for
the advanced classes came in and made us do all
this stuff and I almost passed out. I just halfway
through the class just rolled at my man left because
(08:51):
you shouldn't push yourself. You can hurt yourself. I've only
taken hot yoga once and it was a couple of
weeks ago, and I can completely identify with that. I
may get it through the class, but I definitely had
to sit out of a couple of exercises because it
was it was so intense that heat. Once there was
sort of a hump that I got over finally, but
(09:12):
then at one point I started to get chills, and
thankfully it was towards the end of the class. And uh, yeah,
is intense. Yeah, but one of the problems, I mean,
it's it can be enjoyable. I I enjoyed it, especially
when it was winter and I'd go spend an hour
in a in a hot room. But one of the
problems with it is that it does make you feel
(09:34):
like you're more limber than you are, and so it
is possible to overextend, which is one of the main
injuries is muscle over extension that yoga teachers see. And
even though Hatha and bakraum are two of the most
common ones that we'll hear about, there are some other
types of hatha yoga. A younger yoga, for instance, is
(09:55):
meant to practice postures or Austina's held for a long
ger period of time that focuses more on your alignment.
And then you can also take jiv amok to yoga,
which delves deeper into some of the more spiritual elements
of yoga, really focusing on that mind body union. Right,
this is my yoga voice. If you haven't noticed yoga
(10:17):
slash npr um, well, there are other benefits of yoga,
definitely besides just that that connection that you're talking about, Kristen,
this is a scary voice that I had, y old you,
old smoking grandmother exactly. They're one and the same. Um.
(10:37):
According to web m d and according to anyone who's
ever taken yoga for any length of time, the stretching
releases all that built up lactic acid that builds up
in your muscles and causes stiffness, stiffness and pain, and
breathing exercises can improve lung capacity and stimulate relaxation responses,
and you get this decrease in I'm sorry if I
butcher it catacholamines, which is the hormone produced by the
(11:01):
adrenal gland in response to stress, and so it also
lowers blood pressure and slows your heart rate. Right um.
A lot of times when you hear about yoga, these
kinds of health benefits are touted over and over and
over again. Um. In addition to what you mentioned, Caroline,
you're building, you know, the basic muscle strength. It can
ease constipation. There you go about that. You don't even
(11:24):
need yogurt for that, right um. And then it also
eases symptoms of chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, arthritis,
back pain. But one reason why research on the therapeutic
effects of yoga is still kind of thin is because
pharmaceutical companies fund a lot of clinical trials and they
(11:48):
don't have that huge of an interest in funding yoga trials.
Because you can't condense the effects of those autinas and
all of that Jai breath down into a pill exactly.
But the question is the question that we must get to,
the question everyone's minds, Caroline, is it safe? Is yoga safe?
(12:11):
Yoga is safe if you do it correctly and correctly
using quotes because it's different for everybody, and that sounds
like pretty much any type of exercise except maybe maybe
like slow walking. Um, you can still trip trip all
the time. I run into door frames. Nothing is safe
(12:32):
for me. There was one uh notable incident in college
when before class I went jogging, tripped, skinned not one,
but both of my knees, and then had to go
to class walking through the entire campus with two just bloodied,
heinous kneecaps. In high school one time I fell up
(12:52):
the stairs. So it's a miracle I make it through
daily life. Um, but but yoga though I still have not.
I haven't managed to skin my knees in yoga. So
am I am? I good to go? Well, there are
definitely some concerns that are a little bit deeper than
skinning knees, although I'm sure that's painful. According to a
(13:13):
New York Times article from January five, Yoga can wreck
your body. They're not asking if it can, but they're
telling you how it can. And it is scary. Yeah.
This is coming from a book published by a New
York Times reporter William J. Broad called The Science of
Yoga The Risks and Rewards. Now from the get go,
(13:34):
let us let us point out the fact that I
think William J. Broad, while he clearly did do his research,
he's got a little beef against yoga. He's got a
personal bone to pick with yoga because during an extended
side angle pose, which can be tough on your back,
you've got to ease into it. Basically, if you've never
taken yoga, think of an extended side angle is having
(13:57):
your your legs spread out and and just leaning over
really far to one side. And while doing this he
threw his back out because of a previous injury he had,
he had ruptured a disk in his lower back and
was actually taking yoga as a form of therapy for
his back side angled too hard and problem. According to
(14:22):
Glenn Black, who is a yoga teacher, that William Broad
talked to the vast majority of people should just give
it up, give up yoga. Altogether, because you are so
likely to hurt yourself that it's not even worth it.
On a side note, Um, when I first read this
article about Glenn Black, the yoga teacher, I kept reading
it as Glenn Beck and it it really got things
(14:44):
going off on a on a strange start in my brain. Um, Yes,
he thinks that Glenn Black, not Glenn Beck. Um ended
up undergoing spinal surgery because of sustained injury from practicing
yoga for number of decades, even though his specialty is
rehabilitating people who had sustained injuries from yoga. Yeah, he
(15:07):
underwent spinal surgery in after developing spinal stenosis. And it
sounds horrific. It's a condition in which the openings between
the vertebrae begin to narrow, compressing spinal nerves and causing
excruciating pain. And without treatment, he said he might have
actually lost the ability to walk. And when Broad asked him, Uh,
you know, do you think it's just aging, like maybe
(15:27):
you know your body is just worn down, your old man,
he said, Nope, it's yoga. Well. Black makes a good
point about why yoga might not be for everyone, because
it certainly takes a lot of core strength to move
your body down, up and sideways, um and twisting it
every which way. And he points out that the contemporary
(15:51):
body and how it basically sits in an office chair
all day long, it's not very well prepared to walk
into a yoga studio and grab your feet behind your
back and pull right. I am from years of sitting
in a desk chair at the newspaper, and even now, UM,
I still have hip flexibility problems. So when I take
(16:12):
pilates or something, I have to be really careful about
some of the poses and stretches I go into because
things start popping and I get this look on my
face and the teacher comes over. She's like, Oh my god,
are you okay like to worry about me. It's just
my hips. I'm a desk rat. It's fine, but yeah.
Black says that yoga is for people in good physical condition,
(16:32):
or it can be used therapeutically. It really shouldn't be
for a general class. And the whole issue that William J. Broad,
who wrote the book Science of Yoga, takes with how
yoga has been promoted is he says that there have
been documented injury reports in journals such as Neurology, the
British Medical Journal, and the Journal of the American Medical Association,
(16:56):
but they have been completely ignored by a yoga, famous
yogis and uh seminal books that have promoted yoga. For instance,
he quotes Swami gets Nanda, a yoga guru who made
ten world tours and has founded ashrams on several continents,
who said that real yoga is as safe as mother's milk,
(17:19):
to which William J. Broad would say, poisoned mother's milk. Yikes,
that is so intense. But yeah, I mean it's true.
It's it is safe and it is healthy, and I
mean I love yoga, but you can't if you do
it wrong, you can really hurt yourself. Well, let's point
out the specific kinds of injuries that William jay Broad
(17:43):
brings to light, such as yoga foot drop, which is
an unresponsive peripheral branch of the sciatic nerve deprived of oxygen,
deadening it in a certain pose called of as rosina,
which is when you are seed it with your shins
underneath you sort of like if if you kneel down
to prey, you would be in a vagasina, right. But
(18:06):
he's also this is also a case study of people
sitting in vagasina for a real long time. Yeah, that
one guy they were they were talking about had been
sitting in it for hours every day, like hours and hours.
And then they talked to a woman who, um, was
she doing a headstand and she either went into it
too hard, she just put too much weight on her
very delicate neck and ended up suffering a stroke afterward. Yeah,
(18:29):
the whole stroke issue, um might might raise the most
red flags with people because depending on the kind of
headstand as you mentioned and other poses, Uman, you can
reduce your blood flow to the basil or artery that
feeds different structures in your brain and can possibly induce
(18:49):
a stroke. Right broadsides two research by neurophysiologist W. Richie
Russell who said that some posts could cause strokes and
brain injuries could even occur from over extending the neck.
He said that extreme motions of the head and neck
could end up producing clots and swelling. And we're not
done yet. People who are now probably a little concerned
(19:13):
about their yoga class that they might be taking after
they lit in to this podcast. There are lower back
injuries that are commonly cited among yoga instructors, and this
is not surprising to me. There have been times when
I have gone into um a wheel posture, which is
basically a backbend, and thought to myself, Hey, you know what, Kristen,
you should not be in a backbend right now. Exactly
(19:36):
your back was not properly warmed up from it. Yeah.
Columbia Research team published a survey of yoga teachers, therapists,
and doctors in two thousand nine asking what were the
most serious yoga related injuries that they've seen. They sided,
like you said, lower back is number one, shoulder, knee, neck,
and then stroke came in very distant towards the end.
(19:57):
It's rare, but it's a risk. And yoga has become
more popular in the United States in recent years. There's
also been an uptick in the number of emergency room
visits caused by yoga injuries. Right according to the Consumer
Product Safety Commission in two thousand, there were thirteen such visits,
(20:17):
in two thousand one twenty, and in two thousand two
that number had risen to forty six. But if you
take a look at the combined e er and doctor's
room or doctor's office visits. This is from the Huffington's
post from two thousand seven, Kristen there were it's fifty
five hundred emergency room and doctor's office visits, which works
(20:40):
out to about three point five injuries for every ten
thousand yoga practitioners. And this is coming from a column
by doctor even Norlock Smith. And three point five out
of ten thousand practitioners. That might seem like some some
dicey odds, but then she says, well, hey, let's compare
that to golf thing injury, right, And injuries related to
(21:03):
golfing are three point nine out of every one thousand
golf players much more common to sustain an injury on
the greens than on your yoga mat, right, I mean
you're doing all that swing in with clubs and stuff,
and all that that dangerous golf cart driving recklessly around
the from T to t. Put the mint you look down. Um.
(21:28):
She also looked at weight training injuries and said that
between two thousand seven, nine hundred and seventy thousand people
went to the e er with weight training injuries. Oh
and that's that's not surprising to me at all, because
a lot of times with yoga, at least you have
an instructor, whereas with weight training, a lot of times
(21:48):
you will see some folks out there at the gym
who are just gung ho on their own, and some
iron exactly yeah and and and they don't monitor what
they're doing very well. I feel like there are a
lot of people who just yank the way it's up.
But it's funny that you say gung ho because my
friend Emily, who I talked about earlier, said that while
she thinks that yoga is for everyone, and you know,
(22:08):
here when she says for everyone, she's incorporating both the spirituality,
you know, and the breathing and the poses. Um, she
thinks that those gung home masochists, as she calls them,
should maybe find something else to do because they are
more likely to be pushing themselves to a dangerous level
in yoga. UM. And not only are there those types
(22:31):
of exercisers possibly more at risk for yoga injury, but
web MD also warrants that certain poses can put you
at greater at risk of bodily harm if you have
conditions such as severe osteoporosis, high or low blood pressure,
your problems, spine problems, and if you're pregnant. But I
(22:52):
know that there is there's there's yoga that you can
do while pregnant, but you probably just want to take
care of your body a little more, a little more carefully,
be a little more gentle with it. Um. And speaking
of the whole issue of instructors, one thing that broad
points out this is the guy who who wrote The
Science of Yoga points out is maybe these these injuries
(23:15):
could be mitigated if there was more regulation for who
could teach yoga right Broad rights in his book that
the field is on the whole completely unlicensed and unregulated.
He said, there's no such thing as a registered yoga therapist.
Applicants for registration usually face no requirements to establish their
education credentials, to pass national exams, or to show other
(23:38):
evidence of expert proficiency. But to me, you you can
determine whether or not you are, you know, being led
by a capable instructor. A lot of times, Um, the
yoga place that I go to has a number of
different instructors, but they're always emphasizing paying it to into
(24:00):
your own body, knowing your limits. It's referred to as
as your edge. You don't go beyond your edge. Some
days I can do a backbend. Some days I can't,
you know, And and sometimes your ego will get in
the way and say, hey, well I did a backbend
in the last class, I gotta do in this time
and next thing, you know, you have a lower back injury. UM.
Which is why in order to avoid being one of
(24:21):
those statistics, it's really important to uh take in a
beginner mindset, listen to your body, do the post that's
right for you, pay attention to instructors who will offer modifications. UM.
I think that's one one big sign of a good
yoga instructor. UM. And also again pick the right teacher
and the right approach. You don't have to go to
(24:44):
hot yoga and sweat buckets and maybe pass out right.
And there was one one of these articles that we
read talked about specifically talked about headstands. Things like headstands,
very advanced postes. You know, don't keep going to a
teacher if they're all you know, first class in a
beginner's class, at the beginning of the class, making you
do something like a headstand. And that made me think
(25:05):
of one of my hot yoga classes. One of the teachers, UM,
I would say, halfway through a ninety minute class. Yeah,
had us doing attempting headstands, and of course, you know,
there were people who were very experienced in the class
and they shot up no problem. But then there were
people like my friend and me who were you know,
rolling over, like falling off the wall. And and I
(25:26):
know of someone who goes to Bagram every morning Monday
through Friday, and that's incredible, And I wish I had
that kind of endurance and self discipline as well to
be able to do that, because it probably does feel
great to sweat out talks and every single morning, but
you have to know your own limits. And also for me,
I know that I that I can't wake up that
(25:47):
early and get my body moving. Um. But Sarah Miller
over at the All also took a pretty funny approach
to the whole uh yoga kerfuffle that started off at
the New York Times magazine, and she basically says that, yes,
you can get injured doing yoga, but you can also
get injured walking across the street. Yes, as I have,
(26:11):
I'm sure, but yes, she said that this whole hysteria
that's built up around hurting yourself in yoga is just
part of the whole You're gonna die hysteria. She blames
the New York Times for building stuff up like that. Oh,
that their health coverage is a little sensational. Yeah, exactly,
And she says that look, people do stupid things and
(26:31):
hurt themselves, citing the guy who sat on his heels
for hours every day who ended up getting a dead nerve.
She said, most people would not sit there for hours.
First of all, who has the time? That's true, um,
but it's it's another thing of the whole issue of
paying attention to your body. That might sound like some
kind of new ag mumbo jumbo. Listen to your body
(26:54):
and what it's telling you. Know, this is the same
reason why you will stretch out, but for you go
on a jog somewhere, or you know, you might not
want to sprint on concrete for excessive amounts of time
because then you might develop shin splints. I think it's
just because we are learning more about the um impact
(27:15):
of yoga and as more people are coming um into
the yoga fold and is becoming more of a standard
exercise for people. Um, it is important for us to
pay attention to these risks. But let's not let's not
blow the risks out of the water. If you're paying
attention to yourself and you have a good instructor, then
you can reap a lot of health benefits from it, right.
(27:38):
But one of those health benefits is not necessarily raising
your metabolism. You're not going to get super runner, weightlift
or fit doing yoga. And this is from Broad, William Broad,
who we talked about. The writer. He had a Q
and A with health Zone, which is a Canadian website,
and he said that that's a big myth that yoga
(27:58):
is good for losing weight. He says that it allows
how's your metabolism to lapse into a low lower state
of activity, which means that you burn fewer calories, but
you can't discount muscle tone though exactly. He does go
on to say that yoga does other things on a
psychological level that can help you to lose weight because
it builds discipline and helps break the stress eating cycle,
which just makes me think of cookie monster. Um. And
(28:19):
he points out that if you look at most yoga
teachers are obviously more live than lumpy his words, um
and yeah. He says that it does it obviously helps
flexibility and strengthening. But he says, the ultimate magic bullet
and modern fitness is aerobics and cardio stamina. So maybe
you you alternate. I mean, if if yoga releases all
of that lactic acid that might build up in your
(28:41):
muscles while you are on the treadmill or the elliptical
machine or whatever form of extracise cardio exercise suits to
the most, and maybe it's a nice complementary regimen exactly,
But don't um, don't go up in wheel pot, that's
my tegaway. Don't gopen wheel lush here if your back
is not ready to wheel. So combine your your cardio
(29:06):
with your yoga. But ladies and gentlemen, do not forget
to breathe. Because my friend Emily, the expert who I'm
going to keep citing because she's awesome, says that when
you realize that you're not breathing, it's actually a sign
that you've gone too far and should back off. And
so I think you should remember that and pay attention
to what your body is telling you. And also, Caroline,
if you forget to breathe, that you are abandoning the prana, yama, yoga,
(29:29):
g limb Oh my god, I'm sorry. And it's the
way that you link your mind and your body, so
certainly you must you must pay attention to the breathing.
And I know that some people will do yoga strictly
for fitness, but I gotta tell you all of the
the sort of calm yourself, know yourself, clear your mind
(29:51):
um aphorisms that are told out during my ninety minute
yoga classes. I totally eat those up. I love them.
It's my may time all right, now that I've geeked
out on yoga time to hear from similar listeners, what
do you think anyone who has sustained a yoga injury? Um,
who knows exactly what William J. Brought us talking about?
Let us know, also, yoga enthusiast um, yoga instructors out there.
(30:13):
If we have, um, you know, left anything out, let
us know. Mom Stuff at Discovery dot com is the
email address, and we've got a couple of emails here
in the meantime to share. And this one is coming
from our recent episode on whether or not gay households
are more egalitarian. And this is coming from Keith, who
(30:34):
lives with his partner and wanted to share his division
of household labor as far as healths work goes. We
found our niches. I take out the trash, pick up
all the rugs, chairs, etcetera. For Rosie the room BA
to vacuum clean the bathroom, wash the cats water fountain,
which is amazing. By the way, what is the catwater fountain?
I want to know? Um. And I also lot the floors.
(30:56):
He keeps the living room tidy, cleans the cat box. Okay,
that's all I can think of, So maybe we need
to evaluate to which I told Keith that cleaning out
the cat box should count as at least two chres. Yeah.
Well you know they sell those cat boxes that self rake,
oh like a hundred bucks. Um. But he says that
we do show dishwashing as we have no dishwasher, and
(31:17):
whoever cooks, the other person does the dishes, and we
alternate cooking with a few fend for yourself nights thrown in,
and we alternate lawnmowing responsibilities. I'm definitely the one who
nags when things aren't done when I want them done
to my specifications. Um. A great insight from your podcast,
because I think I can pick a fight where one
isn't needed. Great insight from your podcast, because I think
(31:40):
I can pick a fight when there is no need
for one. My advice we don't swept the small stuff
and give a copy to your housemate. So thanks Keith. Okay,
this is from Amanda about our Legos podcast. She said
that I have a three year old daughter who loves
her Legos. It's become a weekend tradition for her to
play Legos with my husband. Oftentimes, Hello Kitty and Mimi.
(32:01):
Hello Kitty's sister will fly around on their Space Shuttle,
lightsabers in hand to fight the bad guy astronaut who
kidnapped Mario. Peach doesn't get kidnapped Holy Mario. Afterward, they
love to go home to their Lego house, which has
a kitchen, bedroom, supercomputer room with lots of lovers, classroom,
and pet giraffe. I don't think that was in my
Paroddesus said. All of these except the giraffe and Mario
(32:23):
are Lego, and the most pink there is is in
the Hello Kitty House. I'm going to be speaking to
a group of teachers and training at my local university
about encouraging females in the stem fields and plan to
bring several of my daughter's toys plush white and red
blood cells, foam multi sided dice, and her Lego space shuttle.
My daughter loves the color purple and does do more
role playing with her toys than her male cousin of
(32:43):
the same age. But I think that making sure you
put thought into what toys you let your children, male
or female have, is the best way to encourage them
in the right direction. Thank you, Amanda. Yes, indeed, thanks
to a man It and Keith and everyone who has
written in mom Stuff at Discovery dot com. This where
you can send your letters. You can also find us
on Facebook, Like us, leave a comment there, and follow
(33:07):
us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast. And you can
read how Yoga Works by the delightful Molly Edmonds at
how stuff works dot com. Be sure to check out
our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how
stup Work staff as we explore the most promising and
(33:27):
perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The house stuf Works iPhone app
has a ride. Download it today on iTunes, brought to
you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready,
are you
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff Mom never told you?
From house stuffworks dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline, And maybe we should start
(00:22):
the soft Caroline where it's inhaling. Oh not significate microphoe.
I'm sorry, Sorry, it's deeply inhaling. We're talking about yoga today,
and I thought of doing this topic while in yoga
class last weekend. I was Caroline and I had been
(00:42):
emailing back and forth about what to talk about in
the next week the coming week's podcast, and as I
was in a downward dog, it hit me, Hey, why
don't you talk about yoga. Yeah. There's actually been a
lot in the news lately about how, oh my god,
yoga is gonna kill you. You can really hurt yourself,
(01:03):
and I've kind of skimmed those articles and I've been
a little skeptical. Just uh, I mean, I agree that
you could probably hurt yourself. I have taken yoga classes
where I've been pushed a little too far by some
over zealous instructors. So yeah, you can definitely get some
over extension problems. Um. But before we get into the
dangers of yoga and why yoga is suddenly making headlines,
(01:28):
let's talk a little bit about what yoga is exactly
and how it became popular in the United States. Because
popular it is. Indeed, um thanks Madonna. Yes, thanks to
partially to Madonna. Around fifteen point eight million Americans practice
yoga as of two thousand eight. That number may now
be closer to twenty million as of two thousand eleven.
(01:52):
And with all of that yoga ng it is now
a six billion dollar industry, which is not surprising if
you go into a store like Lulaman, which is the
quintessential yoga supply store, because yoga pants and fensa, yoga tops,
and yoga towels. I need a yoga towel, for instance.
It is take like a hand towel. You can take
(02:14):
a hand towel to yoga. But I'm talking about when,
especially if you take Bikram or hot yoga, which I
have done, you gotta have a towel and take the
whole beach towel. Yeah, but there are these special towels
that specially wick away your special yoga sweat for a
special price of like two thousand dollars. Yeah, and I
think all you said there were what twenty million people
(02:36):
who do yoga, Yes, I think all of them were
in my hot yoga class. When I took it for
a couple of months, it was crowded, a little crowded.
There was there was one of those half off coupons.
People flocked to it. You can tell how angry all
the regulars were. I stuck with it for a while
until I almost died. That's why we're talking about this
yoga as it's probably known that it is an ancient
(02:57):
tradition from India and first mentioned in a text called
the Vadas just five thousand years old. And the word
yoga comes from the sandscript for union or yolk, and
that union implied is the joining of the mind and body.
(03:20):
And a lot of these these yoga tenants were orally
passed down. They weren't written down, so so we don't
really know when the poses got more of the focus. Yes,
but in the nineteenth century, a member of the royal
family in a region in India where one of the
first how to books to include poses, and a century
(03:43):
after that, the Maharajah invited a yoga teacher known for
his mastery of what was that asanas or poses, and
this particular teacher had begun teaching ashtanga yoga. Kristen, she's nodding.
It's a vigorous routine of flowing postures. So we're getting
into more with the focus on the physical instead of
um the rest of the other seven limbs of yoga,
(04:07):
which involves spirituality, breathing, enlightenment. And this method was eventually
passed on and evolved into the forms that we're used
to seeing today. Should we mention the what they ate
limbs of yoga are because I feel like this provides
the theoretical background of why people started doing yoga in
the first place, and then we'll explain how that relates
(04:29):
to the more gym and cardio fitness yoga that's so
popular today. So you have the yama which your first
the ethical standards of yoga, such as uh doing no
harm unto others in that crowded beak room classroom, Caroline
should not have elbowed anyone. Not okay, she's so accusatory.
(04:49):
Ni yama refers to the guidelines of self discipline, which
makes a lot of sense. It does take self discipline
for me to drag my behind and do yoga class.
Sometimes Asana, which are the poses, also refers to the
physical exercise of yoga, and then prana yama refers to
breath control, which is a means of linking the mind
and the body, going back to that sanscrit of union
(05:12):
or yog um. For instance, in the yoga that I take,
we practice j i E Breath, which sounds like you
are breathing harshly through your throat, sort of constricting your
your throat to have an audible breath, which you're supposed
to pay attention to to help keep you focused as
(05:33):
you move through all the exercises. And in the final
four are Pratyahara, do Ana, Diata, and Somebody. And I
know that my pronunciations are probably not quite spot on
for any yogi's out there and all of those involved
transcending the physical world concentration on one thing such as
an austina meditating on nothing at all, this comes up
(05:55):
a lot in yoga as well. You're you're clearing your
mind of anything except moving your body into these specific poses.
And then the somebody, which was the last one I mentioned,
refers to the ultimate goal of yoga, which is a
transcendental state of the self where you realize your interconnection
with the divine and living things. Yes, and I wonder
(06:19):
if Madonna feels the connection. I'm sure she does. She
is actually my friend Emily, who is a yoga genius
and she's been practicing and teaching forever. Uh, kind of
blamed Madonna or credited credited her as as However, you
look at it um with sort of helping yoga get
into the mainstream, because you know, she's pretty ripped and
and people tend to kind of idealize the yoga body,
(06:42):
like how live you can get and limber and everything,
and so yeah, my friend was talking about how in
the ninety nineties people started getting more involved with yoga
as a way to get in shape and lose weight,
and it sort of started to lose that spirituality aspect.
Right now, the most typical kind of yoga that we'll
see in the States is hatha yoga, which emphasizes the
(07:04):
asana and prana yama limbs of yoga, which are the
physical exercises combined with breathing control. And Caroline, It's interesting
you bring up Madonna because that celebrity yoga connection UM
is not a new thing. It didn't start in the
ninety nineties. It actually came from that Mysore Palace in
(07:27):
India where yoga really started to spread around um the
East and then coming over to the West. And one
teacher in particular named Indra Devi trained at that palace
and then she took her skills to Hollywood where she
recruited stars such as Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson, and Marilyn Monroe. Yeah,
there's a picture of Marilyn Monroe. What is it the
(07:49):
backbo Yeah, the bo pose. And supposedly Marilyn Monroe gave
credit to her yoga for her great legs. Interesting. Yeah, well,
so now we have power yoga where people flow quickly
from one move to the next, and bickram slash hot yoga,
which we talked about earlier, where the room is above
(08:10):
a hundred degrees and this is supposed to help you
limber up, loosen your muscles, and remove toxins faster. Or
if you're me, pass out. Did you pass out? Well?
I got really close two times. Because you can't eat
too much or too little. You've got to hit that
that very fine line before you go to hot yoga
and spent an hour in a really hot room or
(08:30):
ninety minutes as the case maybe. And uh, my last
time in hot yoga ever, I did it for several months.
Um it was a substitute teacher because my teacher was
out and this woman who was really really made for
the advanced classes came in and made us do all
this stuff and I almost passed out. I just halfway
through the class just rolled at my man left because
(08:51):
you shouldn't push yourself. You can hurt yourself. I've only
taken hot yoga once and it was a couple of
weeks ago, and I can completely identify with that. I
may get it through the class, but I definitely had
to sit out of a couple of exercises because it
was it was so intense that heat. Once there was
sort of a hump that I got over finally, but
(09:12):
then at one point I started to get chills, and
thankfully it was towards the end of the class. And uh, yeah,
is intense. Yeah, but one of the problems, I mean,
it's it can be enjoyable. I I enjoyed it, especially
when it was winter and I'd go spend an hour
in a in a hot room. But one of the
problems with it is that it does make you feel
(09:34):
like you're more limber than you are, and so it
is possible to overextend, which is one of the main
injuries is muscle over extension that yoga teachers see. And
even though Hatha and bakraum are two of the most
common ones that we'll hear about, there are some other
types of hatha yoga. A younger yoga, for instance, is
(09:55):
meant to practice postures or Austina's held for a long
ger period of time that focuses more on your alignment.
And then you can also take jiv amok to yoga,
which delves deeper into some of the more spiritual elements
of yoga, really focusing on that mind body union. Right,
this is my yoga voice. If you haven't noticed yoga
(10:17):
slash npr um, well, there are other benefits of yoga,
definitely besides just that that connection that you're talking about, Kristen,
this is a scary voice that I had, y old you,
old smoking grandmother exactly. They're one and the same. Um.
(10:37):
According to web m d and according to anyone who's
ever taken yoga for any length of time, the stretching
releases all that built up lactic acid that builds up
in your muscles and causes stiffness, stiffness and pain, and
breathing exercises can improve lung capacity and stimulate relaxation responses,
and you get this decrease in I'm sorry if I
butcher it catacholamines, which is the hormone produced by the
(11:01):
adrenal gland in response to stress, and so it also
lowers blood pressure and slows your heart rate. Right um.
A lot of times when you hear about yoga, these
kinds of health benefits are touted over and over and
over again. Um. In addition to what you mentioned, Caroline,
you're building, you know, the basic muscle strength. It can
ease constipation. There you go about that. You don't even
(11:24):
need yogurt for that, right um. And then it also
eases symptoms of chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, arthritis,
back pain. But one reason why research on the therapeutic
effects of yoga is still kind of thin is because
pharmaceutical companies fund a lot of clinical trials and they
(11:48):
don't have that huge of an interest in funding yoga trials.
Because you can't condense the effects of those autinas and
all of that Jai breath down into a pill exactly.
But the question is the question that we must get to,
the question everyone's minds, Caroline, is it safe? Is yoga safe?
(12:11):
Yoga is safe if you do it correctly and correctly
using quotes because it's different for everybody, and that sounds
like pretty much any type of exercise except maybe maybe
like slow walking. Um, you can still trip trip all
the time. I run into door frames. Nothing is safe
(12:32):
for me. There was one uh notable incident in college
when before class I went jogging, tripped, skinned not one,
but both of my knees, and then had to go
to class walking through the entire campus with two just bloodied,
heinous kneecaps. In high school one time I fell up
(12:52):
the stairs. So it's a miracle I make it through
daily life. Um, but but yoga though I still have not.
I haven't managed to skin my knees in yoga. So
am I am? I good to go? Well, there are
definitely some concerns that are a little bit deeper than
skinning knees, although I'm sure that's painful. According to a
(13:13):
New York Times article from January five, Yoga can wreck
your body. They're not asking if it can, but they're
telling you how it can. And it is scary. Yeah.
This is coming from a book published by a New
York Times reporter William J. Broad called The Science of
Yoga The Risks and Rewards. Now from the get go,
(13:34):
let us let us point out the fact that I
think William J. Broad, while he clearly did do his research,
he's got a little beef against yoga. He's got a
personal bone to pick with yoga because during an extended
side angle pose, which can be tough on your back,
you've got to ease into it. Basically, if you've never
taken yoga, think of an extended side angle is having
(13:57):
your your legs spread out and and just leaning over
really far to one side. And while doing this he
threw his back out because of a previous injury he had,
he had ruptured a disk in his lower back and
was actually taking yoga as a form of therapy for
his back side angled too hard and problem. According to
(14:22):
Glenn Black, who is a yoga teacher, that William Broad
talked to the vast majority of people should just give
it up, give up yoga. Altogether, because you are so
likely to hurt yourself that it's not even worth it.
On a side note, Um, when I first read this
article about Glenn Black, the yoga teacher, I kept reading
it as Glenn Beck and it it really got things
(14:44):
going off on a on a strange start in my brain. Um, Yes,
he thinks that Glenn Black, not Glenn Beck. Um ended
up undergoing spinal surgery because of sustained injury from practicing
yoga for number of decades, even though his specialty is
rehabilitating people who had sustained injuries from yoga. Yeah, he
(15:07):
underwent spinal surgery in after developing spinal stenosis. And it
sounds horrific. It's a condition in which the openings between
the vertebrae begin to narrow, compressing spinal nerves and causing
excruciating pain. And without treatment, he said he might have
actually lost the ability to walk. And when Broad asked him, Uh,
you know, do you think it's just aging, like maybe
(15:27):
you know your body is just worn down, your old man,
he said, Nope, it's yoga. Well. Black makes a good
point about why yoga might not be for everyone, because
it certainly takes a lot of core strength to move
your body down, up and sideways, um and twisting it
every which way. And he points out that the contemporary
(15:51):
body and how it basically sits in an office chair
all day long, it's not very well prepared to walk
into a yoga studio and grab your feet behind your
back and pull right. I am from years of sitting
in a desk chair at the newspaper, and even now, UM,
I still have hip flexibility problems. So when I take
(16:12):
pilates or something, I have to be really careful about
some of the poses and stretches I go into because
things start popping and I get this look on my
face and the teacher comes over. She's like, Oh my god,
are you okay like to worry about me. It's just
my hips. I'm a desk rat. It's fine, but yeah.
Black says that yoga is for people in good physical condition,
(16:32):
or it can be used therapeutically. It really shouldn't be
for a general class. And the whole issue that William J. Broad,
who wrote the book Science of Yoga, takes with how
yoga has been promoted is he says that there have
been documented injury reports in journals such as Neurology, the
British Medical Journal, and the Journal of the American Medical Association,
(16:56):
but they have been completely ignored by a yoga, famous
yogis and uh seminal books that have promoted yoga. For instance,
he quotes Swami gets Nanda, a yoga guru who made
ten world tours and has founded ashrams on several continents,
who said that real yoga is as safe as mother's milk,
(17:19):
to which William J. Broad would say, poisoned mother's milk. Yikes,
that is so intense. But yeah, I mean it's true.
It's it is safe and it is healthy, and I
mean I love yoga, but you can't if you do
it wrong, you can really hurt yourself. Well, let's point
out the specific kinds of injuries that William jay Broad
(17:43):
brings to light, such as yoga foot drop, which is
an unresponsive peripheral branch of the sciatic nerve deprived of oxygen,
deadening it in a certain pose called of as rosina,
which is when you are seed it with your shins
underneath you sort of like if if you kneel down
to prey, you would be in a vagasina, right. But
(18:06):
he's also this is also a case study of people
sitting in vagasina for a real long time. Yeah, that
one guy they were they were talking about had been
sitting in it for hours every day, like hours and hours.
And then they talked to a woman who, um, was
she doing a headstand and she either went into it
too hard, she just put too much weight on her
very delicate neck and ended up suffering a stroke afterward. Yeah,
(18:29):
the whole stroke issue, um might might raise the most
red flags with people because depending on the kind of
headstand as you mentioned and other poses, Uman, you can
reduce your blood flow to the basil or artery that
feeds different structures in your brain and can possibly induce
(18:49):
a stroke. Right broadsides two research by neurophysiologist W. Richie
Russell who said that some posts could cause strokes and
brain injuries could even occur from over extending the neck.
He said that extreme motions of the head and neck
could end up producing clots and swelling. And we're not
done yet. People who are now probably a little concerned
(19:13):
about their yoga class that they might be taking after
they lit in to this podcast. There are lower back
injuries that are commonly cited among yoga instructors, and this
is not surprising to me. There have been times when
I have gone into um a wheel posture, which is
basically a backbend, and thought to myself, Hey, you know what, Kristen,
you should not be in a backbend right now. Exactly
(19:36):
your back was not properly warmed up from it. Yeah.
Columbia Research team published a survey of yoga teachers, therapists,
and doctors in two thousand nine asking what were the
most serious yoga related injuries that they've seen. They sided,
like you said, lower back is number one, shoulder, knee, neck,
and then stroke came in very distant towards the end.
(19:57):
It's rare, but it's a risk. And yoga has become
more popular in the United States in recent years. There's
also been an uptick in the number of emergency room
visits caused by yoga injuries. Right according to the Consumer
Product Safety Commission in two thousand, there were thirteen such visits,
(20:17):
in two thousand one twenty, and in two thousand two
that number had risen to forty six. But if you
take a look at the combined e er and doctor's
room or doctor's office visits. This is from the Huffington's
post from two thousand seven, Kristen there were it's fifty
five hundred emergency room and doctor's office visits, which works
(20:40):
out to about three point five injuries for every ten
thousand yoga practitioners. And this is coming from a column
by doctor even Norlock Smith. And three point five out
of ten thousand practitioners. That might seem like some some
dicey odds, but then she says, well, hey, let's compare
that to golf thing injury, right, And injuries related to
(21:03):
golfing are three point nine out of every one thousand
golf players much more common to sustain an injury on
the greens than on your yoga mat, right, I mean
you're doing all that swing in with clubs and stuff,
and all that that dangerous golf cart driving recklessly around
the from T to t. Put the mint you look down. Um.
(21:28):
She also looked at weight training injuries and said that
between two thousand seven, nine hundred and seventy thousand people
went to the e er with weight training injuries. Oh
and that's that's not surprising to me at all, because
a lot of times with yoga, at least you have
an instructor, whereas with weight training, a lot of times
(21:48):
you will see some folks out there at the gym
who are just gung ho on their own, and some
iron exactly yeah and and and they don't monitor what
they're doing very well. I feel like there are a
lot of people who just yank the way it's up.
But it's funny that you say gung ho because my
friend Emily, who I talked about earlier, said that while
she thinks that yoga is for everyone, and you know,
(22:08):
here when she says for everyone, she's incorporating both the spirituality,
you know, and the breathing and the poses. Um, she
thinks that those gung home masochists, as she calls them,
should maybe find something else to do because they are
more likely to be pushing themselves to a dangerous level
in yoga. UM. And not only are there those types
(22:31):
of exercisers possibly more at risk for yoga injury, but
web MD also warrants that certain poses can put you
at greater at risk of bodily harm if you have
conditions such as severe osteoporosis, high or low blood pressure,
your problems, spine problems, and if you're pregnant. But I
(22:52):
know that there is there's there's yoga that you can
do while pregnant, but you probably just want to take
care of your body a little more, a little more carefully,
be a little more gentle with it. Um. And speaking
of the whole issue of instructors, one thing that broad
points out this is the guy who who wrote The
Science of Yoga points out is maybe these these injuries
(23:15):
could be mitigated if there was more regulation for who
could teach yoga right Broad rights in his book that
the field is on the whole completely unlicensed and unregulated.
He said, there's no such thing as a registered yoga therapist.
Applicants for registration usually face no requirements to establish their
education credentials, to pass national exams, or to show other
(23:38):
evidence of expert proficiency. But to me, you you can
determine whether or not you are, you know, being led
by a capable instructor. A lot of times, Um, the
yoga place that I go to has a number of
different instructors, but they're always emphasizing paying it to into
(24:00):
your own body, knowing your limits. It's referred to as
as your edge. You don't go beyond your edge. Some
days I can do a backbend. Some days I can't,
you know, And and sometimes your ego will get in
the way and say, hey, well I did a backbend
in the last class, I gotta do in this time
and next thing, you know, you have a lower back injury. UM.
Which is why in order to avoid being one of
(24:21):
those statistics, it's really important to uh take in a
beginner mindset, listen to your body, do the post that's
right for you, pay attention to instructors who will offer modifications. UM.
I think that's one one big sign of a good
yoga instructor. UM. And also again pick the right teacher
and the right approach. You don't have to go to
(24:44):
hot yoga and sweat buckets and maybe pass out right.
And there was one one of these articles that we
read talked about specifically talked about headstands. Things like headstands,
very advanced postes. You know, don't keep going to a
teacher if they're all you know, first class in a
beginner's class, at the beginning of the class, making you
do something like a headstand. And that made me think
(25:05):
of one of my hot yoga classes. One of the teachers, UM,
I would say, halfway through a ninety minute class. Yeah,
had us doing attempting headstands, and of course, you know,
there were people who were very experienced in the class
and they shot up no problem. But then there were
people like my friend and me who were you know,
rolling over, like falling off the wall. And and I
(25:26):
know of someone who goes to Bagram every morning Monday
through Friday, and that's incredible, And I wish I had
that kind of endurance and self discipline as well to
be able to do that, because it probably does feel
great to sweat out talks and every single morning, but
you have to know your own limits. And also for me,
I know that I that I can't wake up that
(25:47):
early and get my body moving. Um. But Sarah Miller
over at the All also took a pretty funny approach
to the whole uh yoga kerfuffle that started off at
the New York Times magazine, and she basically says that, yes,
you can get injured doing yoga, but you can also
get injured walking across the street. Yes, as I have,
(26:11):
I'm sure, but yes, she said that this whole hysteria
that's built up around hurting yourself in yoga is just
part of the whole You're gonna die hysteria. She blames
the New York Times for building stuff up like that. Oh,
that their health coverage is a little sensational. Yeah, exactly,
And she says that look, people do stupid things and
(26:31):
hurt themselves, citing the guy who sat on his heels
for hours every day who ended up getting a dead nerve.
She said, most people would not sit there for hours.
First of all, who has the time? That's true, um,
but it's it's another thing of the whole issue of
paying attention to your body. That might sound like some
kind of new ag mumbo jumbo. Listen to your body
(26:54):
and what it's telling you. Know, this is the same
reason why you will stretch out, but for you go
on a jog somewhere, or you know, you might not
want to sprint on concrete for excessive amounts of time
because then you might develop shin splints. I think it's
just because we are learning more about the um impact
(27:15):
of yoga and as more people are coming um into
the yoga fold and is becoming more of a standard
exercise for people. Um, it is important for us to
pay attention to these risks. But let's not let's not
blow the risks out of the water. If you're paying
attention to yourself and you have a good instructor, then
you can reap a lot of health benefits from it, right.
(27:38):
But one of those health benefits is not necessarily raising
your metabolism. You're not going to get super runner, weightlift
or fit doing yoga. And this is from Broad, William Broad,
who we talked about. The writer. He had a Q
and A with health Zone, which is a Canadian website,
and he said that that's a big myth that yoga
(27:58):
is good for losing weight. He says that it allows
how's your metabolism to lapse into a low lower state
of activity, which means that you burn fewer calories, but
you can't discount muscle tone though exactly. He does go
on to say that yoga does other things on a
psychological level that can help you to lose weight because
it builds discipline and helps break the stress eating cycle,
which just makes me think of cookie monster. Um. And
(28:19):
he points out that if you look at most yoga
teachers are obviously more live than lumpy his words, um
and yeah. He says that it does it obviously helps
flexibility and strengthening. But he says, the ultimate magic bullet
and modern fitness is aerobics and cardio stamina. So maybe
you you alternate. I mean, if if yoga releases all
of that lactic acid that might build up in your
(28:41):
muscles while you are on the treadmill or the elliptical
machine or whatever form of extracise cardio exercise suits to
the most, and maybe it's a nice complementary regimen exactly,
But don't um, don't go up in wheel pot, that's
my tegaway. Don't gopen wheel lush here if your back
is not ready to wheel. So combine your your cardio
(29:06):
with your yoga. But ladies and gentlemen, do not forget
to breathe. Because my friend Emily, the expert who I'm
going to keep citing because she's awesome, says that when
you realize that you're not breathing, it's actually a sign
that you've gone too far and should back off. And
so I think you should remember that and pay attention
to what your body is telling you. And also, Caroline,
if you forget to breathe, that you are abandoning the prana, yama, yoga,
(29:29):
g limb Oh my god, I'm sorry. And it's the
way that you link your mind and your body, so
certainly you must you must pay attention to the breathing.
And I know that some people will do yoga strictly
for fitness, but I gotta tell you all of the
the sort of calm yourself, know yourself, clear your mind
(29:51):
um aphorisms that are told out during my ninety minute
yoga classes. I totally eat those up. I love them.
It's my may time all right, now that I've geeked
out on yoga time to hear from similar listeners, what
do you think anyone who has sustained a yoga injury? Um,
who knows exactly what William J. Brought us talking about?
Let us know, also, yoga enthusiast um, yoga instructors out there.
(30:13):
If we have, um, you know, left anything out, let
us know. Mom Stuff at Discovery dot com is the
email address, and we've got a couple of emails here
in the meantime to share. And this one is coming
from our recent episode on whether or not gay households
are more egalitarian. And this is coming from Keith, who
(30:34):
lives with his partner and wanted to share his division
of household labor as far as healths work goes. We
found our niches. I take out the trash, pick up
all the rugs, chairs, etcetera. For Rosie the room BA
to vacuum clean the bathroom, wash the cats water fountain,
which is amazing. By the way, what is the catwater fountain?
I want to know? Um. And I also lot the floors.
(30:56):
He keeps the living room tidy, cleans the cat box. Okay,
that's all I can think of, So maybe we need
to evaluate to which I told Keith that cleaning out
the cat box should count as at least two chres. Yeah.
Well you know they sell those cat boxes that self rake,
oh like a hundred bucks. Um. But he says that
we do show dishwashing as we have no dishwasher, and
(31:17):
whoever cooks, the other person does the dishes, and we
alternate cooking with a few fend for yourself nights thrown in,
and we alternate lawnmowing responsibilities. I'm definitely the one who
nags when things aren't done when I want them done
to my specifications. Um. A great insight from your podcast,
because I think I can pick a fight where one
isn't needed. Great insight from your podcast, because I think
(31:40):
I can pick a fight when there is no need
for one. My advice we don't swept the small stuff
and give a copy to your housemate. So thanks Keith. Okay,
this is from Amanda about our Legos podcast. She said
that I have a three year old daughter who loves
her Legos. It's become a weekend tradition for her to
play Legos with my husband. Oftentimes, Hello Kitty and Mimi.
(32:01):
Hello Kitty's sister will fly around on their Space Shuttle,
lightsabers in hand to fight the bad guy astronaut who
kidnapped Mario. Peach doesn't get kidnapped Holy Mario. Afterward, they
love to go home to their Lego house, which has
a kitchen, bedroom, supercomputer room with lots of lovers, classroom,
and pet giraffe. I don't think that was in my
Paroddesus said. All of these except the giraffe and Mario
(32:23):
are Lego, and the most pink there is is in
the Hello Kitty House. I'm going to be speaking to
a group of teachers and training at my local university
about encouraging females in the stem fields and plan to
bring several of my daughter's toys plush white and red
blood cells, foam multi sided dice, and her Lego space shuttle.
My daughter loves the color purple and does do more
role playing with her toys than her male cousin of
(32:43):
the same age. But I think that making sure you
put thought into what toys you let your children, male
or female have, is the best way to encourage them
in the right direction. Thank you, Amanda. Yes, indeed, thanks
to a man It and Keith and everyone who has
written in mom Stuff at Discovery dot com. This where
you can send your letters. You can also find us
on Facebook, Like us, leave a comment there, and follow
(33:07):
us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast. And you can
read how Yoga Works by the delightful Molly Edmonds at
how stuff works dot com. Be sure to check out
our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how
stup Work staff as we explore the most promising and
(33:27):
perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The house stuf Works iPhone app
has a ride. Download it today on iTunes, brought to
you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready,
are you
Stuff Mom Never Told You News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Samantha McVey
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.