I love an interesting read, especially one that I know is going to rile the yogini bloggers up, and boy did this ruffle some feathers.
After reading some of the crap that people did and then wondered why they were hurt didn't surprise me because really...why do the sides of coffee cups need to remind us it's hot. It's coffee, it better be hot!
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5. This article is actually more about how no one should go to a bad yoga teacher, but, you know, who would want to read an article about that? This article focuses on Glenn Black, a yoga teacher whose own injuries forced him to evaluate both the teaching and practice of yoga. He mentions “teachers jumping on people, pushing and pulling and saying, 'You should be able to do this by now.'” Well. I don’t want to go to class with any of these people either, but the existence of bad yoga teachers comes neither as a surprise to me nor some sort of proof that the practice itself is flawed. I have never been shocked to come across bad teachers, bad policemen, bad psychologists (are there any good ones? Please let me know), bad dry cleaners or bad restaurants. I’d rather go to a bad yoga class than a bad restaurant. At least you can take a nap. There’s a way to avoid doing stuff you don’t want to do in class, and it’s called 'having boundaries.' If your yoga teacher looks like they might jump on you—and whimsical hair style, body odor and overuse of the word "magic" would all be danger signs—approach them before class and ask which side of the room is for people who dislike being jumped on. - written by Sarah Miller for the AWL
Anyways, total common sense right?
So there I was 2 weeks ago at a sampler Cardio Tennis class. By sampler I mean they, the program heads, were seeing if this class would be something they could offer to the gym members down the line and we were the guinea pigs. I was geeked because I havent taken a cardio class since I had to give up my gym membership, and god have I missed cardio gym classes, in particular Zumba!
Anyways, I knew within 10 minutes (because the first 5 were warm-ups) that we hadn't been properly warmed up and my calf was already yelling at me. So basically for the next 30 minutes, I keep pushing it because god knows I AM NOT GOING TO BE THE ONE THAT WIMPS OUT (even though we were all visually dying) I wasn't going to be the first one to yell MERCY! and finally it happened...a sharp pain, maybe popping, I can't remember because the only thing that was running through my head is...OH FUCK, I BETTER NOT HAVE GOTTEN INJURED BECAUSE OF THIS SHIT!
True story: so at this point I'm told to walk it out..which I can't because I can't straighten out my calf, and yeah...now I feel stupid. Like really stupid because everyone thinks I'm this undertrained pussy which might not be half wrong but I'm the only one who got hurt and goddamn if this ruins my running plans...I will sue someones ass! oh, but what I'm really mad about is that I knew better and didn't do a goddamn thing about it.
It took my calf a week before I could run on it again...A WEEK!
Anyone else do something stupid when you knew better?
my whole life is a series of events that i should have known better. Be nice to your calf ! I hope you are feeling better!
ReplyDeleteyup...it's been two weeks now but boy oh boy was I pissed!
DeleteI tend to speak my mind and not care if someone thinks I'm a wimp,but that's a newer phenomenon in my life. When I was younger I might have stayed and risked injury rather than embarrassment. I had to "break up" with my last trainer who wanted me to do things that were not just out of my comfort zone but downright dangerous.
ReplyDeleteHa, I think that's the norm. Let's see, the calendar says that I've run 464 days in a row, should I not run today because of this little twinge????
ReplyDeleteI've seen this kind of the Beck calls ego in the article. Everyone else seems to be able to do a pose easily, like a shoulder stand (which eludes me still after three years) and you think if only I pushed a bit hard I could do this pose and not be so noticable as the only one in the room that can't do it...
ReplyDeleteSometimes being heavy helps me. You see, when I do yoga or running or anything people are just so thrilled that I compete and complete that all success is celebrated. If I say I can't/won't/don't want to do a pose people respect me thinking that I perhaps couldn't do it anyways. When someone walks into a room looking very fit there is more pressure to keep up in a way that I don't feel.... or at least that's how it looks to me.
That's actually a fair assessment, I do feel like there is some extra pressure put on me when I'm in classes with people that I know, who know I'm fairly active. So stupid...
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