Yoga and the Neck

[Robert V]

http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/472_1.cfm

http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/786_1.cfm

http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/481_1.cfm

http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/479_1.cfm

http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/480_1.cfm

The poses in the above articles are the main asanas that target the cervical spine. Absent is "the nose to floor" bridge. Even the headstand, which is rarely practiced anymore, has 90-95% of your bodyweight on your shoulders and forearms, not your cervical spine.

In Light on Yoga, Iyengar's famous book published in 1966, he displayed many "far out" poses as demonstrations, not practice. He says he now regrets showing movements like the "nose to floor" brigde".

One of my teachers, Bryan Kests, says "There is no reason to do headstand or anything that compresses the cervical spine". He also says, "Just because it's a yoga pose, it doesn't mean that it is good for you." He believes the shoulderstand gives you all the benefits and is safer.

Please read the above articles carefully and notice the caution with the cervical spine.

I believe the Fish, Plow, shoulderstand and neck rolls will satisfy your needs. And if you do wish to practice headstand, remember where the weight is...and is not!

I'm a former wrestler and one who did my share of bridges. I am also one of the ones that suffered from them later in life. It wasn't until I began "neck rolling" did I heal myself. I don't think everyone will suffer as I did, but why take the chance when there are safe alternatives.

[James Boelter]

Just because it's a yoga pose,doesn't mean it's good for you.

Truer words have seldom been spoke. I remember being a little put off when a yoga teacher said essentially that same thing during a private lesson where I was trying to get some remedial physical therapy assessment and help for some knee and elbow problems. It's easy to get all wrapped up in the mythos and mystery of Eastern systems and suppose them to be infallible and the answer to all your health and fitness problems...when the fact is that plenty of Indians have gotten hurt and injured doing yoga poses which were not suitable for them, or pushing themselves too hard in a challenging pose.

My favorite quote from Jean Couch (author of the well known 'Runner's World Yoga Book'): "If I stretched the way most people stretch, I would get injured too."

Robert,

I would like to point out a few things about Headstands and Furey-style bridging that may help put the apparent extremity of the behavior into a proper perspective.

Most people who practice yoga or hard qi gong do not realize the purpose of their actions anymore. This makes their actions hazardous because they are often missing key prerequisites and also don't know when to stop.

Yoga and hard qi gong are part of the "form-based" school of spiritual cultivation where one takes the view that they can speed the liberation of the mind via the training of their physical form. If this seems too abstract, keep in mind that Scott Sonnon teaching Body-Flow to purge the practitioner of fear-reactivity is probably the most recent incarnation of the "form-based" school. Basically, Coach Sonnon recognizes the body's role in chaining the mind into an experience he dubs fear-reactivity and then comes up with an ever-evolving solution to this bondage that he has christened CST.

I have also found it to be the most effective in this day-and-age and forum readers will know that I consequently plugged it on my website:

www.prostatesecrets.com/newsletter8.asp

Anyway, headstands and nose-to-mat bridging hail from the world of hard qi gong and yoga. Their purpose was to prepare the body for certain spiritual states. Yogis and hard qi gong adepts always practiced sexual restraint so as to ensure that their spines where full of cerebral spinal fluid to protect themselves. I realize that such an assertion is subject to a lot of contention by the scientific community and that those who are overly attached to their experiences of sexual pleasure will quickly accuse me of spouting nonsense and superstition. Unfortunately I cannot easily defend a position that is best proven via experience. 8)

So, headstands and extreme bridging within the proper context help to open up the sutures in the skull which fuse at a very young age--amongst other things. For many people on a "spiritual" path, such accomplishments are a very desirable form of "Body Flow." I know that they were invaluable for me on my path, however I agree with Coach Sonnon that for most people they are just low-yield, dangerous practices. I for one have permanently altered my own body from doing certain practices from what I am calling the "form-based" school of spiritual cultivation and I regret them on a certain level. :cry:

I can only warn those who follow in my footsteps that not everything you see a Shaolin monk doing is a smart move! LOL

In light of all this, one could make a very strong argument that Furey is irresponsible for teaching these neck exercises outside of their proper place. Especially when Furey advocates sitting in a nose-to-mat bridge for 30 minutes with a 200 pound man on the chest. Like I said in the beginning of this post, you have to know when to quit.

For example, once you get a certain result you stop. You don't do the exercise just for the sake of the exercise, or add on competitive "more is better" bullshit. Many hard qi gong adepts lead short and unenlightened lives.

Such is the danger inherent to the form-based path of spiritual cultivation: the danger that we will end up setting our sights on how many swipes and mills we could do instead of how much fun we could have. Luckily Coach Sonnon is a big advocate of skateboarding in old age :P and going out and DOING something with his life besides endless competition and money-making. You yourself Robert are also a fine example of someone who LIVES his life with pleasure and purpose.

I post this only to give a proper perspective to extreme practices so that they don't get filed away in a drawer marked "useless" just because someone didn't see the whole picture.

Even poison used correctly can be medicine.

[James Boelter]

Excellent post! Those are essentially the thoughts I had about the subject, but you put them much more cogently and coherently than I could.

Glad I could be of service! :D

[JasonE]

I can only warn those who follow in my footsteps that not everything you see a Shaolin monk doing is a smart move! LOL

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!

Much of what they do on tour is mere showmanship anyway. It takes a certain level of skill, but most of it is little more than the "magic" performed by the likes of David Copperfield.

Taking a kick to the groin, for example... I learned that on my own and have (years later) had kung fu instructors confirm that my technique was/is correct. There's no "mastery" involved, just some simple biomechanical principles that give visually impressive results with little effort involved.

Heck, I've taught people how to take kicks to the groin in 20 minutes. With a quick study like most of you, I could probably teach it in 10.

Aaaahh, never mind, it has no practical value unless you want to wow the rubes at a demo. Any fool that tries it in a fight deserves what he gets.

[Robert V]

SheepishLord,

We all thank you for your wonderful insight. "Nothing is useless" is a very valuable phrase. "Everything in moderation" is also.

Robert