The Truth About Yoga, Flexibility, & Mobility Training – Table of Contents – Click on Title to Navigate Directly to Each Section 1. Article Overview | High Level Summary 2. Origins of Modern Yoga| Foundational History 3. Not All Yoga Is Created Equal 4. The Good, Bad, & Ugly of Yoga 5. Recommendations Based on Above Findings 6. Extreme & Improper Movement Do Exist 7. A Realistic Look at Yoga Injuries 8. Yoga as Exercise and Caloric Expenditure 9. Physicians vs. Researchers 10. Narrowing It Down – Making Sense of it all 11. Boundaries of Movement Explained 12. Personal Recommendations 13. Eccentric Isometrics Examples & Yoga Alternatives 14. What about Increasing Mobility and Flexibility? 15. End Range Training & False Assumptions 16. What About PAILS, RAILS & FRC 17. From Chronic to Acute Injuries 18. Personal Findings 19. My Final Suggestions Regarding Yoga 20. Quick List to determine if your yoga instructor is up to snuff 21. The Path Forward 22. Fear Mongering or Thoughtful Admonishments 23. Final Points On Proper Movement, Flexibility & ROM 24. References Overview Several months ago, I posted a quick write-up on social media about the potential damage that could be caused by extreme yoga movements, flexibility training, mobility drills or any other form of training, including strength training (e.g. ass-to-grass squats), that involves extreme range of motion and pushing one’s mobility boundaries to the limit. While I knew this would inevitably trigger outrage amongst various practitioners, particularly those who advocate extreme mobility, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of positive comments I received from not only from many trainers and fitness enthusiasts but also many yoga practitioners. In fact, I had many yoga teachers and enthusiasts send me emails, messages, and comments expressing how strongly they agreed with my post. Such divergent responses amongst yoga practitioners, trainers, and fitness enthusiasts alike was quite fascinating, prompting me to research this topic further. This article will highlight my research findings and what I believe to be the truth about yoga, flexibility training, mobility drills, and “range of motion” topics, supported by scientific research, observational data, and my own experiential findings. With that said the topic of yoga will be more heavily emphasized in this article as doing so will inevitably shed greater light on the topics of flexibility, mobility, and “range of motion”. Origins of Modern Yoga To understand current methods and practice of modern yoga we must first have a brief understanding of its origins. Although the exact chronology of yoga is not fully known, it appears that yoga dates back at least several thousand years, and was introduced in various regions of India and Asia as a form of meditation, enlightenment, consciousness, and spiritual practice [1, 2]. Additionally, it is thought that exercise and the typical body positions (asanas) we currently associate with modern yoga, played little to no part with the ancient practice of yoga. Instead, ancient yoga emphasized the philosophical, meditative, and spiritual practices of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. In fact, up until the last century, asanas and even standing positions were not central to any form of yoga despite the many different forms of yoga that evolved over the millennia. Furthermore, yoga as a form of exercise was relatively nonexistent prior to the 1920s – 1950s which is when postures from Hatha yoga began to be blended with gymnastic exercises, and what we now know as Modern Yoga was popularized, eventually making its way into Hollywood circles in the 1960’s. Simply put, most forms of “modern” exercise-yoga were not developed based on the original tenets of ancient yoga practice nor were they developed based on the fundamental elements of kinesiology such as neuromuscular physiology, biomechanics, functional anatomy, or structural muscular physiology. Instead, these forms of yoga appear to have evolved through the somewhat haphazard, rather than deliberate, application of various forms of physical activity and exercise to an ancient concept that was designed primarily for meditative purposes, not physical activity. So yes, to say that modern yoga, as we know it, was developed as a fitness fad is not farfetched. If, in fact, we in the fitness industry wanted to be fair to the ancient practice of yoga and attempt to preserve it’s historical origins, it would be considerate of us to re-label what are “modern yoga” methods and give it a different name that has nothing to do with the ancient practice of yoga. That being said, does this suggest that all modern yoga training methods are flawed? Of course not. However, it does highlight the fact that many of the positions and poses currently used are not based on the ancient practices they originated from, nor are they grounded in the foundational elements of the science of movement and biomechanics previously mentioned. As a consequence, it’s easy to see that what many of the current modern yoga practices offer is a mixed bag of training methods and results. Not All Yoga Is Created Equal Examining the origins of yoga and its evolution it is clear there are many different forms of yoga that differ significantly from each other both in terms of intensity as well as body positions. As I made quite clear in my original post on social media, when I recommend individuals refrain from certain poses or forms of training, I’m obviously not referring to “all” forms of yoga. What I’m referring to are the extreme positions oftentimes practiced in modern yoga that have become more and more commonplace over the years. The same goes for other forms of training, be it Pilates, mobility drills, flexibility poses, strength training, gymnastics, or dance etc. Any form of training that emphasizes extreme range of motion, excessive mobility, over-flexibility, or contortionistic movements with exaggerated positions are movements that trainers, therapists, and practitioners should be careful when teaching and, in fact, in most cases should avoid. Now, this inevitably leads to some important questions such as, “is there truly such a thing as excessive ROM?”, and if so “what
