Reclining Big Toe Pose

Yes, I agree Liz. I am a new teacher and have found these explanations of the poses and the contraindications to be extremely helpful! It's hard to remember everything I was taught during my training so this site is so great in refreshing my memory and to know if there is anything in particular I should pay attention to while building my sequences for a level 1 class.

Yoga is always about you and your body - so as long as you pay attention to it you'll be great!

This is in response to Alice's comment:

It seems to me that those contraindications are listed more as a reminder for teachers to consider when building a sequence for class than as a warning to persons with the condition.

It's wonderful that you have the body awareness to control your condition with healthy lifestyle choices and self-monitoring. We all have our challenges- I'm sure even the YJ models have injuries and conditions that necessitate their body awareness and use of caution and moderation in certain poses.

Kudos to you for your commitment to yoga. Remember the Second Agreement: Don't take anything personally.

I've been reading your magazine off and on for many years now, and have enjoyed much of it. However, I do have a major problem with one aspect. In your pose presentations you have a simple section for "contraindications." This sounds sensible, but doesn't help much.

I have high blood pressure, ever since I moved to high altitude. It is controlled by medication, diet and yoga. In the past my teacher (a long time Sivananda devotee) told me that most poses, including headstand, should be ok as long as hbp is controlled, just watch for anything you shouldn't be experiencing, such as light headedness, etc

However, in your contraindications you list almost every yoga pose there is, with no explanations about why. I'd like to know - what makes seated spinal twist off limits? I've never had any problems with this, or fish, or sholderstand, etc. It's at the point where I just don't read these articles anymore because they are extremely annoying and not enlightening at all.

How about some intelligent precautions, some mention of slowly and safely integrating these poses, of how you will know you are experiencing adverse effects, etc? I have read comments from others about this topic, but you have merely brushed them off with no thought at all. How rude, I thought.

Either give us some useful information or just forget it. This is one reason I have stopped reading your magazine often. That, and you might as well be reading any other slick advertising rag. I see no value in Fit Yoga magazine, but I LOVE Yoga and Joyful Living. Truthfully, I might have loved it more when it was simply Yoga International, and I think I liked Yoga Journal much more 20+ years ago.

Yoga Journal does have much of value to offer, but please address the issue of the contraindications lists. Give me some in-depth, intelligent information, or stop annoying me. As it is, it's almost as if you're trying to get me to stop doing any yoga at all, like if I'm not one of your Barbie type models I just shouldn't be doing yoga anyway. Sorry, I won't quit, it's too beneficial - even downward dog.

Thanks for your attention. alice