 Hey tribe of journey man and women today. I have a cup of coffee I invite you to join me as well and grab one as we're gonna talk for a bit about Yoga and why it sucks as you can see in the title unless I decided to make a different title on the go that happens too I'm gonna take you by the way by the lake. We're gonna sit down and just talk about the whole thing so The reason I first of all Allow myself to talk about yoga is because I've been practicing yoga for quite a while First of all, I was teaching yoga For about I think ten years So for about ten years if you can hear me here Actively and then for I studied it for even longer. I started actively learning yoga when I was When I moved to Switzerland to a martial arts less spiritual school in 2008 I dabbled in meditation and yoga before but in the spiritual school I was practicing yoga for at least three days per week sometimes more often. They were big seminars And eventually I got my certification. I became a yoga instructor myself Went through the whole, you know learning everything I can about it Stage went to India Spent there a month traveling talking to monks and learning more about yoga. So Any kind of long story short I've been down the rabbit hole of yoga for quite a while But the unfortunate site to this whole aspect is by the way, this is this is where we're gonna sit This is kind of cool, huh? so The unfortunate aspect to this whole story is that eventually I started to realize That yoga is not what most people Make it seem to be and that's what this video is gonna be about. So let's get us a cup of coffee And let's get started about the subject so First of all when I Was never like super passionate about yoga myself. I mean Wasn't I'd never felt like yoga was my calling But when I was living in Switzerland in the martial arts spiritual school when I decided to teach yoga Actually, I didn't really actually decide to teach yoga. I decided to open my Aikido school and My instructor he suggested for me to Also become a yoga instructor, which I was already practicing Because he said if I will open a martial arts school, which also has a yoga program It's gonna be easier to sustain and that was true But then I decided I'm a kind of person that if I do something I want to do really well I really devote myself Entirely to it. So so that's what I did I started reading all the books about yoga and learning all the asana the names and whatnot, but but I always felt like there was kind of a Doubt in me. I never felt like I really know everything and although I completed the certification like I had to go through a number of checklist, you know, the names know the philosophy, you know No, the breathing techniques explain the meditation explain the four different types of yoga, which is no back to yoga jnana yoga and Raja yoga and one more it's been a while since I thought about that and I don't want to waste your time by Trying to remember. Anyway, I went through that the whole thing, but when I would teach I would always feel like there's something missing in me and Despite the fact that I I was teaching in Switzerland once in a while. We were like a bunch of instructors rotating and I I would teach some times I would I wouldn't feel very confident. I guess also because I compared it to my martial arts practice Which I was kind of owning, you know, I would I kiddo the martial art? I did I I went Nuts about it for years and years and so I felt like I was excelling at it and yoga was kind of I felt like it was Left behind although I was investing a lot of time into it and despite that the fact that I finished the certification And I knew exactly like I knew all the things I needed to know based on list It was like a long list that things some of the acute Sorry, some of the yoga instructors don't even know that much as much as the list asked me to know I especially about the philosophical side of yoga, you know, I meet sometimes yoga instructors who Who are completely just physical and if you ask them about You know, what Roger yoga is or what a stanga really means most of them don't know I'm not a sitting most of them, but there's a bunch of them who just don't know so the their knowledge is even more limited So I felt like I know a bit more than some of the yoga instructors I would sometimes meet But still when I went back to Lithuania and I started teaching yoga in my own professional school people enjoyed it I started gathering more and more people and And and and some people really loved it like I had a whole core group But all the time I had this nagging feeling that there's something missing And I think it was more than intuitive feeling because I wasn't sure what that is But with time I started to realize the answer and the answer was kind of shocking to be honest So the pivotal point for me, I guess was when I picked up a book I read it in my native tongue So I don't know the exact name in English, but it was something like yoga myths and science behind it or whatever I'm gonna edit this video and you're gonna see that you're probably seeing right now the image of that picture It's a really really great book which I highly recommend for anyone not only who's teaching yoga, but also for anyone who's interested to even Who's just practicing yoga because what the book reveals and and the great aspect of it is it's written by a Journalist like a high-profile journalist. I think he won the poetry was poetry's prize So he knows what he's doing and he went on to investigate because yoga you know became such a big thing in the world these days it's it's I guess it's Made I don't know what the situation is right now But even like a few years ago was like a fashion statement to do yoga and to wear yoga pants And you know that whole part of crazy culture of yoga, which I think kind of went to the wrong direction But but it's it became so big. It's just everywhere. It's on every corner and it's popular To train yoga and he decided to dig into it and kind of ask a few questions So for example, one of the questions he asked is How do we know? That whatever yoga instructors are teaching that it's true or how do they know and He went through the scientific way, which is the way I really appreciate, you know, he went on to To examine everything like what's where where do you always because like the thing is and something that the book really made me think about Was that when you take a yoga book? Actually, it's too bad. I'm not at home right now I would take a yoga book and show an example maybe at the end of it at the end Or in the editing section ways I'll show it to you, but then you open up the book and You read what which asana does and sometimes such pure Nonsense, you know, it's just like it's make-up beliefs. There's nothing behind it Like like like the question I think he asked basically is where do you where does the knowledge of what are the benefits of yoga come from? And he really goes deep to explore the subject and he pretty much proves that a Lot of it comes from just because some guys and yoga guru decided that it's that way And then the knowledge is passed on from hands to hands and because I personally leave especially in the more traditional yoga or kind of more spiritual yoga there's a there's a Belief in the in the Indian culture the spiritual culture culture, which I'm familiar with as well One of the parts is you never question your guru Like you always trust your guru I think that's kind of how it's said and which kind of shows you that you know the guru knows the answers and that it's almost like a hierarchy high arc could call and So you worship the guru and then you believe whatever he says and you don't question it You don't doubt it don't research where his knowledge comes from and that leads in your complete belief in what he said Which a lot of times it's just pure nonsense and passing on to others and others believe in you because you're the guy and or the yoga woman and And a lot of nonsense gets passed around Now the issue with that a huge huge issue is because yoga. It's not just like a makeup belief You know already I'm quite against a lot of the spiritual moments because I think they are dangerous and they do you mess up with your They can mess up with your psyche They can mess up with your belief system and and they can make you lost and confused but that being said though With yoga it's even worse because it's a pure on at least especially the yoga which is popularized in the West or in the whole world, which is hatha yoga the physical aspect of it the asanas and breathing techniques, I guess but it's It's a physical aspect meaning you're doing physical moments, which can really fuck up with your health and That's huge. I mean you can traumatize yourself with yoga and and something that the book really addresses really well, too is that Is that there are a lot of documented cases where people really fuck up their bodies with With kind of the regular yoga that was done and and one of the myths like turbanist that he He brought up is that there used to be at least a saying that yoga is like a cure for all. I Think the precise specific saying was that yoga is as safe as a mother's breast milk Which is this like it just makes me mad. I'm like fucking Dastards, you know, they're passing around this this stupid idea that there's no danger in yoga It's all safe and that passed on belief led to some yogis or some aspiring yogis to Perform some asanas for like really long time because it's all safe and they would like fuck up their neck You know like like vertebras spying their vertebras of the neck or or do some other terrible shit to their bodies like like permanent fucking damage And I think that kind of knowledge was there a bit in the back of my mind already Like actually when I look back at my learning period of yoga when I lived in the in the Marsh large-slash yoga school for for those three years I would some of my my friends that I spent time with in the community They were really some of them were more invested in yoga than I was and they were reading those books And we're always talking about that and there was one book which is specifically Talked about I anger yoga and you know, this is I'm just you know Let's let's let's agree that the fact that for me It's kind of hearsay, you know somebody read a book that he told me about so don't take this like you know for 100% pure fact But just the concept of its of itself My friend was telling me that she was reading a book about some top level I anger Instructors, and if you don't know I anger that's like one of the main known Yoga schools or styles based based on I anger. That's the guy's surname. I guess or spilt your name. I'm not sure anyway, so She she read that book where some of his top instructors eventually Left him because they they started to realize that their bodies are getting traumatized They're they're injuring their bodies because they're pushing themselves too much and it's kind of a you know Or nothing game and they left it and started their own style, which is much softer and much more kind of you know basically smarter and And for me, I think that that those stories like that they somewhere in the back of my mind. They they they got stuck and They were sticking around and I was thinking so how do I know that I'm not you know pushing my yoga and The same degree I'm really grateful that the yoga style that I was Learning and if you can ask it's it's one it wasn't like a specific name of the style I had a bunch of teachers and they're all teaching there the best of what they had so there was no specific name besides hatha yoga But the general direction the general vibe And culture of the yoga was learning was very much Listen to your body You know, it's just like feel your limitations Listen to your body if it's if there's pain, which it's it's a belief I still have up to this day And that's part a part of my learning that I appreciate if there's a if there's a sensation of pain. That's the body telling you This is not working for you. I mean this is it's a seek It's the body seeking attention giving you a sign like you have to change something address this this place Don't push it anymore Thing is not all all yoga schools are like that There's some yoga schools where you're you know doing your best and you're you're not flexible and you're trying and some Instructure comes in and you know real-life story and he starts to push you like like like pretty hard He's like, oh, I'm gonna help you and and it's like fucking motherfucker You know, it's like it's like fucker That person of course. Well, okay, he doesn't know what he doesn't know. Okay, let's call Jesus here But mother fucker because the thing is you don't know What traumas that person is bringing with him? You don't know that maybe there's there's something messed up in his spine and you're pushing him They're like mother fucker leave the person alone But that's part of the culture of that yoga school, you know The instructor feels like he's Almighty God and he knows everything and he goes around pushing people Into places and giving pressure where maybe he shouldn't Unless you're really good and you know what you're doing exactly and you know that person and you know his his backstory of his physical You know shit, but the thing is that that was not the case there by no means The the yoga school that I'm thinking that right now. I have in my mind that that that was like a bunch of lunatics Who would have them some religious spiritual crazy beliefs and but their yoga the physical side of it was was really poor Couldn't you know compared to what I think you should know if you want to teach yoga and And just coming back to my story again and reflecting about my learning period. There were some things that was wasn't really Taking myself either like I wasn't like I had some skepticism there and part of it was You know because the the the culture that I grew up the over culture that I grew up in a Lot of it was about listening to your body and you know Whatever stretch feels good kind of trusting that that's the stretch your body needs and and and for me it proved to be right I Valued that part, but there was also the other side which I think you know some of the yoga instructors that I learned from They still had some old-school stuff in them and and you know I'm doing some yoga posture and I'm feeling like oh this is like It's I kind of would a little bit shift it based on myself I would do some gram like it's not like a traditional yoga pose, but it just feels so good I'm like I'm just stretching exactly what I need. This is awesome and that part helped me Like I had a fucked up body from training like single crew from dag and bozi long story a different video But yeah, and yoga help me But but an instructor yoga instructor would come come to me like not all of them But some of them would come in there like oh you're doing this posture wrong. I'm like What do you mean wrong and they're like well You have to you know keep your back straight and do like this and like this. I'm like, but this is feels awesome Why the heck should I do like that that feel like shit to me? I'm like no no That's the way you do it and that kind of dogmatic belief. I'm like So so do I listen to my body or do I just do? Exactly like what you tell me this without regard to what feels good And I was confused and that that also brought in more confusion But which created doubt in me as a teacher I think because it wasn't really clear and I think that's kind of again one of the mistakes and faults that yoga instructors do you is That you know the the the the learn They learned the knowledge of this is specifically exactly what you need to do This is the right way to do the portion This is wrong way to do the posture But the thing is sometimes the wrong way to do the posture It's not because there's some scientific backup proof where like oh this is actually really bad for you But it's just because you don't do it No, it's it's we don't do it this way. This is wrong And that's you know, that's like a poor poor Source of knowledge. That's a poor decision-making system to not do it just because You know somebody told you not to do this way you need to know exactly why not I think in yoga There's too many places where you're like oh don't do like this dude like this. Why well because you know It's bad like this like this and how do you know that? Well, I read it in the book. You know, that's the honest answer. How does the book know about that? Well, I don't know and it's like fucking a You know, all right, so a few more things here. I have under my sleeve So I had all those doubts, right? I'm kind of jumping in between, you know time frame It's a bit like I guess a movie, you know, we're like, oh, you're right right right now in this time frame And now you're in this time frame, so but I'm sure you're with me so So I had all those doubts accumulated from my own learning and then I get the book Really good book really out eye-opening and there's a lot a couple more things in the book Which which really made me think and we consider like so so what the fuck can I teaching? And yeah, so just learning that, you know, yoga is not all safe safe and there's nothing bad about it But there's there's actually Traumas and I met some people myself who were hardcore yogis and they fucked up their bodies It's just gonna be one of my students which helped me actually teach yoga Sometimes she was sometimes covering for me. She's like super flexible and etc etc, but she she had bad bad spine problems eventually, but because That's the yoga. She that's because of the yoga the way she learned it was all about pushing yourself like hardcore Stupid but just in general kind of reflecting about that whole World of yoga that's that's what makes me frustrated And that's what you know the part which actually makes me even more frustrated frustrated is looking at my own back story, you know because the the reason I was I Had doubts intuitively they were legit. They were proper good doubts I was doubting myself as a yoga instructor because in the back of my mind I realized I don't really know what I know. I don't really understand this even although my yoga instructors You know gave me the certificate and said, oh, you're good You're good to teach but their way of understanding yoga was was false It was faulty and and they gave me an approval where it shouldn't have been given And you know, I go back to Lithuania and I have those doubts But I also I have that confirmation that you're good to go You know what you need to know which I think is part of the shit with yoga programs in general Like there are some scientific science-based yoga courses for instructors Which I I don't you know, I never investigated deeply them, but that would be my go-to. I'd be like, you know go and learn this Damn, you know go learn some science But most of the programs that I bumped into and I think that are really common around the world are either teach you a bunch of past-around nonsense knowledge mixed with some spiritual religious beliefs and With some characteristics like like you need to talk Need to like well, you know, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about just kind of you know presenting learning the Guru style image and that's what you learn and then they give you a certificate after a month and they're like, oh, you're good to teach And this is so fucked up and the author of the book also addresses that which I think is one of the core Things which is really like a valuable message that he presented. I'm just not sure if that's being listened to enough He said that you know basically because you're you're working with people's bodies you're you're you're in a risk Factor environment where where you can mess up people's health That's already proven by enough enough you know cases That's if you take a side example of let's say Just medicine in general or a chiropractors or you know Surgeons whatever whoever people who are working with the body in intelligent countries. They need to be legit You know, they need to prove that they know their stuff Because they can mess up with your health as well and in in well-developed countries You can't just go for a month course of something something like acupuncture or whatever and then you know go and Heal everyone with your fucked-up knowledge but But we only can You know if the doctor but the thing is a doctor needs a degree and he needs to go You know for legit schools and get the legit certification Which really proves that he's he knows what he's doing and and and you know, you can trust him He has the right aspect of His education expertise Which which allows him to make his practice same should happen with yoga Now you can't just Like there's there because you can mess up with people's health teaching yoga It's a really legit factor that you should that there should be some institution in the world That they're in the country that that should check you like do you really know your stuff? Not only if you know the anatomy, but do you know like, you know How the body works and and do you understand difficult different types of traumas and how to really help them It's your source of knowledge legit and I can assure you That if such an institution would exist and they would go around and check yoga instructors I'm like I'll be bold here, but I wouldn't be surprised if I would be right I'd say 80% of yoga instructors probably go down They would have to re-educate themselves and the education should be you know at least a year two years free Or something like really intense Because you're basically playing a doctor Now you can and I think the thing is yoga is a bit in the mix It's kind of like it's a bit spiritual and blah blah blah, and then maybe that helps it cover It's like it's kind of woo-woo. So might as well. They do some stuff by themselves, but the thing is a big part of it is Messing up with your physical condition and if you don't know what you're really doing and most cases most yoga instructors don't It's dangerous And if you're a yoga instructor you should think about that If you're a yoga practitioner you should question your yoga instructor and again, I'm not saying you know This the title is why yoga sucks. I'm not saying all yoga sucks But I'm saying a lot of yoga that I bumped into traveling the world sucks because the source of knowledge is Is is a false one and then that leads everything down the drain And again To be fair yoga can be a wonderful practice. It can be really healing like part of my body I would be in trouble if I wouldn't be using yoga if I wouldn't have you know practiced yoga But luckily I was taught a yoga which was respecting the body at least a certain degree But that also begs me to come back a bit to my own story and to kind of question myself Because you know, I read the book. I had doubts initially. I read the book and I realized holy crap I don't know anything and this is a dangerous game and nobody told me that and They should have by the way But then and but then the thing is for many times like a lot of times I thought about not teaching yoga anymore, but people kept encouraging me my students were like, no, please teach We really love your yoga my former partner. She was like still teach yoga, you know It's like also finances and whatnot, but I just became very cautious I was like holy crap, you know, I need to be really careful and so I started teaching really like yoga You know or only doing the exercises I knew what they're about and I had a better source of knowledge about them But still even when I did that I felt like so much of the information is missing And if I really wanted to be a good yoga instructor, I knew that I would have to devote myself To the science part of it and just you know do it forever like for a long time And because that was never like my huge inspiration As I said, you know, I didn't teach yoga out of passion or a calling. It just kind of Fell into place. I never really dove into that direction I would read some articles and I would learn some information just to make sure, you know I'm not fucking up with people's bodies I would really always stress that you know listen to your body Don't do what doesn't feel right and I would ask people about their traumas But I admit, you know, I was never really qualified to be a proper yoga instructor So I kind of let myself off the hook a little bit I'm like I take it easy on myself because I was super cautious But still to be honest, I shouldn't have taught yoga at all If we're looking at proper standards and safety It's just crazy because I did I don't have any stories of, you know, my students having any bad time So again, I feel good about that but in all honesty, you know Holy crap