The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards (43 page)

43
won the 2009 Nobel Prize:
Nicholas Wade, “3 Americans Share Nobel for Medicine,”
New York Times
, October 5, 2009, Section A, p. 12.

43
youthful telomeres of a thirty-year-old:
Elizabeth H. Blackburn, “Telomeres and Telomerase: The Means to the End,” Nobel Lecture, December 7, 2009. Blackburn was one of three winners of the 2009 Nobel Prize.

43
slow the biological clock:
Thea Singer,
Stress Less: The New Science That Shows Women How to Rejuvenate the Body and the Mind
(New York: Hudson Street Press, 2010), pp. xviii–xix, 29–62. For a skeptical look at the science of Telomere evaluation; see Mitch Leslie, “Are Telomere Tests Ready for Prime Time?”
Science,
April 22, 2011, pp. 414–15.

44
a longtime devotee of yoga:
Judith Lasater, “Yoga and Your Heart,”
Yoga Journal
, September–October 1989, pp. 13–15.

44
proclaiming them a first:
Dean Ornish, Jue Lin, Jennifer Daubenmier, et al., “Increased Telomerase Activity and Comprehensive Lifestyle Changes: A Pilot Study,”
Lancet Oncology
, vol. 9, no. 11 (November 2008), pp. 1048–57.

45
“live to be well over 100 years”:
Joan Budilovsky and Eve Adamson,
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Yoga
, 3rd ed. (Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2003), p. 10.

45
“lent credibility”:
Georg Feuerstein,
Sacred Paths: Essays on Wisdom, Love, and Mystical Realization
(Burdett, NY: Larson Publications, 1991), p. 50.

II: Fit Perfection

47
hundreds of yoga centers:
Email, Ainslie Faust, director of communications, Bikram’s Yoga College of India, International Headquarters, Los Angeles, July 17, 2010. “About 500 and many more illegal,” she said of the number of studios globally. This is less than a third of the 1,700 studios that Bikram Choudhury claims on the jacket of his book
Bikram Yoga: The Guru Behind Hot Yoga Shows the Way to Radiant Health and Personal Fulfillment
(New York: HarperCollins, 2007). What accounts for the discrepancy is unclear.

47
calls it his torture chamber:
Ibid., pp. 67, 73–74, 76, 96, 215.

47
“So many Americans”:
Ibid., p. 45.

48
“Bogus yoga”:
Ibid., pp. 61–67.

48
portrays his own style:
Ibid., p. 5.

50
“My classes are so hard”:
Quoted in Nancy Keates, “Is Yoga Just Posing as a Good Workout?”
Wall Street Journal
, November 17, 2007, Section W, p. 1.

50
was seen as urgent:
Gina Kolata,
Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth About Exercise and Health
(New York: Picador, 2004), pp. 36–39.

50
vital capacity:
Guy Montrose Whipple,
Manual of Mental and Physical Tests
(Baltimore: Warwick & York, 1910), pp. 70–74.

51
“increasing the vital index”:
Anonymous (but clearly J. G. Gune), “The Rationale of Yogic Poses,”
Yoga Mimansa
, vol. 3, no. 2 (April 1928), second impression, January 1931, pp. 121–26.

51
an English physiologist:
Anonymous, “Archibald V. Hill: Biography,” The Nobel Foundation, nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1922/hill-bio.html.

52
an abiding personal interest:
David R. Bassett, Jr., “Scientific Contributions of A. V. Hill: Exercise Physiology Pioneer,”
Journal of Applied Physiology
, vol. 93 (November 2002), pp. 1567–82.

52
In pioneering reports:
For a review, see David R. Bassett, Jr., and Edward T. Howley, “Limiting Factors for Maximum Oxygen Uptake and Determinants of Endurance Performance,”
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
, vol. 32, no. 1 (January 2000), pp. 70–84.

52
the single most important factor:
Benjamin D. Levine, “VO
₂
Max: What Do We Know, and What Do We Still Need to Know,”
Journal of Physiology
, vol. 586, no. 1 (January 1, 2008), pp. 25–34.

53
twice that of untrained individuals:
Joe Warpeha, “Limitation of Maximal Oxygen Consumption: The Holy Grail of Exercise Physiology or Fool’s Gold?”
Professionalization of Exercise Physiology—online
, vol. 6, no. 9 (September 2003).

53
could raise VO
₂
max:
Jay Hoffman,
Physiological Aspects of Sport Training and Performance
(Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2002), p. 111.

53
Cooper came along:
Kolata,
Ultimate Fitness
, pp. 25–29, 45–46.

53
the best cardiovascular workout:
Kenneth H. Cooper,
Aerobics
(New York: Bantam, 1968), pp. 15–26.

54
reduced the prevalence:
Jane E. Brody, “You Name It, and Exercise Helps It,”
New York Times
, April 29, 2008, Section F, p. 7.

54
“the single thing”:
Quoted in Jonathan Shaw, “The Deadliest Sin,”
Harvard Magazine
, March–April 2004, pp. 36–43, 98–99.

54
at least three vigorous exercise sessions:
Lisa K. Lloyd, “Are You Ready to Exercise?”
Fit Society Page
, American College of Sports Medicine, Summer 2001, p. 1.

54
at least five sessions:
William L. Haskell, I-Min Lee, Russell R. Pate, et al., “Physical Activity and Public Health: Updated Recommendation for Adults from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association,”
Circulation
, vol. 116, no. 9 (August 28, 2007), pp. 1081–93.

54
the President’s Council
:
Anonymous, “Fitness Fundamentals: Guidelines for Personal Exercise Programs,” The President’s Council on Physical Fitness, undated,
www.fitness.gov/fitness.htm.

54
“reducing cardiovascular diseases”:
Anonymous, “Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases,” World Health Organization, WHO Technical Report No. 916, 2003, pp. 62–63.

55
quibble over the amounts:
Kolata,
Ultimate Fitness
, pp. 51–72.

55
carefully examined several activities:
Cooper,
Aerobics
, pp. 15–26.

56
published in 1989:
James A. Blumenthal, Charles F. Emery, David J. Madden, et al., “Cardiovascular and Behavioral Effects of Aerobic Exercise Training in Healthy Older Men and Women,”
Journal of Gerontology
, vol. 44, no. 5 (September 1989), pp. M147–M157.

58
makes no appearance:
Kuvalayananda,
Popular Yoga
; Sri Swami Sivananda,
Easy Steps to Yoga
, reprint of 1939 edition (Tehri-Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh, India: Divine Life Society, 1999).

58
The pose most likely arose:
Sjoman,
The Yoga Tradition
, pp. 50, 54, 58; Anne Cushman, “New Light on Yoga,”
Yoga Journal
, July–August 1999, pp. 44–49; Joseph S. Alter,
The Wrestler’s Body: Identity and Ideology in North India
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), pp. 98–105; Vincent Giordano,
The Physical Body: Indian Wrestling and Physical Culture
, video disc, CustomFlix, 2006.

58
spreading slowly through India:
For a case study of its adoption by the Raja of Aundh, the ruler of a diminutive state north of Mysore, see Katherine H. Diver,
Royal India: A Descriptive and Historical Study of India’s Fifteen Principal States and Their Rulers
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1942), pp. 148–50.

58
learned about the pose:
In 1959, a popular book by Swami Vishnudevananda, a young disciple of Swami Sivananda’s, gained wide notice. It was filled with dozens of photographs of the young swami and clear, how-to directions, including eleven pages devoted to the Sun Salutation. See Swami Vishnudevananda,
The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga
(New York: Bell Publishing, 1960).

59
examined sixteen volunteers:
Virginia S. Cowen and Troy B. Adams, “Heart Rate in Yoga Asana Practice: A Comparison of Styles,”
Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies
, vol. 11, no. 1 (January 2007), pp. 91–95.

59
“the lack of objective study”:
Email to author, Ezra A. Amsterdam, October 22, 2011.

60
“many lively discussions”:
Email to author, Dina Amsterdam, October 26, 2011. For background on Amsterdam’s yoga study and Dina’s role, see Alisa Bauman, “Is Yoga Enough to Keep You Fit?”
Yoga Journal
, September–October 2002, p. 84.

60
just ten volunteers:
Mark D. Tran, Robert G. Holly, Jake Lashbrook, and Ezra A. Amsterdam, “Effects of Hatha Yoga Practice on the Health-Related Aspects of Physical Fitness,”
Preventive Cardiology
, vol. 4, no. 4, (Fall 2001), pp. 165–70.

61
Different schools of yoga:
The Iyengar Frog is a static posture. See Iyengar,
Light on Yoga
, pp. 126–28. The energetic Frog of the Davis study is taught by the Kundalini school. See Shakta Kaur Khalsa,
Kundalini Yoga: Unlock Your Inner Potential Through Life-Changing Exercise
(New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2001), pp. 55, 72, 100, 129.

62
making their evaluation “blind”:
Emails to author, Ezra A. Amsterdam, October 22 and 23, 2011. Amsterdam said reviewers for the journal once rejected a paper on which he was listed as a coauthor, showing how the process was unbiased.

64
“the most current scientific information”:
Anonymous, “The Yoga Journal Story,”
www.yogajournal.com/global/

64
“Yoga is all you need”:
Bauman, “Is Yoga Enough to Keep You Fit?”

64
a commercial style:
Beth Shaw,
Beth Shaw’s YogaFit
(Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2000), pp. ix–xvi; Beth Greenfield, “Strike a Pose,”
Out
, February 2004, p. 78.

65
developed a course of training:
Kolata,
Ultimate Fitness
, p. 247.

65
“a tough cardiovascular workout”:
Shaw,
Beth Shaw’s
, p. ix.

65
Her promotional literature:
Anonymous, “Host a Yoga Instructor Training,”
www.yogafit.com/host-a-training.shtml.

65
The sixteen-page paper:
Chrys Kub, “Health Benefits of Hatha Yoga,”
www.yogafit.com/research/healthbenefits.doc.

65
“You don’t need”:
Alexa Joy Sherman, “Total Body Power Yoga,”
Shape
, vol. 24, no. 3 (November 2004), pp. 186–91.