OM Yoga UK - May 2017

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Self-regulation

Having over the years had dealings at various times in

various ways and situations with regulatory bodies and the

Health & Safety Executive (HSE) – political correctness and ‘Nanny State-

ism’ gone mad – I have to agree to a large extent with the letter from

Walter Graham on the subject of regulation for yoga teachers (March

2017). Whilst I am not too happy with the ‘anyone can teach anyone’

sentiment, I do think that self-regulation by the various organisations

is far better than the ‘one size fits all’ approach from quango-type

bodies. I speak from some experience here as I was for some time a

practitioner in the complementary healthcare field (remedial massage

and physiotherapy). Keep up the good work OM.

Hugh, by email

A guy thing
As a guy in his 50’s, who has been doing yoga
regularly for over four years now, my journey started
not with a search for calm, or a desire to become more flexible,
but rather with a bad back.
After a few visits to the GP, complaining about waking up
at 5am with back pain and having tried the usual gamut of
prescription pills, I was referred to a specialist. This led to a round
of more tests, including an injection of radioactive tracer and a
visit to a CT scanner, and finally culminated in an announcement
that I would be advised to take a mild tranquiliser for the rest of
my life. The bill for this sage advice being a few thousand pounds.
Back at work, a colleague of mine suggested yoga. Five lessons
later I was pain-free without the help of medication. Apparently,
30 years of part-time running had tightened my hamstrings
to the extent they were causing the back pain. My GP was not
shocked by my story but calmly proclaimed that yoga was not a
recognised medical treatment.
So, at that point, I was convinced yoga was my saviour.
However, finding regular classes proved difficult. The local town
hall classes were 100% women and it was difficult to tell who felt
more awkward, me, them or the teacher who I do not think had
ever taught a guy. Luckily, I found a great studio 12 miles away,
and although the teachers are all women, it had a more pro-
active outlook to getting guys to come to classes which were
generally pretty mixed.
This made all the difference to me. Back pain is a thing of the
past, and the classes are great for de-stressing. I would not now
give up yoga...I’m just looking for someone to invent a guy’s non-
lycra t-shirt that won’t flap around my face during inversions!
Dave Dearn, Malmesbury

OM Letters, Prime Impact Events & Media,

Park House, The Business Centre, Earls Colne

Business Park, Colchester CO6 2NS

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