The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

William J Broad (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 2012

IN THIS REMARKABLE BOOK ABOUT YOGA, William Broad, a lifelong practitioner, shows us that uncommon states are integral to a hidden world of risk and reward that lies beneath clouds of myth, superstition, and hype.Five years in the making, The Science of Yoga draws on more than a century of painstaking research to present the first impartial evaluation of a practice thousands of years old. It celebrates what’s real and shows what’s illusory, describes what’s uplifting and beneficial and what’s flaky and dangerous—and why. Broad illuminates how yoga can lift moods and inspire creativity. He exposes moves that can cripple and kill. As science often does, this groundbreaking book also reveals mysteries. It presents a fascinating body of evidence that raises questions about whether humans have latent capabilities for entering states of suspended animation and unremitting sexual bliss.The Science of Yoga takes us on a riveting tour of unknown yoga that goes from old archivesin Calcutta to the world capitals of medical research, from storied ashrams to spotless laboratories, from sweaty yoga studios with master teachers to the cozy offices of yoga healers. Broad unveils a burgeoning global industry that attracts not only curious scientists but true believers and charismatic hustlers. In the end, he shatters myths, lays out unexpected benefits, and offers a compelling vision of how the ancient practice can be improved.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Yoga, an ancient practice with millions of modern practitioners, has been the subject of overheated speculation and grandiose claims; it has been dismissed without warrant as well, underappreciated by some who might well benefit from it. The Science of Yoga is a lucid and long overdue account of what scientists have found in their attempts to ferret out the truth about what yoga can and cannot do to heal and make better the body and mind. It is a fascinating and important book.”

—Kay Redfield Jamison, author of An Unquiet Mind and Touched With Fire

“The Science of Yoga offers a riveting, much-needed, clear-eyed look at the yoga mystique. In this investigation, science journalist William Broad pulls back the curtain on the little-discussed world of yoga injuries and risks, while setting the record straight about the numerous potential benefits. Downward dog will never look the same.”

—Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence

“If this book doesn’t motivate you to practice yoga, nothing will. Broad sheds light on yoga’s health benefits and hoaxes, covering everything from headstands to hypertension, the vagus nerve to the YogaButt. Finally I understand why I feel so good when I do yoga. His lively exploration of its evolution from Benares to Beverly Hills flows like any great practice should – with intelligence, good humor and some mindblowing insights.”

—Priscilla Warner, author of Learning to Breathe – My Yearlong Quest to Bring Calm to My Life and co-author of The Faith Club

“After reading The Science of Yoga, I am even more awed by the magnificent complexities of the human body and mind, and astonished that we can exert so much control over this invisible realm through the practice of yoga. Broad has not only thoroughly researched his topic, he has lived it.”

—Alan Lightman, author of Einstein’s Dreams

“William Broad is optimistic and hopeful in pointing the way to its future as a major force in preventing and treating disease.”

—Gail Sheehy, author of Passages in Caregiving

“In this compelling work of investigative journalism, William Broad exposes the ”scientific” claims made about yoga—from its much-vaunted healing powers to yogasms—to scientific scrutiny. The Science of Yoga is a wonderful read that any yoga practitioner thirsting for authenticity should study carefully before suiting up.”

—David Gordon White, author of Kiss of the Yogini

"Dramatic...a flair for provocation…valuable.”

—Publishers Weekly

About the Author

William J. Broad has practiced yoga since 1970. A bestselling author and senior writer at The New York Times, he has won every major award in print and television during more than thirty years as a science journalist. With New York Times colleagues, he has twice won the Pulitzer Prize, as well as an Emmy and a DuPont. He is the author or coauthor of seven books, including Germs: Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War, a #1 New York Times bestseller. He lives in the New York metropolitan area with his wife and three children. He enjoys doing Sun Salutations.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (February 7, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1451641427
• ISBN-13: 978-1451641424
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Personal Health > Stress
  • #1 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Exercise & Fitness > Yoga
  • #2 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences

More About the Author

William J. Broad is a best-selling author and a senior writer at The New York Times. In more than thirty years as a science journalist, he has written hundreds of front-page articles and won every major journalistic award in print and film. A writer of unusual depth and breadth, he has reported on everything from exploding stars and the secret life of marine mammals to the spread of nuclear arms and why the Titanic sank so fast. His journalism is featured in The Best American Science Writing. The yearly anthologies include articles of his on the reversal of the earth's magnetic field and the atmospheric history of carbon dioxide.

He joined The Times in 1983 and before that worked in Washington for Science, the magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, doing so from 1978 to 1983.

Broad has won two Pulitzer Prizes with Times colleagues, as well as an Emmy and a DuPont. He won the Pulitzers for coverage of the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the feasibility of antimissile arms. In 2002, he won the Emmy (PBS Nova) for a documentary that detailed the threat of germ terrorism, based on his best-selling book Germs. He was a Pulitzer finalist in 2005 for articles written with Times colleague David E. Sanger on nuclear proliferation. In 2007, he shared a DuPont Award (The Discovery Channel) from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism for the television documentary, "Nuclear Jihad: Can Terrorists Get the Bomb?"

Broad is the author or co-author of seven books, most recently The Oracle: The Lost Secrets and Hidden Message of Ancient Delphi (The Penguin Press, 2006). Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War (Simon & Schuster, 2001) was a number-one New York Times bestseller. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. His other titles include The Universe Below: Discovering the Secrets of the Deep Sea (Simon & Schuster, 1997); Teller's War: The Top-Secret Story Behind the Star Wars Deception (Simon & Schuster, 1992); and Betrayers of the Truth: Fraud and Deceit in the Halls of Science (Simon & Schuster, 1982).

Broad's reporting has taken him to Paris and Vienna, Brazil and Ecuador, Kiev and Kazakhstan. In December 1991, he was among the last Westerners to see the Soviet hammer and sickle flying over the Kremlin.

Broad's media appearances include Larry King Live, The Charlie Rose Show, The Discovery Channel, Nova, The History Channel, and National Public Radio. His speaking engagements have ranged from the U.S. Navy in Washington, to the Knickerbocker Club in New York, to the Monterey Aquarium in California. He has also given talks at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City.

Broad earned a masters degree in the History of Science from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and lives with his wife and children in the New York metropolitan area.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

344 of 378 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Deeply flawed, but a must-read, February 7, 2012

By 

Leslie Kaminoff (Great Barrington, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards (Hardcover)

Review of William J. Broad's "The Science of Yoga" by Leslie Kaminoff, author of Yoga Anatomy-2nd Edition

In spite of the fact that I have some highly critical things to say about this book, I am recommending that every yoga student, yoga teacher and teacher of yoga teachers read "The Science of Yoga." The issues that Mr. Broad raises are too important to be ignored, and need to be openly and objectively discussed by anyone who cares about truth, clarity and safety.

When he's at his best, Broad does a great service to our field by throughly investigating the history of yoga research and reporting on the actual science that's available to either support or refute many of the claims that are commonly made about yoga's promises. Several of the myths he exposes are ones that I have been trying to debunk for years. He also does a great job of documenting the evidence of yoga's benefits - for health, creativity and mental balance.

When he's at his worst, he's attempting to make his book more colorful by spinning speculative yarns about the personalities of his cast of characters. Most of them are long dead and cannot dispute Broad's assertions about their motivations, ambitions and ethics. However, some of his subjects are very much alive and I know for a fact that at least one of them takes extreme exception to the manner in which he was portrayed (full disclosure: I am referring to a good friend of mine).

Broad also loses his objectivity when, in chapter 4, he launches into the controversial issue of yoga injuries. I am the last person to deny that asana injuries happen quite regularly, as a significant part of my practice consists of helping practitioners who have sustained them. Nevertheless, the truly scary picture painted in this chapter is not based on any science that would pass Broad's own muster if he was reviewing it in the first 3 chapters of his book. He can cite no serious scientific studies done regarding the actual cause and frequency of severe injuries (stroke, pneumothorax, paralysis, etc.) because there are none. Instead, Broad reports on a handful of case studies dating back to the 70's, and some surveys of emergency room statistics. He then extrapolates from those numbers to conclude there must be a minimum of 300 strokes caused by yoga asanas per year. Any indication of how common these injuries are in the non-yoga practicing population? No. Any context for where asana practice ranks in relation to other "risky" activities (it's safer than golf)? No. Any mention of the fundamental logical rule that correlation is not causation? No. Is this good science? Hell no.

What becomes clear in his epilogue is that Mr. Broad is a man with an agenda. He wants yoga to gain more credibility and acceptance in mainstream health care delivery by medicalizing its educational standards and subjecting itself to governmental regulation (something I've been fighting against for the past 3 decades). This explains why he needed to build the case for yoga's riskiness, and why he felt compelled to unfairly and inaccurately portray the International Association of Yoga Therapists as a non-credible group with shady origins whose main agenda is to provide its members with "phony credentials." He even absurdly proposes the formation of a "Yoga Education Society" whose mission would be to collect information about yoga and disseminate it to the public - the exact same mission the IAYT has been splendidly fulfilling since its founding. Shameful.

Broad's misplaced faith in his own agenda, the medical model and in governmental controls has blinded him to the fact that much of yoga's popularity as a healing modality is precisely because we are an alternative to all that. We are not medical practitioners nor should we aspire to be. We are educators and should fight to remain so.

Nobody asked Mr. Broad to push for the medicalization, accreditation or licensing of yoga. He took it on himself to make a case for it, and its up to us as yoga professionals to show him that he's wrong by continuing to raise the standards of our educational programs, and by keeping our profession free from coercive forces of any kind. That is why I say it's important you read this book and then let your voice be heard.

92 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great review of the science of breathing and movement - from the late 1800's to present, February 8, 2012

By 

John A Fossella - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards (Hardcover)

1. Firstly, the book focuses mainly on pranayama and asana ... obviously a narrow slice of "yoga" as practiced everyday by millions of Devotees, Babas, Sannyasis and Yogis who are a vital part of cultural and spiritual life in India. It's a tad Western-centric to use "Yoga" in the title when the focus of the book is a narrow slice of an otherwise rich and multifaceted spiritual practice.

2. Broad describes how the modern form of Western yoga is a "cleaned up" version of a centuries-old Tantric practice. The modern postures were developed in Mysore in the early 1900's as part of India's press for independence from the British. This clean, gymnastic & more regimented form of asana and pranayama practice developed by Krishnamacharya is what eventually caught on in America. In India, yoga remains a source of great National pride in both its modern scientific foundations as well as its relationship to ancient Indian culture and religion.

3. Broad provides a, ahem, broad, overview of the way in which scientists have tried to understand how and why pranayama and asana practice lead to wellness and longevity. He digs up research findings in India from as far back as the late 1800's and follows them up to the present day. This was my favorite part of the book ... his trips to the original schools in India to dig up and introduce us to the earliest research on yogis ... usually on yogis who could stay buried inside of airtight chambers. Back then, yogis were believed to have supernatural powers! Even today however, modern scientists study the physiology of hibernation among mammals and wonder if humans might be able to enter similar dormant states. Who knows how long humans can really extend the natural age limit? Maybe astronauts will practice yogic breathing someday as part of long-range space travel? Broad wonders.

He covers a great range of physiological systems such as oxygen/carbon-dioxide exchange (more oxygen stays in your brain when you breathe slowly), metabolism (yoga slows it), musculo-skeletal therapies (training new muscle groups to compensate for injured ones), symapthetic-parasympathetic nervous system (a good practice is when you cycle through poses that differentially activate these 2 branches of the autonomic nervous system), mood & cognition (yoga makes you feel great but you're kind of a space cadet afterwards), hormonal (poses to stimulate various glands), cellular (longer telomeres and healthier DNA), immunity (the vagus nerve stimulates the immune system) and many more.

As covered in the book, there are MANY ways in which pranayama and asana can be harnessed to heal the body and Broad reviews A LOT of relevant scientific evidence ... which, it turns out, often conflicts with popular hype in yoga media. There is a lot of healing power in these practices, but only if you do them in an informed and intelligent manner ... is a recurring theme throughout the book ... which is full of pointers to his favorite teachers (while reading this book, I bought, like, 4 new books on Amazon). Throughout the book, Broad seems to revere Iyengar teachers the most (Iyengar was a student of Krishnamacharya).

4. There is, a now (in)famous, chapter on injuries ... which he concedes are rare in yoga ... perhaps even less common than participation in other physical activities? ... especially among office-bound weekend warriors who push themselves too hard, too fast. He interviews several teachers who share first hand experience with injuries, and who feel that many yoga practitioners have a false sense of security when it comes to poses like, for example, shoulder stand ... where they should take more care to protect their neck and the delicate arteries that pass though the bones in the spinal column there. This being the case, Broad suggests that American yoga teachers need more rigorous training in protecting students against possible harm.

5. All of this medico-scientific study of yoga forms a very strong foundation for what Broad sees is a modern American medical system that is increasingly embracing asana & pranayama therapies. According to Kaitlin Quistgaard, editor in chief of Yoga Journal, "Yoga as medicine represents the next great yoga wave. In the next few years, we will be seeing a lot more yoga in health care settings and more yoga recommended by the medical community as new research shows that yoga is a valuable therapeutic tool for many health conditions."

So, I guess, someday, we'll pay for our yoga classes using health insurance? That would be nice. Broad suggests that the forms and certifications for such "medical" uses will need to be standardized and that yoga therapists will require far more training. OK ... it seems that the driver here will be the public/private insurance companies. Perhaps they might someday pay M.D.'s with yoga certifications? or for specific forms of yoga and breathing? I dunno ... it's their $$ and they will embrace yoga in ways they see fit. (from "The New Medicine" - Deborah Schwab, RN, NP, MSN of Blue Shield of California noted how a study of guided imagery was associated with shorter hospital stays, and lower medication costs to the tune of $2,000 per patient.)

6. There are final chapters on better sex and creativity through yoga. Skip them. Reading the physiology, brain and hormonal science - or worse - doing the specific poses, will NOT help you get laid or be a better lover. And as far as creativity and left/right brain activation goes, it's kind of a myth. "Evidence provides little support for correlating the structural differences between the sides with functional differences."

7. Which kind of brings me to the way the book really made me feel at the very end ... like I just emerged from a window-less, sterile doctor's examination room ... healthier, I suppose, but feeling sort of uninspired. I mean, is this what I'm really looking for ... to feel more relaxed and limber?

READ THIS BOOK if you want to be a yoga therapist in the United States! READ THIS BOOK if you work for a health insurance company and set up reimbursements for members to begin asana and pranayama classes ... the book is invaluable in separating the hype from the real data. READ THIS BOOK and be a more educated yoga consumer ... there is so much bewildering kooky hype out there in the U.S. yoga "free marketplace". I will definitely use a supporting blanket in shoulder stand!

----

But, on a purely personal, non-judgemental, for me only, personal level ... I'm practicing and studying yoga so that I can have a truly transformative, emotional, spiritual experience ... where I feel more connected to nature ... more connected to the people around me ... where my ego can be lost in a sea of love that wells up inside of me.

Yes, of course, I'll practice pranayama and asana ... to help strengthen my body. The strength and breathing will help me with meditation ... so that I can sit quietly for hours ... and still my mind. The stillness will help me listen and feel ... the earth and other people around me. The physical and breathing practices form a foundation for meditation ... which helps me become more empathetic, attentive, attuned, aware and open-minded. I care more about others ... and THAT is what feels so transformative.

I guess "Yoga" for me ... is when I seek to experience my "true self" as simply being dissolved and inter-woven in everything and everyone around me. An ego-less union with everything ... that's sort of where the magic happens for me.

I dunno if Broad would agree that THIS type of social-emotional experience is where a somewhat deeper joy and fulfillment of Yoga can be found ... not in pranayama and asana per se, as ends in themselves, but in all the wonderful things that can happen after you've been practicing ... like when you go out into the world and LISTEN and CONNECT? I dunno.

Perhaps though, he would agree that there is a ton of social, evolutionary and cognitive science to this experience too. The science of Yoga (part II) ... perhaps?

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!, February 11, 2012

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M. Feldman (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards (Hardcover)

No no, that's not the sound of someone stretching a tight muscle. It's the sound of a thousand toes being firmly stepped upon. William Broad's interesting and provocative new study of yoga raises as many questions as it answers---and that's a good thing. Broad himself has practiced yoga for many years, but he approaches it with a scientist's skepticism, debunking false claims for what yoga can't do and highlighting those things it can.

Over a period of five years (he originally thought it would take him much less time), Broad read extensively in the literature of yoga, from published works by yogis to controlled medical studies. He talked to people in the yoga business (and yes, it is a business), some of them admirable (like the estimable Dr. Loren Fishman) and some of them not.

Broad takes a balanced look at yoga as a way of keeping fit, including an important chapter on yoga injuries, but he also looks at it as a prescription for depression and sexual dysfunction and as an impetus for creativity. He strongly criticizes the lack of a systematic means of national accreditation for yoga teachers and yoga therapists. In fact, he thinks that yoga is at a turning point in its history. He argues that yoga will either become a powerful force for health (if it allies itself with science, including clinical trials and professional accreditation) or "stay on the sidelines, a marginal pursuit, lost in myths, looking to the past, prone to guru worship, fracturing into even more lineages." Yoga has changed throughout its long history, he says, and it will change again.

Ultimately, Broad is humble in the face of all of the knowledge he has gathered. His book is not intended an attack on yoga---far from it. He repeatedly says that many things about yoga are unknown or only partially understood. "I suspect," he says, "there are many more [pieces of the yoga puzzle] out there waiting to be uncovered, examined, and shaped into a comprehensive body of knowledge."

Many people (including me) practice yoga for its demonstrated benefits. I suspect that many of those who appreciate yoga also know that information that induces discomfort or even anger, information that challenges unexamined or widely held beliefs, information that is the product of a skeptical mind, is the best kind of knowledge.

M. Feldman