Some people might be getting hurt in yoga because they are practicing in the bodies they fantasize about, instead of the bodies they actually have.
“In practice, I’m either puzzling over one self or fearing the other.”
Illness or injury or depression are often framed as personal ethical failures — not signs that a system needs rebalancing. When yoga culture has a redirect-and-blame response to a personal injury story rooted in that very culture, it is mimicking the general decay of the notion of collective responsibility, offering nothing but “buyer beware” logic in consolation.
I acknowledge that a completely injury-free yoga is not a reasonable goal. Nor a desirable one, perhaps. Firstly, it’s impossible: all things tend towards entropy. Secondly, people who crave growth will at times overstep their means and even ignore their wits as they leap in fear and faith towards a fantasized future self.