When I meet someone who is new to yoga and they learn that I am a teacher, they always say the same thing: "I went to a yoga class and it was really hard." While it's encouraging that so many people are trying yoga, that their early experiences always feel like "hard work" is unfortunate. Setting this precedent becomes the basis for many of the pitfalls that betide practitioners today.

Perhaps the most questionable convention in yoga practice is the assertion that headstand and shoulderstand are the “king and queen of asana.”  Deeply rooted in classical traditions and adopted by modern hybrids, the emphasis on these poses is an example of a broader disconnect between ideals and actualities.

In the pursuit of health through yoga, the challenge is often more about shifting ingrained sensibilities than addressing physical limitations.  Attempting to tune, fix, quantify, purify or explain a human body, as though it were more a piece of equipment in need of optimization or repairs than a highly temperamental organism, is not likely to heal the wounds or set a necessary course for well being.

Advertising gurus know how to use imagery to create associations and a precedent of thought that steer behavior.  As yoga has grown into a common pop-culture reference, the image of someone executing balance poses has become the symbol of one's steadiness in life.  But many are learning the hard way that, actually, equanimity within requires more than these sort of displays.

The internet is changing.  As access becomes more and more ubiquitous, established norms are quickly becoming outmoded.  The usefulness and appeal of social media need to be reexamined across all sectors of culture.  And the yoga world provides an interesting example.

In the grand play of will and happenstance that comprises a life, periods of malaise are bound to take hold.  These times, while disconcerting, provide a fertile proving ground for cultivating a vision of ourselves based not in fear but nurtured by our deepest sense of courage and humanity.

Recent studies are calling into question what we really know about a wide range of health conditions.  Placebo is often found to be as effective as conventional treatments.  And the tendency to gloss over these findings with merely a warning against "fake medicine" overlooks more important implications.

Just as good riddance was being given to 2013, Yogaglo, a prominent online yoga video service, was awarded a patent on a set of criteria for producing yoga video.  In a statement released just before the holidays, Yogaglo defended its position and offered examples of alternative methods that are not in violation of the patent.  A consideration of their suggestions raises serious questions about the future of yoga on the internet.

As we face the unforeseeable future, practicality and fear compel us to plan.  In order to meet the challenges of life, some forethought is required. And making every effort to secure our desires is a primal impulse.  However, attempts at fulfillment must reckon with a universal irony that renders most plotting futile.