FAIRFIELD, Iowa, Aug. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- The media debate surrounding yoga injuries, spurred by the New York Times article "Can Yoga Wreck Your Body?", and an associated book, has left a lot of confusion in its wake.

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Yoga teachers report that many students are being cautioned against practicing yoga, because friends or relatives have heard that yoga is 'dangerous.' Indeed, if you're new to yoga, you may be concerned yourselfwho wouldn't be when reading the words "yoga'"and "stroke" in the same sentence?

In an effort to shed some much-needed clarity on this debate, YogaUOnline, a leading website for online yoga education, is sponsoring an online telesummit on Yoga Injuries: Facts and Fiction with leading yoga teachers and medical experts, including Roger Cole, Ph.D., Tias Little, Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., P.T., Dr. Loren Fishman, Dr. Timothy McCall, Julie Gudmestad, P.T., Ellen Saltonstall, and Peggy Cappy, founder of the PBS-Series Yoga for the Rest of Us. The telesummit is free to attend and will be hosted streaming live on Saturday, August 25, 2012, 12 pm pm EDT/ 9 am'1 pm PDT on YogaUOnline.com.

"The article and book grabbed attention by making it sound like there is scientific proof that yoga routinely causes horrible injuries, even death," saysRoger Cole, Ph.D., a yoga teacher and Stanford educated scientist. "The evidence presented to support these claims was very flimsy, and in some cases completely false. For example, there is no convincing evidence that yoga elevates the risk of stroke at all."

"There's an important discussion to be had," Cole continues, "which is why this telesummit is so important. But ultimately the debate doesn't concern whether it is possible to get hurt practicing yoga. Of course it is, just as you can get hurt while dancing, biking, jogging, golfing, or weight-training. But that doesn't mean yoga should be considered particularly 'hazardous.'"

In fact, when compared to injury rates from other forms of physical activity, yoga comes across as relatively safe. For example, between 1990 and 2007, an estimated 970,000 weight trainingrelated injuries were treated in the U.S., according to the American Journal of Sports Medicine. With about 37 to 45 million practitioners, that's an average of 57,000 injuries per year, or about 12 to 15 people out of every 10,000 practitioners. In contrast, the number of yoga injuries treated in 2007 was at 5,500, according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission. With an estimated 15.8 million yoga practitioners, that pegs the injury rate at a comparatively low 3.5 out of every 10,000 practitioners. In other words, yoga appears to be about four times safer than weight training.

Still, any yoga injury is one too many. One of the greatest benefits of the telesummit is to focus participants' on where the actual risks lie and how to practice more safely.

Ultimately, the debate boils down to the question of whether taking up yoga is likely to do you more good than harm. Here the balance lies squarely in favor of yoga. While the documented risks are quite modest, the potential rewards are tremendous.

For instance, there are more than 400 studies documenting the health benefits of the practice; yoga is being used to help veterans with PTSD, people suffering from depression, kids with ADHD, those with chronic conditions such as back pain, and others. And most people are drawn to the practice because they like the way it makes them feel, physically and emotionally.

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New Online Telesummit Explores Yoga Injuries: Facts and Fiction