The Origin of the Yoga Wheel
The yoga wheel was “invented” in 1978 by Dharma Mittra, a yoga pioneer native to Brazil and founder of the Dharma Yoga Center in New York City. In the pantheon of yoga props, the wheel is the new kid and, as such, is often underestimated and overlooked. But don’t let its simplicity fool you. The yoga wheel offers a variety of options and challenges.
Beyond Back Bending: The Evolution of Use
The original yoga wheel was made out of industrial plexiglass and used to open the back and stretch the body. It was used primarily in Mittra’s center until around 2013 or 14, when 2 of his students, Dov Vargas and Raquel Vamos, began mass producing it under the name Dharma Wheel.
A decade old, the yoga wheel’s use has grown exponentially. Practitioners primarily use it as it was originally; back bending and increased flexibility. But it is now being recognized for its many benefits in stability training. This is when the user discovers just how hard-core the wheel can be.
Strength and Stability Training: Unveiling the Core
Strength and stability training requires an equal but opposite action. Strength is the body’s ability to produce force throughout a movement. Stability is the body’s ability to resist unwanted movement. To resist movement and imbalance requires both passive (joints, bones, ligaments) and active (muscles, nerves) stabilizers.
Active stabilizers work against forces working against them. Weak stabilizers cannot withstand sudden changes. Stabilization injuries, such as turning an ankle, are usually caused by muscles not working at the right time. However, numerous well-documented studies have shown that stability training not only increases strength through stabilization, it increases endurance and is crucial for injury prevention.
The Wheel’s Transformative Impact
Stabilizing exercises reveal muscle imbalances and weakness…fast. First-time wheel classes are eye-opening. Students often look like Bambi on ice. First-time users who believed themselves strong when they walked in realize quickly there is always room for gains in this miraculous body we enjoy. A wheel class usually consists of surprised laughter, the occasional falling wheel, sweat, fatigue, and joy in the successes. Students will experience more of each with each successive class as their bodies begin to respond to the challenges placed on them.
Embrace Reinvention: Beyond Flexibility
So, continue to use the wheel for its many benefits in back bending and flexibility. The wheel is great for the use it was intended. But get adventurous. Get strong and stable. Get to reinventing the wheel and yourself right along with it.
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