Science vs Intuition

A recent study conducted by someone who, I imagine, has never lifted a dumbbell a day in their life revealed that if you lift weights as an elderly person, your muscles will be strong. That is the literal gist of it. Now, personal trainers can confidently proclaim on their social media posts that the literature supports weightlifting as you age. Like we didn’t know that before.

But this is just a small reflection of a bigger picture. It seems that in 2024, personal trainers—and to some degree, yoga teachers—cannot say anything unless it is backed by science. Even if our anecdotal experience tells us we don't need the research; we just know based on experience. As trainers, we are made to feel that science is the be-all and end-all, to the point where it is widely understood that our anecdotal experience is the lowest form of scientific data and shouldn’t hold much value.

The irony is that science and research stem from curiosity and independent thought, qualities we are almost told not to trust. So what should a personal yoga teacher trust: science or their intuition?

For me, it's my intuition, knowing it’s guided by science. And that is the key word: guided, not dictated. Science gives me food for thought and helps me see outside of my local bubble. It gives me a more global perspective on something. It doesn’t mean what I was doing before was wrong; it simply gives me more tools to work with.

As a working example, in our advanced yoga teacher training, during our injuries module, I shared from my experience that the most common yoga injury is women's shoulders. Then, upon examining the available data (notice the keyword "available"), it turns out that the most common yoga injury is the female hip. I was baffled. But that doesn’t mean I was wrong originally. The science and data now give me more to think about and help me guide my students differently.

I've been doing this a long time; my personal experience is invaluable.

So my point is, no matter what you do, no matter what you say, someone out there with letters at the start of their name is ready to tell you that everything you thought you knew is now wrong. They are always right. When in reality, you are not wrong. Nor am I. We are still learning, and we will take on board this new information to help guide our students better and ultimately keep them safe and feeling great.

There is also a consistent clash between what I see and what the science says. Science might say that this is the best method to produce optimal results in training. I might apply that and find that with my audience, my old method actually worked better. So I revert back to my old method, trusting my intuition. Then, with someone else, we may find that my old anecdotal method doesn’t work, and we go down the more scientific route. Again, I cannot emphasize this enough: science, data, research—they give us more tools to work with. It doesn’t mean what we were doing previously was wrong—unless it was. If your students or clients are doing great and achieving their goals, you are winning.

Trust ourselves. Trust what we know. Trust that what we are doing is best for our students.

Zahir Akram - eternal seeker

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