In recent days, these devotees could be forgiven for demonstrating caution as they settle into lotus, following a New York Times article taking its own - almost heretical - position: far from a health-giving panacea to modern ills, yoga can be a health hazard.

''How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body'', a five page spread in the New York Times Magazine, has created a flurry of outrage in the $5 billion-a-year US yoga industry and around the world.

The article was an excerpt from The Science of Yoga: The Risks and Rewards, by the New York Times senior journalist William Broad. Within days of its publication the article's comments section reached capacity and was shut down. Broad has been criticised for focusing on the most advanced postures and physically demanding forms of yoga and relying heavily on anecdotal evidence.

In one example he writes about a male university student, who sat upright on his heels for hours a day, chanting for world peace, and subsequently experienced difficulty walking, running and climbing stairs.

''Once the student gave up the pose, he improved rapidly.''

Other cases taken from the 1970s raise the prospect of yoga-induced stroke.

The statements that caused the greatest stir came from New York yoga teacher Glenn Black, who has undergone spinal cord fusion due to injuries accrued throughout his career.

Black now argues that the vast majority of people, students and teachers, should give up yoga altogether.

In Australia, yoga is now the 14th most popular physical activity, ahead of AFL and dance according to the Australian Sports Commission. Australian Bureau of Statistics data released last month showed 273,000 Australian women engaging in some form of yoga, with men's participation - in the tens of thousands - on the rise. But practitioners say yoga here is more traditional and less goal-driven than in the US.

In the largest study of yoga in Australia - by former president of Yoga Australia Stephen Penman, in 2006, with RMIT University - more than 4000 participants detailed injuries they had incurred practising yoga. ''Headstands, shoulder stands and strong forward bends were over-represented in the injuries reported by survey participants. These are advanced asana [postures] and definitely not for beginners,'' Penman said. ''People who reported injuries most commonly say that their ego got the better of them. But the overall injury rate is very low, suggesting yoga is one of the safest physical activities you can do.''

Between 2000 and 2010, 84 people were admitted to Victorian emergency departments for yoga-related injuries, according to the Monash Research Institute. The most frequent injuries were sprains or strains (51 per cent), fractures (13 per cent), injury to muscle or tendon (12 per cent) and dislocation (11 per cent). Knees and shoulders were the most frequently affected areas. ''Yoga has a very much lower rate of hospital-treated injury than the other popular sports,'' said Erin Cassell, director of the Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit at Monash University.

Leigh Blashki, director of the Australian Institute of Yoga Therapy and vice-president of Yoga Australia, says yoga has been shown to particularly benefit cardiovascular, psychological and emotional health. Mr Blashki thinks the NYT article is sensationalist but says points raised by Black resonate with Yoga Australia. ''A lot of people do come with injuries from yoga. They are either doing the wrong type of yoga, not taking the self-responsibility to work safely or are not being encouraged to work safely.''

With 35 years' experience as a yoga teacher, Mr Blashki emphasises the importance of researching both the type of yoga and your teacher before signing up to a class. ''You need to be very clear [about] letting the teacher know what you're looking for, the one that is just around the corner may not be the right one for you.''