New Delhi, Aug 30 - Do you sit and perform complicated yoga postures day after day at home with only TV as your instructor? It may be time to turn the idiot box off, as experts warn that practising yoga through mass media without proper guidance can do more harm than good.

'Yoga needs very close concentration and two-way communication is essential; so the best way to perform yoga is with an instructor. The asanas (postures) and prakriyas (processes) somebody is imitating from TV may not be suitable for them and can create trouble,' Yogi Shri Ashish Chatterjee, president of Satya Foundation, told IANS.

Yoga is India's traditional physical and mental discipline which is associated with meditative practices.

Yoga is a Sanskrit word which is derived from the Sanskrit root 'yuj', meaning to control, to yoke or to unite. However, in general yoga is typically associated with hatha yoga and its asanas or as a form of exercise.

Manoj Kumar, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Moolchand Hospital, New Delhi, said: 'There has been quite an increase in the number of people coming with injuries caused by doing yoga in inappropriate postures as they just watch it on TV and try to imitate it.'

'At least three to four patients come with such complaints every week,' Kumar told IANS.

R.S. Bhogal, principal of prominent meditation and yoga institute Kaivalyadham in Lonavala, said: 'Of course, practising yoga through TV or DVD can create lots of problems as the person cannot get proper feedback and he can either overstretch or have too much contraction.