Yoga and injuries
I was having this conversation with one of my students recently and it made me think, we are all more or less, once we get to a certain age, carrying injuries of one kind or another.
His was a knee injury from running for years and was frustrated at the limiting effect it was having on his practice. I can sympathise with this completely, I have a neck problem which is the result of a whiplash injury that was never treated properly and aggravated by many years of being a hairstylist. Speaking from the point of view of yoga student, yoga has both helped and also occasionally hurt. When I say yoga in this instance I am talking about me, trying to do something that I probably knew I was not ready for or doing something quickly without thinking it through.
Yoga is an incredible tool which I believe has prevented my whiplash and work related issues from becoming real constant literal pains in my neck. As well as counteracting any bad postural habits from having my neck in flexion and my shoulders rounded most of the day. But as anyone who attends my classes knows I do sometimes still manage to aggravate that same old injury. I have had it checked and there is nothing serious going on its just an area of weakness that I have to keep an eye on. And every so often rest because I have done what I am constantly asking my students not to do. I have pushed it too far, not warmed up properly or jumped into a pose quickly and carelessly because I wanted to take a picture for Insta or Facebook.
So what is the point of this blog post? I guess it is me saying everyone has issues. I think it would be unusual to get to nearly 40 as I am and not have any underlying injuries, weaknesses, or tension. What we all (including me) have to remember and this is me talking as a teacher now is, Be gentle with yourself, you only have one body and it sometimes needs you to take a moment of rest.
When I say in class listen to your body/check-in with your body, I mean it. Notice what is going on and adjust your practice accordingly. As teachers we can't feel what is going on within your body, only you can do that. Anytime you are in an asana and you feel tingling, shooting sensations, numbness or sharp pain, step back. It may be that you simply have to come out of the pose and come back in with a little more care. Or it may be that that pose is simply not available to you yet. Yes, you should want to improve and yes striving to achieve something new is a great thing. What we must try not to do is grasp for something which is not yet ours for the taking. Asteya non-stealing or non-grasping is one of the Yamas laid out by Patanjali in his sutras.
Sometimes we need to build more strength, sometimes we need more flexibility. Sometimes we have reached the limit of our skeletal range of motion, and that's OK.
Always remember what we are ultimately looking for in any yoga pose. Is Sthira Sukhum asanum. This translates from Sanskrit as a steady, relaxed pose. Keep this in mind in your next yoga class.
Kate x