Thursday 7 June 2012

Yoga and Injuries

I was reading Namaste from Duluth this morning.  There is a post on using yoga as therapy for physical injuries.  I understand that very well.  Many of us in my class have joint issues and injuries where certain yoga poses are most helpful.  She does have a funny comment at the end of the post; using yoga therapy for a yoga injury (Yay!)

I have experienced and injury from yoga too.  Many of us who practice yoga probably have. Some of my non-yoga friends get quite excited about an injury from yoga as though it were something unusual.  Guess no one has heard of running injuries, weights injuries, Pilates injuries, etc.  I've had one injury from yoga but two from Zumba.  Doesn't stop me from practicing either.

My yoga injury was simple; a pulled hamstring.  I let my ego get involved on a forward bend pose.  I was so close to my toes so I pushed it instead of accepting where I was that day.  The next day I was mighty sore and the pain did not go away completely for several months.  I continued with my practice and adjusted to my situation.  In time it healed.

So, I now take my time with my poses and accept my limitations.   I can now touch my toes and the floor.  That being accomplished, I now work gently on my other limitations.  One at a time they will improve.  I'm not in a race and my yoga teacher does not give out gold stars for completing a classic pose.

1 comment:

  1. What a lovely post! It's so true, some people (especially those who don't practice) think of yoga as a cure-all. Yet anything where we move and challenge our limits (no matter how gently) risks occasionally going too far, or unbalancing clumsily. It's important that we play with our edges, our limitations, but a moment's non-mindfulness risks an injury. Still, you can get hurt walking from your front door to the street - the possibility of getting injured should never stand in our way, just encourage us to greater mindfulness :)

    ReplyDelete