Aspen Yoga Studio - How To Stay Injury Free While Practicing Yoga

There is an inherent risk in taking yoga classes.  The risk is that you may leave class worse off than when you arrived.  Yes, people do get injured practicing and taking yoga classes. 

So here are a few tips to reduce your risk and maintain wholeness. 

If you are taking a class, especially with a teacher with whom you have no experience, introduce yourself before class begins and inform the instructor if you have any injuries. 

If the instructor does not have time for you, doesn't ask any specific questions about your injury or advises you to "just do the practice, it will take care of it" - my advice is "HEAD FOR THE DOOR AND DON'T LOOK BACK". 

OK, So You Decided To Stay.

Step 1

Before you begin doing postures you want your awareness to be in your body.   So start by breathing and unplugging from outside attachments. 

As you know from taking my Basic Level Course you use your breath to create inner space and determine your body' s boundaries - how quickly and deeply you move into postures.

Postures without conscious deep breathing is just "stretching".  When you add conscious breathing to postures it becomes yoga.

I know - most styles of yoga don't begin with breathing or "pranayama".  And most teachers just say "breathe" and don't teach you how.  So if you choose to take one of those classes, instead of talking to your friends, do 5 minutes of breathing before class begins.

Step 2

You need to warm up your core.  The area from pelvic floor to inner top of skull. 

The core (brain and central nervous system) is the first area which forms in the fetus.  Then we grow shoulders, hips arms and legs - kind of reminds me of pictures of tadpoles turning into frogs!

As we go on in years we tend to "get in our heads" and work our bodies from our extremities, bypassing the core.  This causes tightness and stress in your neck, shoulders and hips.

So great core awakening postures are Shoulder Shrugs, neck release forward bend one knee bent or one leg straight one knee bent side bend.

Oh yeh - abs - Elbow to Knee - connects the upper and lower body, warms up and turns on the first three chakras.

When your core is conscious, supple and strong then your neck, shoulders and hips open much easier and you are less prone to injury.

Bridge Pose releases your abs and works them in another way so they are more supple.  It is also one of my favorite postures for grounding (getting energy below your waist and connecting to the earth), balancing and releasing knee pain.

I'll usually end the core conditioning sequence with Boat Pose or Cobra. 

*Please note that Boat Pose in Forrest Yoga is not the same as Boat Pose classically taught (Parupina Navasana) which I find strains your neck, pelvis and shoulders.

Most teachers don't do abs in modern classes.  If they do it is usually fast, unconscious and towards the end of class which defeats its ability to keep you safe by turning your core on early!

So add these to your breathing before taking class.  It will take you 10 minutes total!

Step 3

As you get OLDER, (yes I said older) we need to stay in postures longer.  So holding postures for just 5 breaths before you move to the next posture is inadequate, ineffective and often unsafe! 

Holding postures for more than 10 breaths helps to move breath and energy to your extremities.  One of the best purposes from practicing yoga is to "open up and balance the energy running through your body".

So while working in a posture listen to your breath.  Your breath will tell you when you are moving too quickly. 

If your breath gets shallow or choppy, back off until your breath deepens -  work there, then move consciously to the next posture.

Remember, the point of doing the practice and the posture is to open, create, balance and move energy.  It is not to contort, conform or force yourself into someone's ideal of what the external posture should look like.  

It is much more delicious to open and feel the inner space and energy a posture produces. 

That's my Sunday Sermon. 

To help assist and create a home practice get my Step by Step Yoga Cd's