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Keeping Injury free while practicing yoga

April 11th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

You may not be surprised to learn that the amount of people practicing yoga has increasing by 136% since 2000. What may also not surprise you is the amount of people getting injured while practicing yoga has also increased. Doctors and physios have all reported an increase of people coming to them after being injured while doing yoga.

Try to remember the following points while at yoga and they should help to ensure you remain injury free and get the full benefits of Yoga.

1. Always check your instructor’s qualifications, it takes a lot of effort to become a qualified instructor and they should be happy to show you their certificates. The basic Yoga instructor certificate should take over 200hrs to achieve and if you are in doubt, contact a local Yoga teachers association to be assured of local laws and regulations, you should be able to find them in the Yellow Pages or have a look on the internet

2. Ensure the instructor knows of any past injuries or weaknesses that you may have, no matter how minor you think they are. They should be able to help and advise on postures that will not aggravate your injury or condition, and should be able to advise on variations of the posture you can do. They may be even able to help with the injury.

For both the above points if your not happy with your instructor at either of them, then leave the class, this is better than getting an injury.

3. I have never liked the expression “No Pain, No Gain”, if it hurts at any time while getting into any yoga posture then STOP immediately; yoga should not cause you any pain. The next day you may feel stiff, especially if you have just started Yoga, but if you have real pain, get it checked out by a qualified professional, before trying again, and when you do go back to your yoga class let the instructor know.

4 Does your yoga teacher just stand at the front of the class telling you what to? In all the yoga classes I have ever been to, the instructor is constantly walking about all their students, checking everyone’s postures and making adjustments as they see necessary. If they remain at the front of the class they are not going to be able to check on everyone, so be beware of the stationary instructor.

5. Avoid any postures that can cause pain, and that are prone to cause injury. These postures can include the following the lotus, the plank, the downward facing dog or any headstands. Again check with your instructor, who should be able to advise you on what to avoid or any variations of the posture you could try.

Hopefully these pointers will help to keep you injury free in your yoga class. Remember yoga is meant to be an enjoyable experience, and if you are in pain that isn’t going to happen. As with anything if you have any doubts ask a qualified professional who should be able to help and advise.