I often get asked “Should I do yoga when I have an injury?” This is an interesting question and often the answer I give is yes, go and do some yoga!
Ana Forrest, the creatrix of Forrest Yoga, is renowned for always promoting that when you have an injury the first thing you should do is to get your mat out and practise.
However, I believe it also depends on what sort of class or yoga you are doing. The advice below is based on an active class, like my normal classes. If you are looking at doing a restorative class, then most injuries can safely be accommodated with restorative yoga.
For my normal classes, if you have almost any physical injury then coming to class could and mostly should help in your recovery. I always ask at the beginning of the class “Has anyone got any new injuries?” It is rare that anyone then shares their injury – I’ve got a sore neck, or I’ve pulled this muscle, and so on. But if you do let me know, then I should be able to help. I am also very happy for people to message me before booking, or come up and see me privately before we start.
My advice is that you should always tell your yoga teacher if you have an injury and let them guide you with the poses you may need to avoid and provide you with an alternative.
Here are some simple, general guidelines to follow if you do have an injury:
· Move slowly between poses – enter each pose gently and slowly
· Listen to your body and follow how you feel
· Breathe slowly, deeply and focus on moving your breath to the injured area
· Try to remain in poses for a little longer – particularly if you are feeling benefit from the pose. In any class it is always ok to move more slowly than the other students if that is what you need
· If you feel pain, tingling or in some cases numbness in an area, then slowly come out of the pose and either modify it or take an alternative. Remember it’s fine to ask your teacher for an alternative option.
However, this is all caveated with situations where you have been advised not to exercise by a consultant or doctor, maybe with you have deep internal injuries or are recovering from an operation. In these instances, it is normally best to rest and let the body repair.
If you have something infectious, a cold for example, it is best to stay at home; practising with a cold can be horrid as you can’t breathe easily and you just feel under the weather.
If you have a physical injury, doing a class maybe tricky, but learning to modify your practice to accommodate the injury in most cases will help. So, if you have injuries in the future, please come over and let me know at the beginning of the class or before it starts and then I can help provide some assistance, modifications, extra props etc., whatever may help you.