Have you ever started to really get into a great routine, only to have an injury sideline you a few months later?! UGHHHHHH! 

Maybe you took on a 10k race with too little training and pulled a hamstring. Or lifted a squirming toddler out of their car seat and strained your shoulder.

Perhaps you decided the cords of the fans in a VERY tall room needed to be wrangled RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT and found out you indeed could NOT fly when falling off a very tall ladder. 

You get the point…Whatever the cause of the injury, stopping yoga because you’re injured is a total bummer. But…

YOU ACTUALLY DON’T HAVE TO STOP PRACTICING YOGA WHEN YOU GET INJURED.

There. I said it. I know…shocking! In fact, I’ll take it a step further and strongly suggest that instead:

YOU CAN INCREASE YOUR YOGA PRACTICE WHEN YOU GET INJURED.

Say whaaaaat?

Now I know you might be thinking that intense stretching or a strenuous workout may not be what you need to help heal your injury. I’d never suggest recklessly pulling and kicking and stretching and pushing your way through an advanced yoga class.

What I am suggesting, however, is that you consider yoga to be a form of therapy, a modality of healing that will help you recover from your injury while simultaneously keeping you in shape, both physically and mentally.

As some of you might know… I SUCK at being injured! (whhhhhaaaaat? NO WAY!! NOT YOU!)

There’s no way around it … having an injury for me was a whole new level of SUCK. Especially since my“life” kinda revolves around being active (and I have “no chill” as my kids like to point out).

First I was determined not to let myself get out of practice.

Then I got frustrated that I couldn’t  do it 100% (100% is easy, 90% is a bitch!!) Then I got unmotivated.

And then I stopped all together. NOOOO!!!!

As a yoga teacher, this does NOT fly! 

Lesson learned:

1. I am NOT my “best self” when I don’t practice
2. Starting over is HARD! 

Life happens. Injuries happen. Flare ups occur. When you have a setback, you shouldn’t stop coming to class; rather, you just need to tweak your approach. 

So…here are a few tips from one injured to another:

1.SPEAK UP!

This is arguably the most important point. If you have something going on, tell your teacher…For real.

We got into this business because we love helping people feel their best (sounds all rainbows and unicorns but it’s true!).

Seriously … when a student comes out of class and says, “I feel great!” It makes our whole week!

If we learn that a student is suffering in silence, it breaks our hearts! WE CAN HELP YOU. If you let your teacher know what injury you’re dealing with, or even if you just slept funny and your neck feels tight, we can give you tips and info on how to NOT aggravate the tender area.

2.PRACTICE IN THE BACK ROW (OR A “LOW PRESSURE” SPOT)

When you practice right up front, sometimes there’s this subconscious pressure to work super hard and never take a break and go to your max even when you’re not feeling up to it. Even when the teacher says, “take care of yourself.” Take that pressure completely off by going somewhere in the yoga room where you feel like you don’t have to be “on.” Think this sounds a little out-there? Give it a try. It might surprise you.

3.MOVE SLOWLY

While you’re in the back row, take this opportunity to move super slowly into and out of the postures. You might find you can’t go as deep (no problem) and you might uncover a movement that’s aggravating the injury. Moving slowly and intentionally helps you to tune in with every creak and tightness your body is holding, and when you get to that place where you know the injury is living, you can breathe into and not force your way beyond.

4.USE YOUR STRENGTH

This takes a tremendous amount of concentration and self-control. Tell yourself before the class begins that you’re not going to be working to build flexibility, but to use your body’s strength to hold the postures. This will help keep you from collapsing into a pose as well as building strength around the injury.

5.ADJUST YOUR EXPECTATIONS

Tell yourself right out of the gate that you’re not going to do too much, but what you are going to do will be so incredibly therapeutic. This is a classic case of “a little bit goes a long way” as well as “too much is no good.” When you have an injury, shift your expectation or goal away from yoga being your workout to yoga being your physical therapy.

6.BOOK A PRIVATE LESSON

There’s nothing more valuable than one-on-one instruction. You’ll uncover a wealth of information and knowledge by working directly with your teacher, focusing on just you, your body, what’s hurting, and how to best try the postures. I think every yogi should do a private lesson twice a year anyway regardless of injury. Your body is constantly changing, and it’s wise to stay familiar with yourself.

When you’re not feeling your best, especially when you can tell your teacher the specifics about your injury or ailment (e.g. a herniated disc, recent surgery, etc.) together you will figure out how the postures feel the best and how practicing them will aid in your healing and recovery.

7.NO PAIN = ALL GAIN!

You know the saying, “no pain, no gain?” Well not in yoga. Yoga has the potential to create such healing throughout  all the systems of the body, so understand that if you experience pain in a posture, something’s not right. And it must be changed to get you back into that yoga-therapy zone. 

This circles back to point #1 about speaking up, so if at any time you create pain, please please please let your teacher know! He or she will be able to help you adjust your postures so the alignment is more correct, and so the posture feels better right away. 

So there you have it: 7 super simple hacks to feel amazing in class even when you have an injury! Remember that it’s often about doing less, keeping your teachers informed, and being gentle with both your body and your expectations that helps to create the therapeutic effect.

Have an injury and aren’t sure if you should keep practicing yoga? Read on…

LET’S REALLY THINK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CONTINUE PRACTICING YOGA AFTER SUSTAINING AN INJURY:

1. You connect with your body on a deeper level because you’re listening to what it’s telling you, if it hurts, when to back off, and when to push forward.
2. You stay in shape. Plain and simple you continue your yoga routine, so while there may be certain moves or postures on which you have to go easy, chances are there are many others on which you continue to improve.
3. You stay in your yoga groove. Even if you can’t do much in class depending on the injury, you continue with your habit and routine of simply going to the yoga class. I often say that the most challenging posture is just getting yourself to the studio. Once you’re out of the routine of practicing that, it’s very hard to get back in.
4. You heal your injury. And this is the biggest perk of all because yoga, while keeping you in shape, is helping to give the injury circulation, stretching, weight-bearing, and balance that it needs.

Of course you’ll want to talk to your teachers about how to best modify or moderate certain postures depending on what you have going on in the injury-department. When we do yoga through an injury, we get a lot of practice in getting our egos in check. We realize we can’t do everything, nor should we in order to heal.

CONSIDER THIS:

Many people start yoga in the first place because they have an injury. This was true for me.

The amazing aspect about yoga when it comes to injuries is that if something hurts, you can back off, do a little less, and still receive tremendous benefit.

Yoga is not an all or nothing deal. You don’t have to be super flexible or have crazy strength in order to receive the benefit from the posture, especially when you have an injury.

A little bit goes a long way. Less is more.

Does that make sense?

You can be the most beat up, beginner, inflexible yogi, and still receive maximum benefit from the postures. You don’t have to be perfect. The postures don’t have to look pretty. You just have to be.

SO IF YOU’RE INJURED, DON’T STAY AWAY FROM YOUR YOGA CLASS!

Get yourself to the studio. Ask your instructors for help. And treat your practice like a form of therapy and a dose of medicine that will help you heal.