My 49 year-old friend Jane fell in love with yoga. After participating in a gentle class and practicing beginner poses at home using a book for guidance, Jane decided to begin attending a mixed level class. For several weeks Jane practiced with more confidence, fervor and frequency.
Jane’s love for her newfound physical abilities and improved mental concentration was exhilarating for her, and her mild muscle soreness was minor compared to the gains of her yoga practice.
When she began feeling a burning sensation on the side of her knee in poses such as Utkatasana and Warrior II, I suggested she take a few rest days from her yoga practice and ice the area.
Any increase of pace and intensity of a new physical endeavor, whether it be yoga, running, dancing, hiking or biking, will typically result in some muscle soreness the following day. D.O.M.S. (delayed onset muscle soreness) is not unexpected and can be seen as a positive sign that we’re probably recruiting new muscles in our activities.
However in Jane’s case, the sharp pain and burning at her side knee was a definite message to back off, and a sign of IT band syndrome described here. After resting and icing the area, her pain began to subside.
Interestingly, the same Asymmetrical Uttanasana pose that was so illuminating to my softball pitcher Cari (and that you can find in my blog post here), had the same therapeutic effect on Jane, and she was soon ready to resume her wonderful budding yoga practice.
At times we all push ourselves farther than we probably should. We need to listen to our bodies and know when the pain due to a physical limitation in our body rather than attempt to satisfy our ego.
What a great reminder to be gentle with ourselves! At any level, there can be an instinct to push ourselves beyond our limits in the quest to “be better” or somehow compete with ourselves or others. Bringing awareness and consciousness to the breath can be a good way of putting that in check. If the breath goes away, there’s a good chance one may not be ready for the Asana. Rather than risk injury, listening to one’s body can be a helpful tool to know when to slow down, deregulate, take a breath, and allow room for healthy growth – which takes time and patience!
Yes, Kelli and Anne. If the breath, the mind and listening to the messages of the body are not integrated, then the practice becomes rote and not very yogic or “tuned in”!
It is so important to listen to our body b/c every day we feel different physically and emotionally. I have a type A personality so when I first started practicing yoga I wanted to do every pose and was determined to get as deep as possible. I would compare myself to other people in the room and had a hard time controlling my breath. I rarely felt good after my yoga practices and didn’t understand why. Then I spent time discussing my feelings with my yoga instructor and she allowed me to see that yoga isn’t just about the physical aspect but about the mental and spiritual integration as well. It’s so important to be aware of what our body is telling us and to focus on our breath. If we don’t then we will have a greater chance of injury.
This article is a testament to how important it is to listen to what our body is telling us. I love to push myself and live a very actice lifestyle, it is hard for me to have a “rest day”. I now know that listening to what my body is telling me is imperative to my overall health!
Since our yoga teacher training on backbends (alignment & adjustment), I have been experiencing a popping in my low back. I have no pain, but have never had any “issues” in the past. Though it doesn’t raise an alarm (I am sure it is due to the new intensity and frequency of practice), I am still curious to know what may be going on. Anyone able to shed some light?
I learned this lesson the hard way after I starting training for a half marathon after never even running a mile. I did start slow but increased my miles in too short of time. I completed the half with terrible shin splints and a sore knee. One year later, I hade meniscul repair surgery on my knee. I wish I would have listened to my body rather than rationalize that I should be in a little pain.
It is so important to pace yourself in all aspects of life. Usually we always know, why don’t we always listen. Yoga is about turning inward and self study, I have to learn every day to pace myself as I love activity but what an important lesson to learn!
This brings a lot of light to just stopping to listen to what your body is saying. A lot of times I will not feel pain or discomfort till three days later while walking down the street, all of a sudden I will feel sharp pains in my legs or my shoulders will pop every time I raised my hand. Sometimes people are so hard on themselves when it comes to working out that they forget to take care of their body.
It’s easy to lose sight of this when we are so enthusiastic about doing what we love! Good reminder not to push!
Great advice! I am in teacher training and appreciate any help in how to advise a new student to grow safely in their practice.
A great reminder to leave our egos at the door and listen to our wonderful bodies. They tell us such amazing things if we just listen…
I’ve fallen victim to my ego taking over and pushing myself too far in poses…leaving me sore and HURT for days. I appreciate this post because it reminds me to be a gentle warrior with my body. NOT pushing into pain but mindfully working with it.
It is so important that everyone coming on to their mat to practice – actually not just practicing yoga but any form of physical activity, knows their limits to avoid causing any injuries to themselves. Everyone’s joints and muscles have different ROM’s (range of movements) and we must work with what we have and build on it as opposed to pushing the limits right from the get go and causing injury. We have to be mindful, aware and in tune with our mind and body at all times.
Listen. Feel. Adapt. I disagree that Jane went further than she should have or that she went beyond her limits when in fact she has so much more room for growth…and yes, even at 50. Her curiousity and human spirit will cause her to trip up from time to time, but because she did take a step back, her body then allowed her two steps forward. She was exactly where she needed to be – only problem being that she went 100mph getting there.
This story about Jane seems to be an excellent reminder that our muscles need to be slowly prodded and cajoled into becoming longer and stronger so they do not restrain our joints and cause us to possibly use the incorrect muscles to get to a pose in yoga. All that conpensating will lead us to missing out on some activities—possibly our favorite activities.
I agree with Nancy K’s post. It’s so tempting to go all out with new found confidence (in any new endeavour, really). This was a good reminder to pace myself because getting injured costs precious time!
I often see new students, taking advantage of studio promos, like “two weeks for $20″. They want to get their money’s worth, so they come to classes every day for two weeks and they really beat themselves up. In the end, we all have gone further than we should in a class for one reason or another. It’s important to have compassion for ourselves, then soak in a nice warm Epsom Salt bath. The magnesium soaks in to the skin and helps soothe and relax muscle fibers. I also use homeopathic Arnica – both the pellets and the creme on sore areas. But if you really over do it and sense there is some inflammation happening, best to ice it and give it a few days rest until the inflammation calms down before going back to class.
It happens to so many people. They rush into an exercise program looking for instant results. They don’t bother to listen or take care of their body. It is so important to learn about your body and its limitations and pace yourself accordingly.
It is actually very easy to get fatigued or injured from any physical activity if you’re new to it, not listening to your body, letting your ego get in the way or are given poor and limited instruction / expertise. Rest and easing off the brake is good advise. Better advise is to learn more about your body so that you can understand how it functions and move – it’s a fascinating subject. Gill and her yoga tune up is doing exactly that by encouraging people to take responsibility for the knowledge of their bodies. If you don’t have time that’s a shame but there are plenty of experts in the body field out there to help and guide. Hope you’re friend continues her journey of health and fitness successfully and mindfully. Injury in itself forces us to learn !
Totally agree with Dianna! Once the ego gets involved in the practice (or any new physical activity) we put ourselves at risk. As a teacher my job is to keep the people in my class safe, I am also responsible for keeping folks coming back to my classes. What I have seen (especially teaching at gyms) is that often the practitioner will want a “more advanced” or difficult class, but as I look at their bodies and how they are moving I can see that it would not be in their best interest. I find myself having to confront their egos by trying to educate them on the benefits of pacing themselves and understanding alignment first.
Thank you for this Bonnie. It’s always a great reminder to tune in and listen to our bodies, as they always know best. Your body will tell you what is too much and when to back off if you are fully tuned in. Often in exercise we see people push themselves to the limit with great ambition to achieve, and we need to continue to educate those we work with that ambition should be re-focused on long-term health in our joints, bodies, muscles, tendons, tissues, organs, and minds. Yoga Tune-Up is the type of process promoting a long-term plan of rejuvination, re-tuning, re-learning, and living better in our bodies.
It’s important to listen to your body as beginners. I think it’s easy to get caught up in trying to execute every pose perfectly that we forget that sometimes our body isn’t ready for them or that shooting pain is telling them to take a step back and just relax.