 The answer is -YES! The first and foremost goal is to find ways to practice yoga without pain. You may feel discomfort with yoga, but you should never feel pain. The old saying, ”no pain, no gain” went out the window at the beginning of yoga 5000 years ago. There would be no reason to think now would be the time to change such history! Let’s say you have bad knees-There are many ways to accommodate a knee situation. Criss crossing 2 mats is a good way to start. Lay the first mat down side to side. Take the second mat front to back over the top of the first mat, forming a cross. You want the working mat to be on top so your toes don’t trip over the edge when stepping through poses.(See photos with Heidi and Tina demonstrating) Now you can stand at the front of the mat for sequencing, step to the back of the mat for say, down dog with hands at the front. Or have one foot at the back, one at the front for standing poses. Now that your feet and hands are stable at the front and back, you can kneel on the double part of the mat—cushioning for the knees while keeping grounded with the feet and hands!! Easy to do and a relief for those who have a hard time kneeling. Use of props, modifying and adjusting poses are also ways to help out those knees. Depending on your knee issues, some poses may not be for you. If you encounter pain in a pose, back off of the pose, assess your alignment and use of props, modify as necessary (this is where your trained yoga professional can help pinpoint) then gently approach the pose again. Never push – go only as far as your body or knees want you to…and then breathe into the pose. Again, if a pose is painful, adjustments need to be made, which can include doing a different pose. Yoga is not a competition, so don’t worry if you think you are not going as far into a pose as someone next to you. Honor your own body and you will then receive the benefits of the pose. There are no benefits with pain!! Just because one body part is not 100%, does not mean you should chuck the whole idea out-Yoga is for the entire body, with special attention to accommodate parts that may be in less than perfect condition. Until the next time…Namaste!--Laurie Write your post here. |
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