It hurts so bad!

I don't know what I did! Dare I say a yoga pose caused me injury?

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Honestly, not sure if I slept funny or if I pulled something in a yoga class. I can't isolate the exact moment it happened....But it hurts so bad!!

On two separate occasions, recently, I've had two students let me know that after one of my yoga classes they left with something not quite feeling right. My heart DROPPED! I really hate for yoga to cause anyone injury...I can somewhat deal with it if it's my own body...but when a yoga class I teach causes a student to leave in pain....well...I'm just saddened.

I want to pinpoint the exact moment, pose, sequence..... where it happened, break it down and fix it for future classes...and at the same time I want to unwind the clock and not teach the sequence or pose that caused the pain.

As I think about pain and this entire topic, the one thing that keeps coming to mind is 'living in the moment'. Pain forces us to live in this exact moment, pain brings finite attention to something within that is hurting, we feel it in this very moment...and this very moment....ooohhh and this very moment!

It might also be said that if we lived in each moment as they occur, we can transition through our day mindfully, transition through our yoga poses on the mat mindfully....therefore eliminating some of the unintentional pain we cause ourselves by not being intentional with our movement and actions.

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That being said, life is life and sometimes we sleep funny unintentionally, sometimes our minds are bogged down by something else and we hurt ourselves...and sometimes @#$% happens. A few simple techniques that make complete sense, that we often forget about when it hurts so bad:

• Check the Ego at the door
• Breathe consciously 
• Purposefully release the jaw 
• Stretch...don't stop moving just because one part of your body hurts
• Hydrate - drink water or veggies high in water content- this will help your body heal faster
• If nothing else works - distract yourself with a walk, a board game with your family, call a friend to chat, fall into a juicy novel or movie
• Practice any sport safely, including yoga
• Learn from your prior movements
• Remember...you are the master of your own body, listen to it! 
• You do NOT have to listen to everything your teacher says - trust your intuition and achy joints

I often say in class, "remember...you don't have to do everything the teacher says to do" -- I almost always get laughs when I say this, but it is absolutely true. As a teacher, we typically can NOT be in every persons body, joints, muscles, etc. - so you have to trust your instincts and your body first and foremost. We are here to guide and teach technique - but you are always and should always be first and foremost responsible for your movement and actions. 

Some great yoga injury prevention tips:

• Yoga injury prevention tips
• Leave the Ego off the Mat
• Can Yoga be Dangerous
• Dear Yoga.....I blame myself
• Bringing Balance to the Legs