Yoga & Golf

Practicing Yoga Safely – What That Actually Means

Many moons ago, when I was a new yoga teacher, I had an overwhelming fear of someone getting hurt in one of my classes.  More so than anything else, this fear propelled me to learn more about the body, movement mechanics, and anatomy.  In pursuing the end of "keeping students safe", I inadvertently discovered a true passion for Therapeutic Yoga and helping people reduce and eliminate pain.   

Whether you're in a Therapeutic Yoga class, a beginner or novice Yogi (one who practices yoga), or are kicking butt and sweating buckets in an advanced vinyasa practice or hot yoga, the guidelines for how to practice are always the same:    

• There should never - ever - be pain in a pose.

• You should always be able to breathe evenly in a pose.

• There should be no repetitive clicking, grinding or clunking in the joints.

• Think of a "1 to 10" scale of stretch.  The ideal stretch is between 2-7 out of 10.  Anything more and there's a risk of overdoing it - possibly setting the stage for hypermobility over time, pulled muscles, damage to muscle attachments, ligaments and tendons.

• The "edge" that we talk about in yoga ALWAYS includes the ability to breathe.  More often than not, if someone's going to their maximum stretch (or strength), they can't breathe easily, and they're clenching needlessly somewhere in the body.  Thus, they're creating tension instead of relieving it.

• Even if a pose is challenging, it should always entail a sense of ease and freedom of breath.

• Every body is not meant to do the same pose the same way.  Just as we are all physically different, so too must our poses differ.  We need to "be where we are" and not practice "where we wish we were".   If this entails using props or working with pose modifications, so be it.  Ask your instructor for help if you need it!

• If something feels "wrong", it probably is.  Stop the offending movement immediately and ask your teacher for alternatives.  Similarly, if you need to take  a break, take it.  Your yoga should proceed at your pace and at the level of intensity that's right for you.

• OUR GREATEST ALLY IN STAYING SAFE IN YOGA IS OUR ABILITY TO FEEL WHAT WE FEEL AS WE FEEL IT.  Possibly the biggest potential pitfall in yoga is when the ego is in charge.  It takes us out of a space in which we can freely observe.  It's when the ego takes hold of our practice or poses, imposing competitiveness, striving and ambition, that we are most vulnerable to injury.

• In a nutshell, get out of a thinking space and into a feeling space.  In yoga, the body knows best.

I sincerely hope that you will bear these simple strategies in mind while you practice, and share them with anyone you think could use the guidance.  In my 12-year-and-counting yoga practice, these principles continue to be my best defence against injury on the mat.  Yoga is endlessly fascinating, restorative and invigorating when I approach it with curiosity and humility; allowing it to teach me, instead of trying to impose my will on it.

Leonor Mowry
October 2009

Leonor is the director of Village Yoga in Toronto’s Forest Hill Village.  She is the author of “Advancing Your Yoga Practice: The Art of Slowing Down”, Director of Yoga Walks for the Toronto Trails Festival and Ontario Walks.  She can be reached at info@villageyoga.ca or 416.487.2812.

For more information visit www.villageyoga.ca

Village Yoga Studio & Healing Therapies
Forest Hill Village
329 Lonsdale Road 2nd Floor at Spadina
Toronto, Ontario, M4V 1X3