July | 2014 | Percolate Yoga

I have spent, and still do spend, a lot of my life feeling obligated to do certain things. I guess it’s a bit complicated to explain; and, anyway, I never really noticed it until the drama of graduate school (I guess we can call that my existential crisis). I’ve noticed that many other people experience this internal belief as well—that they have to be a particular way or do certain things, and/or in a specific way. Spoiler alert: it’s all related to judgement and how we judge ourselves. But we’ll get to that later.

One thing that I love about yoga—that I didn’t notice about it until after about eight years of practice—is that it demands nothing of me. I don’t have to do yoga. I don’t have to do a downward-facing dog pose; I don’t have to do asana first, pranayama second, and meditation third; I don’t have to practice for at least 50 minutes at a time for it to be “worth it”; I don’t even have to roll out my mat every day. I don’t have to do a damn thing. It’s really such a relief.

…And yet I continue to do yoga. Over and over again, I roll out my mat and try out postures with my body. Sometimes I meditate, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I meditate without doing postures. Sometimes I practice breathing exercises in the car or when waiting in line. For nine years now, I’ve continued to do yoga—and I will (more than likely) continue to do postures until my body won’t let me anymore. Not because I have to, but because I choose to do so.

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Given that the formerly-taboo topic of injuries from yoga has been cropping up in my personal reading recently, I thought I would write a short list of advice on avoiding personal injury. A lot of yoga situations (teachers in classes, articles in journals, etc) seem to tell us that if we just “listen to our bodies,” then we will know when to push farther and when to ease back. However, the evidence is showing that yogis around the nation are not actually learning where this line might be.¹

First and foremost, let’s keep in mind that “injury-prevention” in yoga can often be in both the physical and “subtle” realms. As you have probably heard many times, yoga is based in a philosophy of non-harming: do not intentionally harm yourself or others. This is often discussed in the context of asanas (or yoga-on-the-mat)—do not harm your body; but let’s also remember that we are not to intentionally harm our souls, either.

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1. Check in with your body often. At the beginning of class, spend some moments of full attention on various parts of your body. Notice if anything feels tweaky or uncomfortable. Continue reading →