Inspiring a Yoga Practice Pt 2

Yoga Works for Injury Prevention and Complements Physiotherapy for Rehabilitation.

Injuries can occur at any time during our day to day lives and can cause chronic and debilitating pain. It is not only sports people or very active people that are at risk of getting injured. Many people suffer with a condition called Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), which can happen if we do the same thing repeatedly over time. It is usually caused by overuse of a certain area of the musculoskeletal system, such as constantly looking down, which puts excessive strain on the neck and shoulders. Even bad posture can cause RSI and lead to tension in other areas of the body. Symptoms of tension, pain and wear and tear usually present in the injured area. RSI can occur even when you are in what feels like a rested physical state. If the muscles being used to support and maintain a correct posture are weak or not correctly engaged, the surrounding muscles will be working extra hard to compensate. You may not realise this is happening until you’ve already developed the injury.

Acute injuries are different and Yoga is a preventative method for these types of injuries too, whilst also being a Complementary Therapy for rehabilitation. Examples of acute injuries are a torn knee ligament from playing sports, or a pulled back muscle from lifting something too heavy or having an incorrect posture. Acute injuries can even happen during everyday activities like getting out of a car or reaching for something.

If you have a soft tissue injury, before taking up a Yoga practice, you should first seek advice and treatment from a qualified Physiotherapist. This will get you on the right track for a speedy and structured recovery with a personalised programme.

'Prevention is Better than Cure'.

So, how can Yoga help to reduce the risk of injury?

A regular practice that includes a combination of mindfulness, correct breathing and physical postures will soon start to make you feel stronger, stable, supple, better aligned, more agile and flexible. Your spinal health will improve as well as your sleep, posture and overall sense of wellbeing. Yoga accelerates your own built-in healing system. All of these contribute to the prevention and rehabilitation of many different injuries. Yoga increases blood flow and improves lymphatic circulation so is detoxifying, energising and cleansing too. There should be many moments of ‘aahhh’ throughout a well led practice, as you release built-up tension and let go of stress in body and mind.

Side Plank / Vasisthasana is a challenging posture that strengthens and tones the wrists, shoulders, arms and core, whilst improving overall balance and coordination. There is a modified version for beginners.

A strong, supple, flexible body holds itself up with grace and strength.

Introducing a Yoga practice at any life stage will benefit the future of your health and reduce the risk of many chronic conditions and injuries.

If you are completely new to Yoga, it is best practice to begin by acknowledging your limits whilst reaching for your goals with confidence and self-awareness. A lack of confidence or being overly confident are risk factors for injuries!

Dos and Don’ts in a class environment:

·       Don’t try and keep up with a group class if it’s not meeting you where you are

·       Don’t be afraid to sit out a posture or sequence that doesn’t feel right for your body

·       Do have the confidence to ask the teacher for additional support if you need it

·       Do check the teacher’s credentials and experience before signing up to a class

·       Don’t feel under pressure to keep up (hello tension!)

·       Do relax into the practice and accept it won’t ever be perfect

·    Do take what you've learned in class and practice at home if you can

·       Do seek out advice from a medical professional if you have an injury and you’re unsure if Yoga is suitable for you at this time

·  Don’t give up at the first hurdle (remember, 'no challenge, no change').

Every single person's body is unique and it really is about finding a class/teacher to suit you. Yoga should never cause pain. It is a healing modality and holistic in nature, so if your intuition says "no, this is not right," then believe it and stop.

Mindfulness

Not only in Yoga, but in most wellbeing practices, there is a state of conscious awareness which is referred to as ‘mindfulness’. When we are being mindful, we are more focused and aware of the felt experience rather than being attached to random thoughts. Mindfulness automatically, and quite magically, makes us slow our pace down, which can prevent many different injuries. If we are not being mindful, the body moves on autopilot and often out of sync with the task at hand. This is when slips, trips, sprains and strains are more likely to happen. We can develop the skill of mindfulness through a regular practice and this is a fundamental part of Yoga. To attain the postures, we must be embodied and aware with the correct muscles engaged. The more we practice this on the mat, the more we condition ourselves to default to this state of mind off the mat. Yoga teachers will encourage mindfulness with things like a Drishti (gaze), a Mudra (hand gesture) or a focus on a certain muscle group or energy centre. Breath control also encourages mindfulness and this is at the core of a Yoga practice.

Correct Breathing

Why do we often hold our breath? Seriously, we hold our breath a lot of the time. When we are busy, stressed, rushing, caught up in overthinking or overdoing, and even when doing Yoga! This can cause tension to build up in the soft tissues and things may feel tight. You may also struggle to relax. Holding your breath or shallow breathing can be a cause of injury because your body is more likely to be holding on to unnecessary tension. When you are breathing fully and freely, you are more likely to be soft and relaxed with a greater range of motion.

Try this:

From a standing position, gently fold forward without force and try and touch your toes, then come back up to standing. Next, take a deep breath in as you reach your arms up high above your head, then as you exhale (slowly and controlled) lean over with a straight and strong spine, hinging from your hips until you feel the need to round your spine, then go to touch your toes again.

The correct breathing technique alone can make this feel 10x easier and you will always go further into any type of stretch when you exhale into it. When we breath fully, we create space, the heart rate slows down and the nervous system goes into a parasympathetic state (the opposite of busy/stress mode). The body then moves more freely and those poses that look unachievable soon become within reach.

Diaphragmatic breathing is essential in a Yoga practice and a good teacher will guide you to breathe correctly so you get the most out of your practice. Correct breathing prevents tension and allows for a much more enjoyable and steady flow through the physical postures.

Physical Postures

Active and static stretching increases the length of our muscles. 'This results in a potential increase to our muscles' power and therefore increases our athletic ability, while also leading to an improvement in dynamic balance, or the ability to control our muscles.' - The Anatomy of Stretching by Brad Walker

Yoga is a journey, and a very personal one at that. Let’s come away from those picture-perfect, filtered Yoga postures demonstrated on social media and focus on everyday people with everyday challenges. Despite thinking some postures are out of reach (even for me as a teacher, some of them feel that way!), you can build strength, flexibility, stamina and a never quit attitude with the right guidance and support. The key to achieving this is repetition. If you feel weak, keep going and practice steadily until you feel stronger. If you can't practice the postures, focus on your breath control. If you feel disheartened because today you couldn’t balance on one leg, try again tomorrow, and the next day too. In time, and with patience and determination, you will get stronger. Think of it as the building blocks to injury prevention. Each time you show up to practice, you are adding more blocks and decreasing your chances of injury.

Upward facing Dog Pose / Urdhva Mukha Svanasana is a back bend that helps to counteract the damage caused from being in a hunched position. It stretches the chest, front of the neck and intercostal muscles, whilst building strength in the wrists and arms.

Certain postures and sequences benefit certain areas of the body and each practice should include a suitable warm-up and cool down, just like any other type of exercise.

Are you inspired to get moving?

Why not come along to a class at Anglesey Wellbeing and join us in our rustic and cosy log cabin. Click here to find out more, or email Rebecca at info@angleseywellbeing.co.uk