Why Listening to Your Physique May Not Be Sufficient

For those who follow yoga, you’ve in all probability heard the entreaty, “Take heed to your physique.” It’s good, sound recommendation. If you embark on any bodily follow, it’s essential to know and respect your physique’s limits. Tuning in and listening to your physique and what it’s attempting to speak to you every time you follow is important not solely to your physique’s well being, however to the expansion of your follow. How else can you actually know the consequences of an asana?

As lecturers, we will’t really know what one other individual is feeling in his/her physique. So encouraging college students to develop their very own physique consciousness is essential. Though listening to your physique, and inspiring your college students to take action, is essential, generally it isn’t sufficient to maintain your physique protected.

3 Causes Why Listening to Your Physique May Not Be Sufficient

Physique Consciousness Is Not a Given

A few of us come to follow with pretty refined physique consciousness, whereas others come to follow barely capable of perceive what they’re feeling even when it’s under no circumstances delicate. This disparity may be the results of some individuals having already engaged in a lot of bodily exercise whereas others haven’t. An individual who has suffered bodily or emotional trauma may very well be both hyper-aware of bodily sensation, or may need developed a mechanism to close down excessive sensation. Regardless of the purpose, it’s protected to imagine that each pupil who involves your yoga courses isn’t experiencing the identical degree of physique consciousness. So not each pupil will be capable to belief his/her listening abilities, no less than at first. That is the place an skilled trainer who is aware of the way to assess alignment integrity is so essential. And alignment integrity doesn’t look the identical for each individual—people should not cookie cutters.

Ligament Ache Might Not Present Up within the Second

Even when your physique consciousness could be very refined, there are occasions once you may be hurting your self inadvertently. A pose could really feel positive within the second, however in some circumstances, the ache response may very well be delayed. For instance, chances are you’ll not really feel overstretched ligaments till the following day. As soon as ligaments are overstretched, they don’t return to their authentic size. Over time, constantly over stretching ligaments can destabilize your joints. Refraining from pushing to your absolute edge is sensible, wholesome follow, to your ligaments in addition to your cartilage (up subsequent!).

Joint Injury is Usually Hidden—Till it Isn’t

A stickier, extra long-term situation is the potential for joint injury, particularly within the hip joints. Our acetabula (the sockets of the hip joints) are lined with a cartilaginous floor known as the “labrum.” As well as, cartilage covers the heads of our femur bones. The cartilage on each surfaces permits the ball and socket to articulate easily and freely. Cartilage has no enervation, so we will’t really feel the ball and socket articulating with one another. After we make a behavior of pushing or collapsing into our joints—this particularly applies to the bendier of us—the cartilage can tear or put on down over time. We don’t really feel cartilage injury till the cartilage is gone, after which it’s usually too late. Thankfully, hip substitute surgical procedure has improved by leaps and bounds. However a greater concept can be to keep away from over stretching our joints within the first place.

How Can Yoga Academics Assist?

As lecturers, we should always encourage college students to take heed to their our bodies, and assist them perceive that ache and discomfort are indicators to again off, to not maintain going. However we additionally want to coach ourselves to know what collapsing right into a joint seems like. Among the poses that individuals generally collapse or push into their hip joints embrace excessive hip openers—suppose Kapotasana (Pigeon), Hanumanasana (splits), Anjaneyasana (lunges) and Yoga Nidrasana (ankle behind the pinnacle). (Do you actually need to place your ankle behind your head to get pleasure from a grace-filled life?)

Backbends is usually a downside as nicely as a result of there’s a bent to push into your hip joints to get that further few millimeters of peak. And that ubiquitous instruction about preserving your pelvis squared in standing poses? Please don’t do it. Let the hip of your again leg rotate inward so that you simply keep continuity between the legs and pelvis. This goes for twists as nicely.

Listening to your physique is important. You may keep away from quite a lot of current and future struggling by merely paying consideration. But in addition, do do not forget that simply because the whole lot feels positive within the second, it will not be in the long term. Know what regular vary of movement is to your joints. And keep in mind: Nowhere in yoga’s texts does it say that pushing previous your limits is nice follow. Bear in mind shtira (stability) and sukkha (ease) from Sutra 2.46? (Translated: The bodily physique ought to be regular and comfy.) For those who’re going to place power into something in your follow, intention for a stability between these two qualities. And end up an skilled trainer who is aware of what which means.

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and started instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the creator of Conscious Yoga, Conscious Life: A Information for On a regular basis Apply and Yoga for Meditators, each revealed by Rodmell Press. Her third ebook is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and people sextet Crimson Rock Rondo, whose DVD received two Emmy awards in 2010.