Although yoga is a relatively safe practice, injury is possible. As in any type of exercise or sport, the best medicine is to prevent an injury in the first place. There are a few things you can do to reduce your risk for common injuries in yoga, such as muscle strain and tearing of the ligaments.
Many injuries happen because the person is pushing beyond her capacity. Whether you are just starting yoga, or are moving on to intermediate or advanced classes, take it slow when you are learning new poses.
Another potential problem is a previous injury or injury prone areas of the body. The knees, hamstrings, wrists and shoulders are potential problem areas in some people. Take care to not overstretch, which can result in injury. In some cases, this is due to differences in flexibility level. For example, if you have tight hamstrings, but push into an asana and don’t listen to your body, you may be more likely to experience a pulled muscle or other injury.
Always remember that yoga is not a competition. No one expects you to perform every asana perfectly from the first class. Some have trouble with this concept, sometimes due to a competitive nature or a misplaced need to please the teacher. Trained yoga teachers instruct students to modify poses as needed.
Don’t compete with other students in the class or try to be perfect. If you are feeling pain or discomfort, move into a modification of the pose. Continuing to push beyond that point or hold the pose when you are hurting increases the risk of injury to your muscles or joints.
Your choice of a yoga instructor can prevent injury. An experienced, qualified yoga teacher will work with you on your fitness and flexibility level and can suggest modifications to poses based on your needs. When selecting a class at a studio or gym, don’t be embarrassed to ask about the training and experience of the teacher.
If you are practicing at home with a DVD, choose one that has modifications for poses or is designed for your individual level of flexibility and experience. Reading the description of the DVD or reviews can help you find a good practice with modifications. Most DVDs of this type use a main instructor doing the full poses and two or more other people in the group doing modifications of poses.
When starting out and progressing in your practice, always move slowly. Don’t do the modifications the first two times and then expect to be in the full pose for every minute of the practice. This isn’t realistic and may cause you to try to move to the next level before you are ready, which leads to injury. Remember that it is the journey that is important, not a fixed destination of performing every asana correctly in a short period of time.