This article was written for Yoga Therapy Irelands Spring 2024 Magazine.

There was a time when I thought that, for my physical health, all I needed was Yoga.

I thought that if I was dedicated to my practice and if I learned how to align myself correctly in each pose, that the difficult poses, like Chaturanga and Handstands, would one day be achievable, that I would become stronger.

I practiced and practiced and yet so many of the poses remained out of my reach. It was frustrating, but not only that… I started to feel sore after my practice and not the good sore, not the kind you get from worked muscles (otherwise known as DOMS - Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). This was different! I had wrist pain, pelvic pain and back pain, and it wasn’t going away.

Now, before I go further, I want to acknowledge a couple of things…

1. Yes, hands up, I was striving in my practice to achieve poses and we all know that that’s not what Yoga is all about – Yoga is so much more than the physical practice. But… with approx. 80% of a typical Yoga class being physical practice, I’m guessing I’m not alone.

2. I also want to acknowledge that it is possible, that this approach might work for some, maybe it worked for you? If it did, I’m guessing that you began your Yoga practice with a big enough baseline of strength to allow you to use your body weight as a progressive load,

let me explain…

If you were to begin a strength training programme you would access your current level of strength, simply by trying to lift something heavy (like a dumbbell), from there you would slowly (over weeks, months and years), progressively add load. This is one of the rules of strength training - Progressive Overload. And it is based on the SAID Principle, which state that our bodies respond to the demands placed upon it -

Specific Adaptions to Implied Demands,

When you begin Yoga the heavy thing that you are given to lift is your body! Now if you have a sufficient baseline of strength, you might be able to manage this weight and slowly progress to lifting your body weight more easily, for longer, in more challenging positions by Progressive Overloading the muscles.

However, if like me, you didn’t have that baseline of strength… well attempting to align myself out of my strength deficit to be able to achieve Handstand or Chaturanga was never going to work because that’s not how getting strong works.

Is this why I was getting injured? It’s impossible to tell The causes of pain are multifactorial and not just about our tissues, there are so many factors potentially at play. However, I think it’s wise to apply another strength training rule here – the not too fast and not too heavy rule.

Now this might sound like Yoga bashing but it is not!

I adore Yoga and as I mentioned above, Yoga is so much more than the physical practice and achieving physical goals. If you’re a Yoga practitioner you’ll know what I mean, but that’s a conversation for another day…

So I was not about to give up my beloved Yoga, but what to do?

I wanted to continue to practice and I wanted my students to continue to practice and I wanted to do it a way that felt true to me. I needed to progress my practice and my teachings to reflect what I had learned over the years, through my practice and through my trainings. I wanted my students to understand the principles of building strength so that they too had the tools to progress, whatever their goals.

So, I got creative

I started, (apologetically at first, I have to admit), to add props to my Yoga Classes. Adding props can seem daunting and maybe even untrue to the Yoga traditions. But the use of what we consider traditional props like blocks and chairs are also relatively new additions to the practice, thanks to BKS Iyengar.

These days my Yoga students are no longer surprised to see a variety of props in the room, like resistance bands, hand weights and my personal favourite gliders! Again, with some creativity, the use of the more traditional props like chairs and blankets can also provide some super strength building opportunities.

As for pain and injury, we know from science and research that it is complicated. However, the research leaves us in no doubt that the key to improving our health, resilience and longevity is variety of movement So, whatever your preferred movement practice, don’t be afraid to mix it up, make it varied, make it progressive and make it fun!

This article was published in Yoga Therapy Irelands Spring 2024 Issue no. 89

Images within the article with thanks to Freepik