Stop this crazy Yoga!

At the post-practice coffee this morning we had a lively discussion about injuries.

I’m sure you’ve never done this yourself ; )

My recent back injury was the trigger for the conversation. It went something like this:

Every person who I told about my injury who doesn’t do Yoga suggested I stop doing it.  My Dad in particular was rather vocal: “Guy you must stop this crazy Yoga!” I patiently tried to explain (again) that my injury was caused by me not listening to my body and that it wasn’t the Yoga that was doing it to me. This was followed by a long silence on the phone.

When having this conversation face to face this is normally the point when people start rolling their eyes and looking rather bored. With a “if you’re not going to take my advice then you deserve it” attitude. I’m exaggerating for effect slightly here but not much.

So am I crazy to continue to practice through my injury? In the quest to get some answers I’ve been to a doctor, osteopath and sports masseur and spoken to nearly everyone I know about back injuries.

Noone knows what is wrong with my back. I have no answers. I’m on the waiting list for a referral to the back clinic which could take a few months. I’m skeptical that I’ll get any answers there either.

So I’m faced with taking responsibility for my injury and recovery, how do I do this? I make mistakes (mostly) and I do my best to listen to my body. I know we’ve all heard it before in virtually every Yoga class or workshop “Just listen to your body”. Well it took a very painful experience for me to start listening. If you’d asked me 2 months ago if I was “listening to my body” I would have been rather offended at even being asked.

I now have a zero tolerance attitude towards any pain in my back when I practice, I bend my knees as much as I need to when doing forward bends and I’m real gentle on my back-bends.