Benefiting from the unbearable - Pain in our yoga practice

Pain is without doubt an integral part of yoga practice. But is it really something that should be avoided at all costs? Of course pain is our body's way of telling us that it's not comfortable with the posture we're holding. Throughout our practice we should be conscious and listen to our body's messages. To really start gaining the benefits of yoga we need to practice to make the unbearable bearable.

There’s pain and then there’s PAIN
Before going any further, it’s important to understand that there are two different types of pain you can experience when practicing and your reaction to each should be very different.
The first kind of pain is bad pain, and should be avoided to prevent serious injuries. Bad pain is a sharp shooting pain that you could experience as you are entering into the posture or if you suddenly adjust your alignment while in the pose. Bad pain basically indicates that you are not in the pose correctly or you are aggravating a previous injury. If you experience bad pain then you should exit the pose and seek guidance before trying again. Common locations for ban pain to be experienced are your relatively weak knee joins, and your back.
The other kind of pain is “good” pain. This is typically felt in the muscles as you stretch, lengthen, extend and hold asanas. Good pain is the kind of pain we need to experience and overcome as we progress on our yoga journeys.

Why does there have to be so much pain?
Pain comes when the body is not familiar with the exertions being placed on it by an asana.. By submitting, surrendering and relaxing into the pain we can pass it, and our bodies will become able to perform the asana more easily and without pain.
Many yoga teachers encourage their students to practice yoga without discomfort or exertion. Such an approach to the practice may make it more enjoyable, but we are not practicing yoga solely for the pleasure of the experience. By looking only for an enjoyable yoga experience we restrict ourselves to practice within our comfort zone. Without confronting or extending the limits of our body’s ability we will not improve our yoga practice or receive all the benefits that yoga has to offer.

Through practice it becomes bearable
Rather than run from, or avoid the inevitable pain of asana, there is much to learn from it. This does not mean that we should suffer and hold the asana or move deeper into the asana before the body is ready. But you should listen to your body, persevere and face the challenge of overcoming the pain rather than run from it convincing yourself that you’re just not able to practice that asana.
While we should not hide from the pain, we should not fight against it either. Rather we should find ways to make the pain bearable by submitting to it and relaxing into it.
Start with the parts of the body where resistance is most evident. Relax your face, your forehead, your eyes and mouth. This helps to relax the mind to stop your brain fighting against the pain. With a clearer mind, bring awareness to your body to understand the causes of the pain. If you have poor alignment, correct it. If the muscles are tight, fighting the asana, relax them.
You can relax further by understanding your breathing habits. Fast tense breathing leads to tension in the mind and body, which leads to resistance to the asana. Try to slow and lengthen your breath to help you relax and clear you mind, and relax deeper into the posture.

Learn about yourself
Yoga can tell us as much about our approach to life in general as it can about our physical abilities. By observing and understanding our approach to pain in yoga, we can start to understand how we approach discomfort, adversity, set-backs and failure in our general life.
By modifying our approach to the pain of yoga, we hope to eventually erase the pain completely. Using these principles to make behavioural changes to our general life, maybe we can erase some of the pain there too.

Being able to understand our reaction to pain and modify that approach requires time in each posture so we can become fully aware and reflect on what we are experiencing. To achieve this you need to follow a practice of deep stretching where each position is held for longer. This is exactly our approach at Total.Yoga.Practice. To find out how we can help you benefit from pain in your practice, visit www.TotalYogaPractice.com