Many ambitious exercisers have been there: Launching into a new or devoted movement practice only to find ourselves injured and frustrated down the road. Injuries can be confusing, demoralizing, and well, painful. Movement-related injuries don’t tend to pop up out of nowhere, unless you’ve talking about an injury that can be pinpointed to a specific event, an acute injury. Chronic pain and injury that develops from overuse, improper alignment and posture is often more difficult to pinpoint.
#3- You only feel good when you are working out.
When I first started teaching a Deep Stretch Yoga class, it was full of power lifters and serious fitness folks. I loved it. Motivated movers often spend so much time getting stronger, that they’re not doing routine maintenance. Making time for stretching or Yoga between working can prevent injury by preserving our range of motion, loosening fascia that is becoming bunched, and also training ourselves mentally. Sometimes “going harder” can be “going deeper” in a relaxed state like Yoga savasana, meditation or Yoga Nidra.
Why take fitness advice from a Yoga teacher? I wasn’t always a Yoga teacher. Bull-dozing through pain and injury finally got me to seek a deeper mind-body connection, one I found through Yoga. As my skills grew, so did my realization that good Yoga form is simply good form, whether you’re bending down to tie your shoes or to pick up a 200-pound weighted bar. All movers can learn from each other: Good and bad.
Seeking practices that build mind-body connection help us to examine blind spots in our vision and subtle cues that might be signaling troubles ahead. Mind-body practices like pilates, yoga and related tools can help build the connection to avoid injury while supporting general well-being.
Check out Part 1 and Part 2 for more tips!
Sun River Yoga 
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