7 Tips for Getting Back to Your Yoga Practice After an Injury

*Updated August 2024

Getting back to yoga practice after an injury can be challenging to say the least. Physically, your body isn’t in the same shape it was at the time of the injury. Not practicing yoga for an extended period of time can be hard on your mental state. A more sedentary lifestyle can also affect your emotional state.

Fortunately, there are some things you can do to make getting back to your yoga practice after injury a little less stressful.

After a recent foot surgery, I was concerned about losing ground in my yoga practice. I rely on my active lifestyle to keep me healthy and in a good head space. So, it was with trepidation and a little reluctance that I secured the date of my surgery.

I decided to make purposeful decisions about how I was going to survive 12 weeks of recovery! And, now that I’m fully healed, I’m so glad I did!

Although the first few weeks were challenging, my recovery plan kept me motivated. Getting back to yoga practice after my injury was the light at the end of the tunnel.

7 Tips for Getting Back to Your Yoga Practice After an Injury

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Getting back to your yoga practice after an injury can be incredibly frustrating. So, what’s the best way to overcome the obstacles and get back to your practice after an extended hiatus?

1. Check with your physician.

So, what’s the first step in getting back to your yoga practice after an injury? Before returning to yoga practice, speak with your doctor. Although this may seem obvious, it’s an important step in a healthy recovery.

If you jump back into a strenuous workout too soon, there’s a good chance that you’ll make your injury worse. This will result in a longer recovery period.

Meditation

If your doctor doesn’t think you’re ready to get back into your yoga practice, it might be the perfect time to try out a meditation class. One study indicated that meditation programs can reduce the levels of psychological stress.

Mindfulness meditation programs, in particular, showed improvements in anxiety, depression, and pain. The evidence for these improvements is moderate. Small improvements were also seen in stress and the mental health component of health-related quality of life. And, feeling mentally strong and healthy is a key part of the recovery process.

2. Speak to your yoga instructor.

If your doctor gives you the go ahead, let your yoga instructor know about your injury before class. Then, she’ll be able to give you suggestions to modify postures or even provide some alternative poses.

In addition, your yoga teacher can keep an eye on you. They can make sure you are not aggravating your injury. They will also make sure you are not causing additional damage. And, she will also understand why you may want to do a posture differently or even skip it entirely.

3. Take a restorative yoga class after an injury.

Restorative yoga is a gentle yoga class suitable for all levels. It typically involves only five or six poses supported by props. Yoga props can help your body completely relax. These yoga classes are especially beneficial to athletes recovering from injury. Through the use of yoga props, restorative yoga will give you all the benefits of deep, passive stretching. This is because you will have the ability to hold poses for longer periods of time.

Restorative yoga focuses more on flexibility than strength. And, this makes it the perfect way to calm the mind and relax the body. And, it’s an important step in helping you get back to your yoga practice after an injury.

Yoga Props

Yoga props can be extremely helpful during your recovery! That’s because you are able to get the feel of a difficult pose without overextending by employing yoga props. And, you can practice postures (asanas) and breath control (pranayama) with greater effectiveness and stability.

Yoga Blocks

Yoga blocks will make you more comfortable and help you improve the alignment of your postures. In addition, yoga blocks are especially useful for standing poses in which your hands are meant to be on the floor. So, instead of forcing the hand to come to the floor, which can compromise the pose, use a yoga block. It has the same effect as raising the floor to meet your hand. And, it can also support you back, head, and hips to help your body relax into a pose.

Yoga blocks can also:

• help make yoga accessible to you when you’re recovering from an injury.
• can be placed at a low, medium, or high position to accommodate different levels of support.
• allow you to properly engage and support muscles in a specific pose.

Bolsters

When recovering from injury, yoga students can also use a bolster, or cushion to help properly align the body. A bolster is a great investment when you are planning to take restorative yoga classes. And, it can be used in some different ways.

Yoga bolsters can also:

• provide greater ease in resting poses.
• open of the rib cage for deeper breathing.
• encourage heart opening.

4. Don’t do anything that hurts.  

Yoga is not supposed to hurt. And, although we might be tempted to push past our pain, we need to be mindful of our limits. So, when you’re getting back to yoga after an injury, skip poses that threaten to cause pain. Modify the poses in the area of your injury.

When you opt out of a pose in class, use the time to breathe and rest. Or, you may even want to repeat a pose that felt great. Speak to your yoga instructor about alternative postures.

5. Be aware of your breath.

Before class, spend time observing your breath. When the mind wanders, gently bring your attention back to the flow or your breath and your body.

However, staying aware of your breath during your yoga practice can be challenging. This is especially true when your body is simply trying to find its new rhythm after an injury. So, be patient with yourself. Just take note of which poses take your mind off of your breath. Also, take note of which poses help you breathe steadily.

6. Be compassionate with yourself.

When you’re getting back to your yoga practice after an injury your body needs time to heal. But, keep in mind that being kind to yourself doesn’t mean looking for an easy way out. However, you can be gentle with yourself on your road to recovery.

Give yourself a break! Understand that you are not going to jump back into yoga at the level you were practicing before the injury. Don’t judge where you are now and compare it to your pre-injury level of fitness. Just acknowledge that this is all part of your journey as a practicing yogi.

Mantras

Using mantras can remind you to accept yourself as you are. So, when you repeat mantras like, “I am that I am”, or “I am perfect”, you are reminding yourself that you are in the exact place you are supposed to be. And, that you are perfect in this moment.

This doesn’t mean you don’t have flaws, but that you embrace and accept them. And, instead of being hard on yourself, it’s important to honor where you are in your practice.

7. Leave your ego at the door.

We all know that it can be very tempting to rush into more advanced poses. But, if you push yourself too hard or too far after an injury, you could make things a lot worse. And, yoga is about finding out where you are and moving forward from there in a non-judgmental way.

So, take it slow. Start by doing some basic stretches like neck and shoulder rolls, and some gentle twists. In this way, you can prepare the body for more challenging poses later on in the sequence. And, this is a wonderful time to become aware of your breath and silently repeat some mantras.

Let’s face it, getting back to your yoga practice after an injury can be frustrating. Don’t expect to do a full camel pose your first time back! Instead, feel the joy of getting back into your practice.

Pay close attention to how your body feel and what’s happening with your breath. This will help you ease back into those more advanced postures. And, don’t worry, you’ll get there in time!

Take It Slow

Getting back to your yoga practice after an injury is a process, so take it slow. If you have ever taken a break in your yoga routine, you know that you won’t be as flexible. You also won’t be as strong, or as balanced. And, you can expect to be a little sore from the lack of stretching.

So, to successfully resume yoga practice, be mindful and be gentle with yourself. And, remember to enjoy the journey. And then, ease back into your yoga practice with gratitude and grace. Namaste.

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