How Long Should It Hurt?

[Guest guest]

I wonder if folks could shed some light on pulled

muscles in yoga.<br><br>At least a couple of times a year

I get too enthusiastic and I tweak or pull a

muscle. My response has been not to indulge the injury

but to continue my practice, maybe easing up somewhat

on on postures that would make the pain

"sharp."<br><br>But the healing process has taken as much as three

months! Usually it stays constant for all that time and

then goes away in about three or four days. Currently

I'm dealing with a pull in the upper hamstring/glute

area that I got on August 6 while doing parighasana in

the second series. This injury affects any posture

that involves lots of extension of the right leg

(e.g., straightening the legs in titthibasana,

kurmasana, etc.), but on the other hand leg-behind-head,

where you bend the knee, seems unaffected.<br><br>It's

really getting to be a drag. What do other folks do?

Only sit? Cut way back? Totally avoid forward bends?

Or just live with it?<br><br>Medical advice is also

welcome (yes, laproxdoc, I don't mind taking some

ibuprofen).<br><br>Peace and Good,<br>Homer

[Guest guest]

Homer, I'm going through a similar experience

right now. About a month ago, I wasn't paying attention

and pushing too hard in urdhdva dhanurasana...I ended

up hurting my lower back. My injury has been very

slow to heal; here's what has helped:<br>-Taking extra

days of rest. Doing yoga has helped my injuries, but

this can be even more potent. I kept on practicing,

but my back didn't really start to get better until

after I rested for a few days.<br>-Only practicing half

of 1st series postures, up to navasana and stopping,

has been very therapeutic. Actually, besides up bow

and other backbends, all the poses have helped me.

But if forward bends are making it worse for you,

maybe just practice standing poses, or just sun

salutes...?<br>-Ease up on the intensity. Only go to your first "edge"

in each asana, where you first feel sensation. Move

more slowly into the poses. This can be very hard to

do (for the ego) but is worth it if you have a

pulled muscle.

[Guest guest]

I've experienced pain in so many different places

in, of, through, related or not related to practice,

over-enthusiasm or lack of attn to good form that, well, it's

getting to the point that I just don't care anymore. The

pain will come, the pain will go, and pain will come

again. <br><br>Amazing that one of the benefits of

practice is so paradoxical, in that on the one hand as we

are more intimately aware of our bodies, we're also

led to surrender our bodies . . . part of the process

of this intimacy is true awareness of the

limitations of this physical form, and the healing grace that

comes through perseverance, humility and surrender.

<br><br>If all that sounded way too glib (it does to me

anyway), I just try to keep practicing while respecting

the pain.