Yoga & Injuries (arms & shoulders)

If you avoid yoga because you’re injured or sore or have chronic pain, I’m here to tell you that is why yoga exists. Yoga exists to give you some sense of ease. Yoga doesn’t mean you must complete 6 sun salutations and 14 chaturangas. It is not quantifiable. Yoga is breathing, listening to your body, and movement. That’s it.

In this series of posts, I’ll give you poses and exercises to try if you are injured/experiencing pain in different parts of the body. Please keep in mind, not every pose will work for every body. Listen and learn from your injury. If it works for you, great. If it doesn’t, great. Keep exploring! Only you know what works for you.

This week, we’ll focus on shoulders and arms. A couple of years ago, I dislocated my elbow sledding (I know — I’m super hardcore), and I had to change up my yoga routine a lot. If you are injured in your shoulders or arms, though, guess what? You can still do every standing pose! Woohoo! You can also still do core work. Here are some other poses to explore:

• Instead of downward dog/plank/chaturanga, try cat/cow or hip circles or downward dog on the wall with you in an L-shape facing the wall and your feet on the ground. This allows you to control the amount of weight that goes into your hands. If one arm is injured, do downward dog with one arm. If this is too much, lie on your belly and…