Are we listening to what our practice is telling us?

Occasionally we will hear that people feel worse after taking class than before. Maybe the body hurts, there's tension or there are negative mental reactions to what the body did or didn't do. It is so important that we don't ignore these signals. 

When the body hurts we must listen. The simplest reason for this is that we will inevitably get more seriously injured if we push into what hurts. (At that point we will be forced to listen.) However, the deeper reason from a yogic perspective is that we are trying to deepen our connection with truth and understanding.

When we ignore something on the physical level, we shut down our curiosity and openness. The action of ignoring pain suggests that we (or our ego!) already knows where we are going, how to get there and what is and isn't part of our journey. This is the opposite of yoga.

​In yoga, we should work to remain open to the path as it unfolds in front of us. We should remain humble and open to new information. If we ignore the signals in our practice on a physical level, we will have a very difficult time sorting through them on a mental or spiritual level.

This is not to say it's easy or we will always be successful. We don't always know or feel pain accurately and sometimes we don't know how far is too far until we find too far. The only option we have is to do our best and then adjust as we have more information. 

If we have pain in our practice and we also have the desire to push through it, we really need to ask ourselves: What goal is worth harming our body? Most people today practice for reasons related to feeling better or better health, so the answer has to then be NO goal is worth doing harm. 

This leads to the next point which is: Don't beat yourself up! Regardless of where you are right now, it's where you are. All practice is part of the learning process. The body and the practice are both resilient.