“Oh No, I’m achy after yoga class!”

I love the fact that Svaroopa® Yoga specializes in relieving pain. So why do yogi’s often experience pain

after a class, private session or personal practice? No one wants to be in pain,that’s what brings many

students to yoga in the first place. Releasing the tensions in the spine from tail to top, doing our Ujjayi

breathing are all practices to reduce physical pain, emotional pain and stress. So what is happening

when you experience pain after your practice? There are several possibilities of why we all experience

pain after or even during class.

First, yoga is a physical practice. When you go to physical therapy for an injury, or go to the gym for the

first time in a long while and do an exercise class or treadmill you aren’t surprised when you are achy

afterwards. You are using muscles that you haven’t worked out in a while. The difference with

Svaroopa® Yoga is that it feels so easy and effortless you don’t realize you are using and releasing deep

muscles that maybe have been tight or shut down for a long time. Now, you are defrosting them and

just like when you went to the gym they are achy the next day.

Yogi’s typically experience pain for two reasons: partial opening and relapse. Partial opening usually

occurs during a class, private session or personal practice, or sometimes very shortly afterward. It is

happening as the spine is releasing changes that are often painful due to tight muscles resisting the

movement and changes. It actually can happen while you are in the pose. Sometimes a student will

leave class and start feeling achy shortly after they get home making them think they have injured

themselves (they haven’t). It can happen to the beginner and experienced yogi alike. Happening so

soon is what helps the teacher know they are experiencing pain from partial opening.

The next type of pain we refer to as relapse. Relapse happens several days after a class, private yoga

therapy session or personal practice. It is caused when you get a lot of release and you just can’t

maintain it. Things start to tighten up again and go back to the way it was before you got that release.

As it is tightening up again, it hurts.

My own experience can help explain it. I was having a yoga therapy session during which my thigh bone

began to realign in my hip socket. This hurt, and it hurt a lot. This is good news. Something was moving

and changing that had been stuck for a long time, but yes it was painful. Luckily as an experienced yogi I

knew to stay with it and let the changes happen and after about 5 minutes the bone realigned and the

pain stopped. The pain I experienced in the moment was partial opening.

That realignment of my hip was a huge shift and release, after a day or two it started to tighten up

again, it hurt again, this is relapse. Not as tight as it was before, it didn’t hurt as much as it did before,

but not completely realigned either. Relapse is not as immediate as pain from partial opening; it occurs

a day or two after class or session. It is still a good thing, it means you can get the release, just aren’t

maintaining those changes.

The good news is the answer is the same for both problems, as my Guru (Swami Nirmalanada) says, “Do

More Yoga”. That is the solution. If you are experiencing partial opening stay with it. Achy within a day

or two of class do a daily practice or better schedule a yoga therapy session and push through the

changes. It may seem cruel when a student says that they hurt and I reply great. Pain teaches us that

something is changing, muscles are releasing and defrosting. This is a good thing. No one wants to

experience pain-but when you do, know that it is not always a bad thing or an injury. Fortunately

Svaroopa® Yoga provides you with the tools to help free you from pain. Stick with it! Do more yoga and

don’t let yourself get stuck in your pain.