How to Make the Most Progress in Your Yoga Practice: Keys to a Safe Practice

Practicing yoga can change our life in numerous positive ways, but as with all forms of physical activity, there can be risks of injury.

How can you make the most progress in your yoga practice, without increasing the risk of injury? Join popular Yoga U presenters Dr. Loren Fishman and yoga therapist Ellen Saltonstall for a course that takes a close look at simple ways to protect yourself and/or your students from ever suffering a yoga-related injury. 

Yoga is a relatively safe form of physical activity, but there are predictable causes of injury, which teachers and students need to be aware of. Misalignment in yoga postures can result in repetitive strain injuries. Physical limitations like tight hamstrings can predispose students to low back strain and other injuries. Overdoing it and pushing too hard will increase the risk of injury as well. 

In this 2-part course, Dr. Loren Fishman and Ellen Saltonstall take a closer look at some of the more common types of yoga injuries and how to prevent them. You will learn to recognize the early warning signs of excess wear and tear in your own body, and also how to spot students for whom certain yoga postures will be particularly challenging, and how to help those students avoid injuries while practicing them. 

The course highlights the factors that may predispose a yoga practitioner for injury, including repetitive strain injuries. Which are the special considerations for keeping the back protected in back bends?  How can you gauge whether students are ready for specific yoga postures and how can you prepare them for postures that pose greater challenge on certain joints? When working with students over 50, which are the population groups that are particularly vulnerable to injuries, and how can you prevent these?

Learn how to recognize students for whom some yoga postures will be particularly challenging, and how to help those students avoid injuries while practicing them.

What you will learn:

• Which joints of the body are more susceptible to repititive strain injury, and how can you protect them?

• Which is the best way to practice to make the fastest progress, while also preventing overuse or repetitive strain injuries?

• Which postures have the most misalignment issues, because of common strength and flexibility limitations in students, and how can you ensure correct alignment?

• Which chronic conditions may put students at greater risk for injury, and which asanas are still safe for students with these conditions? (including osteoporosis and arthritis)

• The benefits and safety of inversions, how to introduce these to students in a safe way, as well as inversions contraindicated for at-risk populations, such as people with osteoporosis;

• How to safely practice yoga postures that will stress the joints for some people, including Lotus pose, and Chaturanga Dandasana;

• How to introduce appropriate preparations and variations of challenging poses to keep yourself and your students progressing safely in your practice.