Why do I have pain in yoga class?

A common question I get from my yoga students after classes at an orthopedic clinic, where students are working with various (and often painful) conditions, is why they are experiencing pain. This post will detail my response.

(Note: You may feel discomfort in class and experience soreness, especially after doing new poses or just starting. However, this is considered different from pain. We get uncomfortable when we push ourselves and our bodies into new situations or poses and this is to be expected. The pain I am referring to here goes beyond mild discomfort and is sharp, stabbing, or causes numbness.)

Yoga is known for its ability to enhance flexibility, strength, and overall well-being. However, even longtime practitioners can encounter pain during their practice. While this can be discouraging and confusing, understanding the reasons behind the presence of pain in yoga can empower you to adjust your practice and become more discerning about your body—and your life.

So, what do I tell my students who ask why they experience pain during yoga? I tell them, honestly, that I don’t know. It isn’t within a yoga teacher’s scope (unless they are also your doctor or medical care provider) to diagnose your condition. When you are experiencing pain, your best course of action is to talk with your doctor. If, after doing so, you’re still finding some yoga poses or classes painful, there are some things you and your instructor can do to troubleshoot.

Some key reasons for pain in yoga:

1.     Pushing Your Limits: Yoga encourages exploration, but it’s crucial to listen to your body. And listening to your body isn’t just determining if you can physically do a particular pose or practice. Just because you can physically do a particular pose doesn’t mean you should do it. Pushing through pain can cause injury or perpetuate your pain. Working in pain isn’t how you reduce it! Stopping and backing away from the point that causes you pain is a key component of yoga, one that requires practice and discernment.

2.     Poor Alignment: Proper alignment ensures your body is positioned safely and effectively in each pose. Misalignment can strain muscles and joints, leading to pain. Focus on core engagement, proper posture, and don’t hesitate to ask your instructor for guidance. With certain conditions, like scoliosis, your body might naturally be misaligned. Work with the structure you have and slowly introduce more alignment, which over time should help reduce the pain.

3.     Muscle Imbalances: Weak or imbalanced muscle strength can lead to pain and body misalignment. Addressing these imbalances with targeted stretches and strength exercises can improve your practice and reduce pain. You may need your doctor to point out muscular weaknesses and your instructor to provide poses that will target those areas.

4.     Certain Medical Conditions: With some conditions, you might never be able to do certain poses—or it may require months or years of practice. It may be frustrating, but you may need to spend more time on self-acceptance and learning alternatives. All poses may not be for you and that is okay! Upon this acceptance your pain could be reduced because you are no longer trying to force a pose that isn’t appropriate for your situation.

Now that I have laid out some possible causes of pain, I want to spend a moment commenting about what I have seen with various students.

My students are generally new to yoga, eager to learn, and ready to work to get rid of their pain—all of which bodes well as they begin on the path toward improved physical health. Of course, the challenge is that they come to me with some painful physical condition, muscle weakness, or poor posture (or combination thereof)—hence their doctor encouraged them to come to my yoga class—and they hope that by working hard and sucking up the pain they will get better sooner. This unfortunately isn’t the answer. I regularly encourage them to perform a version of a given pose that is more accessible (for example, to keep their arms at shoulder height instead of by their ears), but their desire to overcome their pain—and perhaps falling prey to their egos—keeps them pushing themselves into poses and positions that cause them pain.

I can empathize with these students. Though I’ve long suffered from right hip issues, I’m an avid swimmer, which means I rarely pass up an opportunity to jump in a pool. Once while in Europe, I encountered a pool filled with people three times my age doing breaststroke—a stroke that can sometimes be painful and irritating to my hip joint. But if they can do it, shouldn’t I be able to? What were my options?

1.     Don’t swim at all because I am frustrated and embarrassed by the limits my condition places on me.

2.     Don’t do breaststroke because of the pain it’ll cause and the embarrassment I’ll feel by how slow I am compared to the other swimmers.

3.     Do breaststroke anyway to my full physical capacity, working through the pain.

4.     Modify my range of motion in breaststroke and going slower to practice the stroke without pain.

Considering these options, 1 through 3 do not seem to serve my interests. Giving up swimming altogether or breaststroke specifically only deprives me of valuable physical and mental benefits. Option 3 keeps me in pain.

The only reasonable option is the last one: I continue to do the stroke as I can within the constraints of my body.

This is applicable to anyone in yoga who is experiencing pain. Consider your options and determine what will best serve you—which is typically to just do a little even if you wish or feel you should do more.

A yoga teacher can guide you in your practice and help you troubleshoot and reduce your pain, but they don’t know what your threshold in a pose is or how any condition is affecting your body. Your threshold should be a spot before you experience pain. Wherever that is, always remember to breathe and know that you are in the middle of your journey, not at your destination. Over time, your range and strength should improve—and hopefully without the pain you initially experienced.

If you want to learn more about the steps to take after you experience pain in a yoga class, check out my managing pain during and after yoga post or the following posts on experiencing pain in certain poses:

Pain in Marichyasana: What Causes It and How to Avoid It
Why You Have Pain in Downward-Facing Dog and How to Fix It
Can yoga reduce hip pain?
Why do people with leg length discrepancies have pain?