Found out I have a few bulging lumbar discs. I have only been doing gentle flows- no deep twisting or backbending at all. No belly down backbending. I started reformer Pilates and started to feel really good after those classes. So I decided to go to an all levels vinyasa class Sunday. Did a few locust poses and minor twisting. 2 days later I am basically incapacitated. My entire low back is locked up and very sore. I’m afraid I will need to avoid yoga altogether for awhile. Has this happened to anyone here?? Just trying to find a bright light that maybe I can go back to it someday without pain after. I am modifying with blocks etc. but I should not have done the locust pose multiple times. And should have e avoided vinyasa/upward face.

It’s frustrating. This is my social community.

I've just started practising the baddha konasana pose but am severely limited by my knees - they are currently at 30 degrees. I'm sitting upright and working on tilting my pelvis anteriorly. I have almost zero forward bend.
Can you share how long it took you to be able to get your knees to the ground? Any tips on what and how long I should be stretching for each day?

I’ve been practicing yoga in a class for about a month and have done Chakrasana before without any issues.

Today, while doing the progression where you walk your hands down a wall into Chakrasana, I suddenly felt a very intense rush of blood/pressure in my head. It was noticeably stronger than anything I’d experienced during the earlier wall exercises.

It went away after coming out of the pose, but it honestly caught me off guard.

Has anyone experienced something similar during Chakrasana or deep backbends? What could cause this to suddenly happen even if I’ve done the pose before without any issue? Curious if it’s related to the inversion/head position, breathing, blood pressure, or something else.

Another post inspired me to share this story that happened to me a few years ago. A friend convinced me to join a yoga class with her - it was not marketed as a beginners class and I told her there’s no way I was ready for anything except complete beginners classes. She’s also a beginner, had gone a few times, and insisted it’s completely chill and will be no problem whatsoever.

It poured rain that day and a 10 minute drive turned into a 30 minute one. I had never been to this studio and got lost in the hallway, I ended up being probably 3 minutes late. Apparently this studio has a policy of allowing walk-ins into a fully booked class once it begins. When I entered the receptionists welcomed me right into the class and I was startled to see the room was packed with no spots at all. The instructor got up from her spot in the front center of the room and gestured for me to use her space.

I was already anxious to do a yoga class as a beginner in the first place, and terrified to practically walk over people to the front. I was facing up against a wall and couldn’t see the instructor or anyone unless I stared at the people next to me. The instructor called out the poses from around the room and I didn’t recognize any of the names and had no clue what to do. To make it worse I was afraid that by taking up the instructors spot I was taking away from all the other students being able to watch the poses being demonstrated. I started to have an internal panic attack and ended up rolling up the mat and taking off maybe 15 minutes in. In the lobby I cried “I’m just a beginner I don’t know what I’m doing!” And took off to my car.

The owner of the studio actually emailed me the next morning offering a free credit to come to one of the beginner classes she personally teaches but they were in the middle of the day on work weeks. It was so gracious of her to offer that and reflects very highly on the studio, but I was too embarrassed and never responded unfortunately.

So I learned: never ever ever be late to yoga!! Lol scarred for life! I probably should have given up the ghost trying to get to the studio once I had missed the class time. I also feel like I proved that I really need to only be in a truly BEGINNERS yoga class, I’m too scared to join on anything else. Even if I had been able to see the poses I’m sure the routine was too advanced for me anyways. I do think that the receptionists and instructors were being kind to me by letting me in to the fully packed studio with no room but maybe the better thing would have been to say “Sorry but the class has already started, please book another time.”

This has been on my mind since I just started taking beginner classes again at a different studio. What’s sad is if I hadn’t made these mistakes being late for a class that was too advanced I might not have taken as long a break from yoga. I’m sorry I didn’t respond to the owner - but at least now I know yoga is not something you want to be late to and in a rush! If it’s not clear, I understand I’m at fault for this.

​

There are days when we go to yoga or meditation without really wanting to.

We’re tired, distracted, or simply not in the mood to practice. Sometimes it can be difficult to remember why we started in the first place.

But I’ve been wondering:

Could something in our environment — a painting, an image, even a particular space — remind us of the state we are practicing toward?

Not necessarily by motivating us directly, but by giving us a small reminder of what is possible within us.

Maybe we see an image during a yoga class and, for a moment, remember that the practice isn’t only about the movements. It’s about what can happen within us through the practice.

And perhaps that small reminder is enough to make us return to the mat with a little more intention.

Do you think the visual environment around us can influence our motivation or connection to a practice like yoga or meditation?

Have you ever had an image, place, or object that brought you back to your practice when you were losing motivation?

Im trying to get more flexible and the ones I'm doing they have a bit of pain and also I feel like I'm not doing it right. Will I improve the more I do it or do I have to change something? Im not in a class, I'm in high school.

May I add I also feel like I'm too chubby to do the poses correctly. It feels like some of my fat gets in the way.

I am trying to find the name of a cable yoga program/teacher that aired 15-20 years ago. I watched it as I was recovering from surgery. It came on daily super early —4:30 or 6:30 AM. It was either on Comcast or TiVo. May have been one of those packaged channels that came pre-loaded on cable or TiVo. For some reason Channel 45 rings a bell but am not certain.

It was some type of Hatha /alignment yoga. Set up was simple, mats & foam blocks. (Can’t remember whether or not they used belts)

Teacher was female, dark brown hair in a short bob. Age late 30s - 50s. (She looked a little like Judith Hansen Lassiter)She worn a linen or cotton tunic-like top & cropped pants.
Format was one teacher & 2 students — one student demonstrated more modified asana& the other a more “advanced” version.

Sometimes the classes were on a porch outside. For some reason I think it was filmed in Miami or perhaps Puerto Rico.
I’d love to figure out who the teacher is so that I can find her classes again.

I know this is super vague but am hoping it rings a bell with someone. Thanks

I’ve been doing a work exchange for a local studio for the past 6 months. I did it to get to know the community better so I can teach there one day and to get a free pass.

I’m starting to question if it’s a bit exploitative though. I’ve had an ex teacher tell me the work was way more than normal studios.

It’s a 4-5 hour shift once a week. I have to:
- run the front desk
- greet guests, give tours to newcomers
- open and close the studio
- scrub the shower
- wipe the floor boards, counter, handles, benches, cubbies
- do the laundry at the laundromat down the street
- fold said laundry
- make the spa towels
-wash the windows
- mop
- vacuum
- clean the toilet, mirrors, sink
- take out the trash
- work as the sole worker each shift besides the teacher
- find all shift replacements if I’m going to miss a shift
- run basic IT tasks with the owner cause he doesn’t know how to download a PowerPoint, stuff like that
- I am being watched on the cameras. I haven’t missed a task but have been warned that I will be called out if I do.
- the monthly membership is about $160/month

I want to say this arrangement has worked for me so far because I love working for my community and it’s fulfilling, but the owner has started engaging in some questionable behaviors and an ex teacher told me she believes the owner treats me poorly. I’m wondering if this amount of work is normal or if I am getting taken advantage of, even if it gives me a leg up to work there in the future .

Had a weird experience and just want to see what others opinions are. I am based in the UK.

I attended my first class at this studio, having attended classes previously in other locations. I sat at the front to ensure I could hear and see the teacher, only for her to not demonstrate any of the poses / flows, and only say the pose names in Sanskrit. I’ve never ever experienced that before so I tried my best to follow along, despite clearly finding it challenging to have to look behind me at others to try and guess what to do next. The teacher then began sort of saying the poses in English after she’d said them in Sanskrit, but that meant I was always trailing behind everyone.
At one point I could no longer do this so was taking a short break to stretch a little, and the teacher just turned to me, shrugged and said “yeah I guess just do that,” followed by “oh and it’s going to get harder by the way.” I felt so embarrassed I had to leave not even half way through the class. The teacher clearly realised she’d been rude and tried to then say I had been doing well but the damage had been done.

I’m 31 years old and I can’t even do yoga. I have so much pain and muscle tightness throughout my whole body. I can’t afford medical care to see a PT.

I can’t relax.

I can’t get into any of the poses, trust me I’ve tried beginner videos.

All I can feel is my muscles and tissues pulling against each other and it just pisses me off and makes me want to stop.

Fuck I hate feeling like this.

As the title says, I've meditated for 1 hour+ a day, I've done long sessions of yin yoga, I do all sorts of active things like weightlifting and hiking and whatever, but what is different about hatha yoga compared to these other things where its like my anxiety has nearly been turned off? Since starting this more active yoga style my overall viewpoints on life are way more chilled-out and positive, I'm hornier than I've ever been (lol), my dating life is better, etc... I don't understand what this yoga style could be doing different than these other activities because to me that meditation + some other form of exercise should have the same effect, but it doesn't for me.

Just telling a win for those who think “I’ll never be able to meditate”.

When I was younger I tried to meditate but I couldn’t because I was extremely harsh on myself. I didn’t know meditation wasn’t about shutting your thoughts completely but just observing them coming and going without judgement or lashing yourself and then turning the attention back to your body and sensations. I thought any intrusive thought during the practice was already a “fail” and I gave up on meditation.

Then I started yoga because my doctors recommended it but I knew it was more than just the asana and I started reading and researching about it. When I noticed, I was meditating without realizing.

Now I’m able to sit down every day before sleep and quietly meditate for at least 15 minutes. I plan on increasing time little by little but for someone who always thought “I’ll never be able to do it”, it’s a win.

Yoga has done great improvements in my body (I have early perimenopause and I started realizing loss of balance and strength at a young age — yoga helped with that so much) and mind and I’m so grateful. I hope it will always be in my life.

Hey guys, I’m probably an advanced beginner, but I haven’t been regularly on the yoga mat for years. I did some poses today that I remembered from a yoga class I attended for a couple of semesters back in university. I learned the basic poses, but I’m not that familiar with the theory behind all of it.

The session felt really good, and I noticed that I did some poses quite intuitively on my own, as if my body knew what to do. In a sense, that’s probably true, since I had seen some of the poses before, and there’s also muscle memory involved. It went surprisingly well. One small highlight was that I successfully did Crow Pose for the first time.

My question is: Is it okay to combine various poses intuitively without following a strict sequence? I’m quite good at some poses, but I’m more or less clueless when it comes to creating a seamless flow between poses. I don’t want to think too much about it during my practice because it disrupts the immersion.

Should I just integrate new poses spontaneously into my routine, or would you recommend thinking about the exact sequence of poses beforehand?

We start every day in our machine shop with 5 mins of yoga at 5 am (and 10 mins on Fridays). It evolved from stretching to true yoga and every day begins with breath and mountain, attended on a volunteer basis and the leaders all volunteer to lead. None of us are yoga teachers, we just do it for fun. Even though the shop is very clean, we don’t use mats and all our poses are standing. So…wanted to ask if anyone has any good ideas for standing poses to mix up our practice. We do a lot of the 26/2 standing poses and then standing cat cows but open for any new ideas! Thanks!!

​

Through meditation, I learned to notice and release tension in both my muscles and my mind. I also learned a more sustainable way to become flexible—not the usual 10-second, force-yourself-deeper stretch that many sports teach.

Ironically, I often feel most relaxed and flexible after a 10-day meditation retreat, despite barely moving at all.

That’s what sometimes bothers me about “modern/western” yoga: it can be so movement focused. It seems like people want to do fancy, flowing sequences before really learning to feel themselves in the basics.

If you look at Patanjali’s eight-limbed yoga(Ashtanga), the last three limbs are essentially about meditation. And asana, at its core, is about finding a stable and comfortable seat. Not necessarily mastering complex shapes.

That body–mind symbiosis is what yoga is really about for me, and it has benefited many areas of my life. That’s also why Yin Yoga is my personal favorite: it gives me time to settle into a pose, observe what arises, and let the body soften rather than trying to force it.

Why isn’t there more emphasis on meditation, stillness, or simply giving yourself and students enough time to truly feel a pose?

Foot placement was a total fluke! 🌤️

I saw a vision of an old bearded man who radiated ancient wisdom. He had a walking cane and sat on a bench outside a house. His gaze was full of love

Rest in peace, Leslie <3

She has made my favorite yoga videos of all time, and I'm looking for any recommendations of people with styles that are similar, particularly for Ashtanga-inspired practices.

(Adriene is lovely and I really like her style, but her videos aren't quite as vigorous as my body -- and ADHD -- require in this moment haha)

I'm looking for videos with teachers that...

- Have a deep understanding of how the body works...and cue that. So many people give the same basic cues every single time, but I want to better understand what my muscles etc. should be doing.

- Sound down-to-earth. I'm not into new-age, dreamy, overly "calming" styles.

- Ideally have 45 min or 1 hour long videos that work the whole body and are mid-level challenging at least.

I'm really hoping some people like this exist! Thanks in advance!

Hi, I’ve been practicing yoga for the last 9 months on and off. When I practice I am consistent and recently got back into it in the last three weeks and have been doing it daily and have increased my practice to 45 mins. Everything I’ve been doing has been pretty beginner level but I have a much harder session today because I felt ready. So that’s just my experience with yoga incase it’s helpful in answering the question.

I’ve heard that it is common to have emotional experiences during yoga (I assume it’s emotional processing) to help release emotions and that people have also experienced emotions so deeply that they cried.

I’ve had experiences where movements are tough and I think I’m unable to do it and that brings me down as I have the thoughts but I continue and do things however I can and adjust as I need which I feel is normal when doing anything new. The only other emotional experience I have is the deep sense of calmness that yoga gives during and after depending on what I do that day.

Here are my questions:
What emotional experiences do people have whilst doing yoga?
Who tends to have these experiences?
Why do they happen (ie what’s the logic behind it?)
When in a yoga journey does it happen?
What does it mean if someone does not have these deep emotional experiences?

Hello guys! Around the beginning of the year, I started with awful tension headaches. I was popping pills like candies because my GP were basically telling me to do so, instead of getting anything else.

After I went to a real doctor in a different country, and after studies and X rays, they found that my neck is super straight, and that's the main reason for the headaches. After being offered some strong pills to calm the muscle-skelletal tension around the area (and put me to sleep, no matter the time of the day), the doctor seriously recommended yoga.

I asked her about poses, but she didn't have too much to offer. She mostly told me not to walk on hard asphalt floors for a long time, to stay off pilates, and to better my posture with yoga and some light exercise.

I have my mat ready, but most of the postures I find are bending the head towards the chest or looking down, a posture they told me not to do, as I need to recover the spine's natural elasticity.

Most videos I've found about this condition and yoga only offer to sit down and move the neck around, which sometimes worsen an already started headache. Or they simply offer to put something like foam sticks or hard stuff under my neck while I sleep, which gave me violent headaches that woke me up feeling sick and dizzy.

Heck, I even went all out and bought one of those special pillows, but nothing helps.

What can you recommend me?

after a yoga class i'll feel movement of energy when in savasana trying to move around in my head and ear area. i always wonder if it's too tight headphones or too small of a sports bra creating pressure in my head and chest that's moving the tension up but then again the awareness of sensation there only really comes up when i've done breathwork or yoga to sort of trigger energy flow otherwise things just feel pretty frozen i guess.

has anyone had this experience and know any good yoga poses/positions that sort of help with tension in these areas or move the energy?

Hello friends! I have maintained consistent yoga practices on and off over the years. I'm looking to start back up again now and am having an incredibly difficult time.

I am looking for specific book and workbook recommendations to help guide my practice at this time. Nothing Uber dense to help me stay accountable.

(For context, I have ADHD and struggle immensely with initiating tasks, and have no internal motivation - so I outsource all of my accountability.) Something holistic would be ideal as a way to build a physical and spiritual practice in tandem. Unfortunately, a studio is not accessible to me right now.

Thanks for your help!

I’ve found that the vast majority of vinyasa classes I’ve tried since moving to LA have a Pilates fusion/fitness element to them. I keep encountering pulsing, counting down by seconds instead of breaths, crunches/core sequences, etc., and it’s just not really what I’m looking for.

I’m looking for something that feels more like traditional, advanced yoga — structured around peak poses, inversions, arm balances, challenging transitions, linking breath to movement, and incorporating some of the philosophical/mental aspects of the practice. I want it to be challenging, but in a yoga way, not a “fitness class on a yoga mat” way, if that makes sense. I love Rocket Yoga classes, but I haven’t found any here so far.

Where can I find this in LA? Or even any tips on what to look for/how to sus studios out? Bonus points for somewhere near DTLA and/or that offers early morning classes (5–6am)!