Restarting Your Yoga Practice? Tips to Make it Pain Free

Break to the practice happens to all of us despite the resolve to continue the practice. If the break is around a week or less then the body still maintains the flexibility and strength to resume the practice at the previous levels, however if the break from the practice is longer and you try to move into the top gear of the practice as you were doing before the break you may face challenges like body ache, too much tiredness or even falling ill. This can happen due to several reasons including decrease in body strength, reduced flexibility and stamina and release of toxins from the body due to the poses which body is not able to handle.

These issues can once more delay the progress and prolong the break. Therefore it is preferable that the routine is ramped up at proper speed to avoid injuries and illness. Here are few tips to avoid body pain and other problems that can happen when we start of too fast after a break.

1. Practice for Lesser Time
   If you were practicing a pose for 30 seconds then start with 15 seconds. This will give your muscles to regain strength and at the same not tire it too much.


2. Skip the Extreme Stretches
   Extreme stretches can lead to injuries if the muscles are not ready for them. If your sequence includes extreme stretches it may be better idea to simplify them or reduce the stretching. If you still want to include them in the practice then you may want to shift it to later part of the practice so that body is properly warmed up.


3. Practice Alternate Days
   After the practice next day your body would be stiffer. If there is too much stiffness and pain then you can go for alternate day practice. This will give your body time to recover.


4. Give more time to Meditative and Breathing Sequence
   You can compensate for lesser time to physically challenging poses by increasing the time for calmer poses like Balasana, Shashankasana, Padmasana and various Pranayama.


5. Practice Shavasana (Corpse Pose)
   At the end of the practice make sure that you relax properly in Shavasana. This will relax you properly and reduce the tiredness and help you to recover faster.