Yoga Practice with No Pain and All Gain

by Ram

Fireworks by Marie Lossky (@Marie.Lossky on Instagram)

This happened recently: One of my colleagues remarked that during a yoga session, he experienced a “snap” in the knee area and felt an excruciating pain. Immediately he lowered onto his mat and took an untimely Savasana. When the yoga teacher came by and heard his experience, she remarked that it was a good pain and it was really an “opening of his quads and hamstring.” But the pain was so severe that my friend had to literally stay away from his yoga practice for few weeks. Notice that some yoga teachers talk of pain as a good thing and “If it pains, you’re doing it right” is a frequent statement that you hear in the yoga fraternity. In reality, pain has no place in any kind of physical activity and this is true in yoga practice, too. Pain is not a magical transformation of the body into a nimble physique. Instead, pain is a harbinger of some kind of damage to the body and serves as warning signals emitted by the brain to the body. Thus, there is no such thing as good pain. (See Healthy and Unhealthy Stretching Sensations for information about how to distinguish between a healthy stretching sensation and one that is unhealthy.) 

You can experience pain from doing any type of physical activity and, yes, from doing yoga asanas as well. Regardless of what style of yoga you practice, you run the risk of hurting yourself if you do the postures improperly. If you experience any pain while doing your yoga poses, it does not mean you are doing it right. It is a signal that you need to stop what you are doing because it might mean something is torn, broken, or damaged. 

Any sensation of a sharp, shooting pain that comes on quickly should be avoided. Without suffering the least, you need to go to the edge by embracing the concepts of steadiness and ease. Being mindful of these qualities allows you to practice the asanas safely without experiencing much pain. On some days you may be more flexible and some days less, and each day there may be different sensations in your shoulders, hamstrings, quads, hips, and back. Learn to pay close attention to your body's subtle signals as to when to go to the edge and when to stop. Never push yourself beyond your limits, for if you push beyond what is possible, you may end up with an injury and pain. While doing our yoga practice, we also need to remind ourselves that the practice of yoga is based on the principle of ahimsa (see Ahimsa (Non-Violence) and Healthy Aging). Ahimsa would mean physical, mental, and emotional non-violence towards self as well as others, which suggests that if you are mindful of these three states, you are bringing in a safe yoga practice. 

Furthermore, the best way to avoid further damage or injury is to recognize the pain stimulus and assume it is real. Pain is part of the body’s inherent protective mechanism to: 

1. Motivate you to pull out from a damaging situation and prevent further damage to the tissue
2. Allow the damaged tissue to rest and begin the healing process 
3. Avoid similar encounters

The phenomenon of pain is generally transient, and recedes when the stimulus is removed or the damaged tissue has healed (see How and Why Yoga Helps with Pain). With this awareness, you will find yourself moving to your limits and pulling back just a bit to where you feel safe and protected. The pain process is a complex phenomenon, and starting from the initial stimulus to the actual pain response and the waning of the pain, it involves several specialized receptors, neurochemicals and transmission of the pain information through specialized channels. Furthermore, when these pain signals traverse through certain areas of the brain, they stimulate a set of autonomic responses resulting in increased heart rate and blood pressure, rapid breathing and sweating. 

Interestingly the reverse is also true. Say you hurt yourself so badly while doing a pose that you are now in constant pain. You may resort to pain relievers/killers, including over the counter medicines nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs-Advil, Motrin) or prescription pain killers that are opium-like powerful drugs. But the same yoga mat where you developed the pain is also the place where you can curb the pain! There are several studies that report the benefits of yoga in overcoming and blocking the pain response. Research studies have shown that yoga practices:

1. Trigger increased flow of oxygen to the brain and muscle tissues that improves energy levels and sense of wellbeing.
2. Help release muscle tension and stretches the muscles thereby reducing the intensity of the pain.
3. May bring in more mental clarity thereby decreasing the level of perceived suffering. 
4. Helps you cope with stress that can have a feedback effect on improving pain.

Does the pain always have to be physical? Sometimes, when you reach your limit (going to the edge), emotional pain can surface in the form of tears and or past traumatic memories. This pain may not feel good when it comes up, but it is the key to release and address emotional pain. While definitive causal conclusions cannot be made, it is worthwhile to note that regular, long-term yoga practice seems to help individuals to deal with unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with pain. Remember that the goal of your yoga practice is to become an ideal individual. Let your yoga practice be painless and full of fun. Push yourself to where you can at that moment. And you decide what that looks like. This is the state of “No pain and all gain.” 

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