Yoga really is for every body. But doing yoga the “right” way, with an emphasis on proper breathing, alignment, and form, can help you reap the benefits of yoga while keeping your body safe.
“Alignment is very important,” says BODi Yoga52 instructor Micki Duran. “Yoga poses should help strengthen the body, not cause injury.”
The proper yoga forms you see presented in classic yoga texts and in programs like Yoga52 and Beachbody Yoga Studio were developed for reasons that go far beyond aesthetics.
“Although the classic stance (and alignment) can be harder to do, you’re safer there,” he says. Dr. Lauren M. Fishman, MD, who studied extensively with BKS Iyengar and has published research on the healing effects of yoga. “There is less stress on the ligaments, tendons and cartilage in the classic stance than in other versions.”
Duran says it’s normal to feel frustrated when you don’t “get” the yoga form fast enough or don’t move the way you want. He compares it to learning to walk: “You just learn, you practice, and one day you’ll get it.”
But don’t rush it – that’s how injuries happen. Below is a list of some of the most common yoga mistakes and how to correct them. Most experienced practitioners have made the same yoga mistakes you see being proven.
“Your yoga poses may not look like the photo or anyone else in the class, but notice how touch“, he recommends Anne SwansonMS, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500. Yoga Shouldn’t Hurt, But Feel something.
1. Cross your arms when on the floor
Have you ever noticed that your palms start to lift off the floor in downward facing dog positions? “Wrists are a common point of injury, which can happen when we don’t properly distribute the weight across the arms,” says Yoga52 instructor Odette Hughes.
The fix: Straighten those arms. “Usually, it’s enough to just bring the attention into your own hands to fix what’s going on,” says Hughes. “I ask the students to hold their fingers apart and press evenly from the pinky side to the thumb side.”
2. Sinking too low in Chaturanga
Chaturanga dandasana it’s a challenging but common pose and it’s easy to go too low, especially in vinyasa flow classes where it’s used repeatedly as a transition. “This could cause a shoulder injury by combining improper form and repetitive movements,” says Marie Grujicic-Delage, Yoga52 instructor.
The fix: Adjust your depth. “Lower only halfway so your elbows form 90-degree angles—never go lower,” explains Grujicic-Delage. “Your shoulders should be in line with your hips and elbows.” If you cannot maintain this form, drop to your knees.
3. Extend your front knee into pigeon pose
Pigeon pose feels so good in the hips, but many times we put the front knee at risk to feel more of a stretch. “Most teachers encourage students to place their front shin parallel to the front of the mat,” says Yoga52 instructor Brent Laffoon.
If you can do this, great! But forcing it can strain the ligaments in your knee.
The fix: Forget the parallel if it causes pain. “Just pull the heel of your front foot toward your groin and let the thigh and knee point a little further forward,” says Laffoon. “You can still do a lot of stretching that way. In fact, if you have sensitive knees, this will give you an even better stretch.”
4. Rounding your spine as you fold forward
During sun salutations and other sequences, you may be tempted to round your back as you fold forward toward your toes. “As a guideline, we want to fold from our hips, not our back,” says Hughes. “This puts a lot of stress on the lower back while offering almost no stretch in return.”
The fix: Find space elsewhere in the pose. “Typically, rounding your back tells me you have tight hamstrings, which is totally fine,” says Grujicic-Delage. “You just have to bend your knees.” Keep them bent as you come out of your front crease, too.
5. Misalignment of your knee and ankle
Many standing yoga poses involve lunging and it is common to see students’ knees cave in or bow out in relation to the ankle.
Your knee is a modified hinge joint, Swanson explains, so it can rotate slightly when bent, such as in a rubber or warrior stance. “When it rotates, it puts uneven pressure on the joint structures, which can cause damage over time,” he says.
The fix: Place your knee directly over your ankle. That way, “the stress on the joint structures is distributed more evenly, preventing potential injuries,” says Swanson. “If you notice that your knee always seems to drop in or out in a certain pose,” adds Hughes, “try to take up more space across the width of your mat.”
6. Rub your shoulders around your ears
Scrunching happens a lot in yoga because we tend to over-engage the upper trapezius muscles, says Swanson.
“When raising the arms overhead, like in warrior I or tree pose, people often raise their shoulders too high, pulling them toward their ears,” he says. It also happens in deep bends like upward facing dog, where it “compresses the cervical vertebrae,” says Hughes.
The fix: Relax your shoulders. In standing poses with your arms overhead, find a balance between squeezing your shoulders up and dropping them. (“There is a middle ground,” says Swanson.)
If necessary, spread your arms shoulder-width apart. And in up dog, “press down hard with both hands, keep your gaze forward instead of up, and pull the top of your head up to keep your neck long,” advises Hughes.
7. Compressing your lower back in backbends
“Backbend” is a slight misnomer – there’s a lot more going on than the name suggests. So when you’re focused solely on the bent part, you may end up feeling camel or cartwheel poses in your lower back.
“Every time you do a backbend, it’s important to use your legs and core to lengthen the spine,” says Laffoon. This prevents you from straining your lower back.
The fix: Change your focus. “In camel pose, the shins and tops of the feet (or balls of the feet, if the toes are clenched) should press firmly into the floor,” says Laffoon. “This not only drives the hips forward in a healthy way, but also helps create a base from which the spine can lengthen. The abdomen should be engaged to protect the waist, the shoulders should be pulled down to create space for the arch of the thoracic spine, and the chest should be lifted.”
8. Forgetting your Core
There’s a lot to remember in yoga, so it’s easy to skip or forget certain aspects of poses—like engaging your core. “The deep core muscles stabilize your spine, so it’s important to always keep them engaged,” says Grujicic-Delage.
And not only during poses. “Students tend to rush and forget to use their core support when transitioning from pose to pose,” says Hughes. “A lot of injuries happen between stops.”
The fix: Stay calm and engage the core. “I encourage students to move more fluidly—even if they’re moving quickly—so the movement is more gradual,” says Hughes. “The reason is not for aesthetics or to make the movement more graceful (although it will be), but to train your joints and muscles to control and stabilize each part of the arc of motion.”
9. Hyperextend your elbows in Down Dog
I am the poster child for this mistake, and this one I will cause injuries, so be aware. If you’re flexible, you may find yourself overextending your arms and putting undue stress on your elbows.
“Overextending your arms while bearing weight, such as in downward or upward dog, places uneven stress on the structures of the elbow joint, which can lead to damage and even osteoarthritis over time,” says Swanson.
The fix: Redefine “straight” hands. “You need to work on strength and stability to maintain cohesion and integrity in your joints,” says Grujicic-Delage.
Bring your hands a little wider, then bend your elbows. Engage your biceps and then externally rotate your arms to work the triceps, he adds.
10. Place your foot on your knee in tree pose
Doing tree pose with your raised leg on a standing knee is (unofficially) the number one mistake yogis make. But it is the easiest to fix.
“Never push a joint as a general rule,” says Grujicic-Delage. “Pushing the inside of your knee could cause you to sink into your hip instead of lifting (and strengthening) it. And, if you’re swinging, you could strain your knee.
The fix: Grow your tree slowly. Practice tree pose with proper yoga form, placing your leg either above or below the knee.
