A gentle reminder to listen to your body and if you feel uncomfortable, evaluate and assess: is this pose serving you? Come out of the pose, or seat, if you are uncertain. You can always come back to the pose after a moment of reprieve.
A GIANT reminder, if you are in PAIN come immediately out of the pose, or seat, and readjust to another, more comfortable pose.
Uncomfortable might be ok. Pain is not.
Your body is your Teacher, listen to it.
Much of the practice of yoga is learning to listen to your body and learning the differences between uncomfortable and painful! In life and on the mat.
Whenever in doubt, step away, reassess, reevaluate, and come back to whatever it is that is disturbing you with a new perspective.
Excerpted from “Is your Yoga Class a Stanley Milgram Experiment?” from the current issue of Spirituality & Health by Stephen Kiesling:
Trillium Ayurveda 