5 Ways Yoga Can Harm Your Health And How To Avoid Side-Effects

The benefits of yoga are manifold, but certain yoga poses can be detrimental to the health of practitioners with medical conditions like spine injury, glaucoma. Here’s how.

The ancient Indian art of staying healthy and fit; yoga is not just a workout technique that is being used by the youth today. Yoga is not just about losing weight or being in shape. It is the gateway to bringing positive changes to mind and body and imbibe the positive energy with every yoga practice session. Yoga is not just the answer to your fitness goals but also the many other medical conditions.

The benefits of yoga are manifold, but in addition to greater flexibility and clarity of mind, some people may experience some negative side effects, too. Nevertheless, the positives largely outweigh the negatives to most people. At times a few yoga exercises can aggravate a certain medical condition.

A survey by a yoga journal revealed that Ashtanga exercises that require a vigorous practice and hyper-flexibility of the practitioners have in some instances lead to musculoskeletal injury that lasted longer than one month.

When yoga positions, usually inversions, including shoulder stand or headstand increases ocular pressure and could cause complications for practitioners suffering from eye conditions like glaucoma.

Forward Folds if performed aggressively, can irritate vulnerable disks in your back, especially those in the lumbar spine. Stretching two much without an adequate warm-up can result in serious spinal injury.

Practising yoga positions too aggressively for your experience level without the supervision of a trainer and not being mindful as you move into postures will set you up for injury.

How to practice yoga mindfully without wrecking health

Thrive for consistency and stability

One of the goals that every yoga early bird should keep in mind is maintaining consistency in their yoga practice. It is not advisable to change your yoga trainer frequently. A beginner should never aim for a fast recovery or solution to their physical problems. Healing through yoga takes time, and you must build a relationship of trust with your trainer.

Practice the art of keeping calm and patience

One of the goals of practising yoga is to attain the virtue of calm and patience. Yoga is no surgery or a painkiller that can give you instant relief. It is a healing process for your entire body. Students should never make unrealistic expectations or compare the progress of them with others. The results will never dishearten you.

Choose an experienced Yoga guru

Yoga can be fun and high yielding if you have chosen the right trainer. Always go for a certified yoga trainer who has in-depth knowledge about the school of yoga, your medical condition and is all ears for your special needs.

Yoga takes your soul on a spiritual voyage, and when your soul is satisfied, your body heals internally. It is not a workout method; it’s a way of living.