Easy Mistakes People Make During Yoga

Yoga is all about stretching out the body and working out kinks in your muscles while also relaxing and centering your mind. However if you find yourself feeling a little off after your practice these might be a few reasons why.

1. Not timing your breath. Part of the mind to body connection of yoga is keeping a fluid connection between the way you are breathing and the poses. This is meant to center and calm you, but also make you very aware of everything that your body is doing. When you don't focus on your breath as well as your body you make yourself more susceptible to injury and less likely to get the full benefits of the practice.
2. Pushing yourself too far too early. Building up to flexibility can be challenging, but it is very important that you not try to force or push your body into a position it is not comfortable with. When getting into your poses push yourself only as far as when you can feel the stretch, but if you start to feel pain in your muscles or joints you should either rest in child's pose or come out of the stretch just a little bit.
3. Not watching your knees. This is definitely one that I have been guilty of, particularly in the different warrior positions. Keeping your knee aligned with your ankle is essential for injury prevention. Bringing your knee over the ankle puts you at risk for hurting the joints. If you feel you can go deeper in the pose you should bring your back foot out more instead of pushing through the front.
4. Bringing tension to your body. Part of the joy of yoga is releasing stress, so when you are stretching out one part of your body it is a bad idea to bring stress to another area. For instance when you are in something like camel pose you should relax your neck and allow your head to tip up toward the sky instead of trying to hold it up awkwardly. This will allow you to fully relax in your practice.