With poses such as Downward Dog and Plank a common theme that pops up in the yoga world is wrist pain and this blog is here to offer you some top tips to avoid wrist pain in Yoga from your Bristol Yoga Instructor, Aimee, co-founder of Aim2Be.
Top Tips to avoid wrist pain in Yoga
+ Warm up your wrists. Follow these exercises to avoid wrist pain in yoga.
1. Rotate your wrists up, down, side to side: repeat 4 times
2. Stretch your fingers far apart, relax them then stretch again: repeat 4 times
3. Place your palm against a wall and with your free hand, very gently pulling your fingers back until you feel a stretch. Hold for 20 - 30 seconds. Repeat other side
4. Interlace your fingers and extend arms out in front of you. Flip your bind so that the tops of the fingers are facing you. Inahle and lift your arms to the ceiling, keeping shoulders soft. Breathe and hold for 60 seconds
5. Starting on your knees, place your hands on the floor in front of you, under your shoulders with your fingertips facing your knees. Breathe and hold for 30 seconds. Then flip your hands so the tops of your hands are on the floor and your fingertips are facing you. Breathe and hold for 30 seconds.
+ Distribute the weight evenly. In Downward-Facing Dog focus on shifting the weight into your heels, bending the knees as the tailbone draws up. In arm-balance poses such as Crow Pose, feel into lifting through your core. In any pose where palms are on the ground, distribute the weight evenly.
+ Engage Hasta Bandha. Spread your fingers wide on the ground and draw upwards through the palms (see image below). This subtle movement can help engage arm muscles and release pressure off the wrists.
So let's direct you through this image to help you avoid wrist pain in yoga. The entire hand should be on the mat, yet you want to press especially hard into the purple areas. Doing that will create a subtle suction in the centre of your palm (yellow) which will engage and build strength in all the little muscles in the forearms. These tiny muscles in the hands and forearms are often tight or underdeveloped from habitual jobs like driving, writing and typing so exercises to strengthen and release is welcome.
TIP: if the red circle is beginning to lift, this means the body weight is collapsing into the blue area or side of the hand, which you don't want. If it is too much on the hands, bring the focus back into the fingers (purple and pink), then either modify the pose or come into Childs pose to rest.
Whatever you do, try not to get discouraged. The muscles in the hands will build over time with consistent practice. I trust these tips to avoid wrist pain in yoga helps you.
If you are local to Yoga Fishponds, St George, Staple Hill you would be welcome to join a physical yoga class to explore movement and relaxation from Bristol Yoga Instructor, Aimee. You can check out the timetable here on the website.
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