Yoga does not equal Flexibility Training

𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭..⁣
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The most common questions I’m asked by patients, clients and athletes is whether they should start yoga to stop being ‘so tight’ or to help with their injury.⁣
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My answer for years has been the same: NO.⁣
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𝐘𝐨𝐠𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. You don’t need yoga to work on your ranges of motion 👉 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠.⁣
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𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘨𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. ⁣
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𝘠𝘰𝘨𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, it’s a group of physical, mental and spiritual practices whose main components are specific postures and breathing.⁣
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Doing yoga to improve your flexibility is like doing gymnastics or Olympic Weightlifting to improve your ranges – flexibility is a key element in all these sports, but it’s not their sole focus. ⁣
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And 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺. ⁣
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👉 Even people whose sport is yoga might supplement it with more targeted work when they struggle to achieve a specific position. ⁣
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Yoga focuses on specific poses; depending on your sport these might be relevant to you or not.⁣
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Even classes labelled as “yoga for athletes” or “yoga for sport” will still generally follow specific poses.⁣
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𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐃𝐎𝐍’𝐓 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐠𝐚, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨.⁣
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🧘‍♀️ 𝘠𝘰𝘨𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧; when you want to combine your flexibility training with relaxation, meditation, breathing work and you like the spiritual element of it.⁣
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🏋️‍♀️ If it doesn’t suit your believes or lifestyle, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦! You can for example use part of your strength training to focus on flexibility.⁣
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👉 If you are looking to address specific restrictions to improve your movement for daily li