Yoga and Hypermobility

I used to think that I was the actual bomb at yoga because I was so flexible. I could easily get my head on the floor in prasarita padottanasana, I could flop into the splits and my back bends were always the bendiest in the room. Stretching felt amazing in my body, I became almost addicted to end range movements and challenging myself to go further. I figured I must have some sort of gift for yoga, so I decided to sign up for a yoga teacher training course.

I had two yoga years under my belt before I had even heard the word hyperextension. It was only when I began my teacher training that I learned that it was even a thing. My course leader noticed my arms hyperextending straight away in the very first downward facing dog and worked with me to correct my alignment. I thought I had been acing yoga because of my flexibility, but this hyperextension revelation suddenly meant that everything I had believed up until that point was wrong. My flexibility was putting me at risk of recurring injuries because I had been over stretching, and I had had no idea! What I had believed to be my biggest advantage in yoga was actually a bit of a disadvantage. I had to relearn how to use my body to minimise injury. I had to strip my whole practice back to basics and start over, learning how to activate my muscles correctly and avoid dumping into my joints. Even the phrase “dump into the joints” had meant nothing to me during my blissfully unaware pre-teacher training days. I just thought it was one of those nothingness phrases, something said out of habit to fill a gap in the conversation. I had no idea what it meant, and I was doing it- every single time. As yoga teachers, we often assume that our students have the same understanding as we do, but we need to be aware that this is not the case and instead, use language that is accessible for all. Instead of suggesting we stop dumping into the joint, tell students which muscles to activate and how, in order to reduce strain on the joint.