Do Continue to Practice Yoga, Gently

• You wake up the morning after a yoga practice and immediately notice that you feel a little stiff. How can that be, you wonder. Can yoga make you sore?
• Of course it can! If you’re just getting back into your practice after so...

• It may seem like a smart idea to pop an aspirin when you’re feeling sore after yoga, but it’s not the best way to help speed your recovery.

Not only does this feel great, but it actually helps to :

• Initiate the parasympathetic nervous system to reduce tension and

• Yoga is filled with eccentric contractions that cause microscopic injuries to the muscle and fascial tissues.
• Our bodies produce an inflammatory response to these micro-tears and t...

• Drink water, not sports drinks, says Amy C. Sedgwick, an emergency medicine doctor and Yoga Medicine certified yoga instructor in Portland, Maine.
• “We want to help increase our blood volum...

• Without sleep and rest, your body can’t “gear down” to allow for the parasympathetic nervous system (rest-and-digest mode) to be in charge, says Sedgwic...

• Foam rolling for 20 minutes immediately after working out can reduce tenderness — even if it causes some discomfort.
• Take it slow and be gentle; you...

• Exercise is the best way to relieve feeling sore after yoga.
• In fact, research shows doing the same muscle movements and sequences you did p...

• The soreness after yoga you may be experiencing is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which usually occurs 12–48 hours after exercising.
• The level of soreness you m...

• And when you do, be sure to stretch through all planes of motion.

• Long, static stretches or over-stretching sore muscles can do more harm than good.
• The tissues are already slightly damaged and working on healing. If you over-stretch your muscles and “wring them out” of all their fluids, you reduce...

Make sure your post-workout snack or meal includes :

• PROTEIN, which repairs and builds muscle, and
• CARBOHYDRATES, which can help speed recovery.

• Unless you’re an ultra-endurance athlete, you are not likely depleting your system so much that you need caffeine, energy drinks, or supplements.
• This only adds unnecessary calories and other substances to a body that simply...