Why a Minor Yoga Injury Isn’t a Bad Thing

Lessons learned from time off the mat

I rolled out my yoga mat in a hotel room in Mexico – a beautiful location for a bit of morning yoga. I had been traveling on business and had kept up my routine; and I felt strong, healthy, limber… and proud of myself.

However, midway through a twist sequence: a twang in my lower back. Thinking it best to push through the pain, I persevered – until lying in savasana (aka corpse pose) really did feel like death and I knew something was not quite right. And sure enough, within an hour, touching my toes meant a quick pain through my lower back. Was it the lunge/hip opener I’d thrown in randomly between twists? Had I slept poorly? Too much travel? Surely, I thought, it will get better soon… but day turned to night, to the next day and the next, and no relief came.

Regardless of the type of exercise, whether it is yoga, running, or weight lifting, we are all accustomed to a few aches and pains along the way. Usually, this is the “feel good” pain which means something is working, that a particular muscle is finally getting some much needed attention.

I was not dealing with the “good” pain this time around, though. More than a few days off from yoga practice was clearly needed for my body to heal. But I had been so good about practicing daily for the past month! My core was strong and I was going deep into poses with little effort. How could a no-thrills home practice knock me out like this? And how was I going to take the necessary time off to heal and simultaneously keep the strength and flexibility to embody those beautiful Instagram yogis in incredible poses, gorgeous clothing, and enviable locations?

Yoga had led me to some very non-yogi feelings: not only was I greedy for how yoga made me feel every day but I had become competitive with myself.

Alas, there was nothing to do but take some time off and it was more than two weeks before I rolled out the mat and gingerly restarted my practice. In the meantime, I learned a few things about yoga by not physically practicing yoga:

Patience is a practice.

An injury cannot be willed away nor the healing process quickened. To accept this fact requires humbleness and patience with oneself. For the strain in my back to get better, I had to wait and take care. I could not return to the physical exercise of yoga until the time was right. At first, this was frustrating (and unfair!) but soon I realized that it was an opportunity to practice patience – a skill necessary when learning new poses.

Mindfulness is a practice.

Focused solely on keeping up a daily yoga schedule, I had forgotten why I was doing it in the first place. My goal had simply become “improvement.” But the injury knocked me off the mat; and when I began again, my body was stiff and hesitant – a physical constraint that served as a reminder to remain aware of how I felt with every movement, every breath. No matter how yogi the yogi, the process of bringing oneself back to this moment right now is constant. And this skill – practiced with each yoga pose, from the warriors to scorpion – is something that flows from our yoga practice into our daily lives.

Gratitude is a practice.

These days, it seems (too) easy to take for granted that which means the most to us, to lean heavily on friends and family and believe our appreciation is understood. Just like patience and mindfulness, gratitude is a muscle that can be developed through yoga, by giving thanks for each opportunity to be on the yoga mat. From there, it becomes easier to see the importance of showing gratitude to all the things and people in our lives which help us be happy, content, and successful individuals.

Regardless of how I strained my lower back, the break from yoga actually brought me closer to the practice, by shifting my attention from a physical, goal-oriented practice towards the quiet pillars of yoga. For that, I am grateful.

This article was originally published on Medium.