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Fitness Rules in Yoga Perspective
By Monica Schmidt, BS Exercise Science and Health Promotion

When a fitness instructor gives adamant directions during group exercise class, insisting that you must perform your exercises in a certain way for them to be safe and effective, you listen. Rightly, you want to learn how to be solid in the exercises. Just when you think you've got the idea, learning essentials of exercise safety, you decide to go to a yoga class and suddenly the rules have changed. In fact, there might not be any safety rules offered by the teacher, creating confusion about what is right. When is it okay, if ever, to break the rules of fitness in the realm of yoga?

Several yoga poses suggest joint angles which are considered by the fitness authorities to be extreme and even dangerous. These positions are referred to as "contraindicated." There are rules of alignment born out of exercise science that should be adhered to for a program that is overall safe and effective. Perhaps those guidelines can be surpassed depending on the participant's individual flexibility level and if the progression is done properly.Exercise research has established an "ideal" range of motion for each joint, but in reality there are large deviations in these norms. We are genetically unique, and also each body has been through a one-of-a-kind growth process. Depending on what a person has experienced physically during play, work, sport, and injury creates a special set of physical circumstances.Presented here are stretches that generate safety concerns among fitness authorities. These positions deserve special care and attention when learning them, especially when just beginning a yoga or stretch program. These poses present the highest possibility for injury but if performed correctly will produce a deep stretch. If you are experiencing pain, holding or gasping your breath, or feel wobbly on your feet then what you are attempting is too aggressive. Come out of what you are doing and try a fresh approach.