Dealing with Wrist Pain?

 
Do you ever suffer from wrist discomfort during a long yoga practice? You’re not alone.

Wrist pain in yoga is typically the result of either underdeveloped muscles in the forearm or limited extension of the wrist joint—or both. If you struggle with inflexible wrists or weak forearms you end up localizing all your body weight in one small part of one small joint. And that’s a recipe for trouble.  

Tackling the issue:

First, let’s deal with increasing wrist flexibility.   Most daily activities involve flexion  (carrying groceries home), adduction (opening a beer), or abduction (giving thumbs up about said beer), so it’s natural that we’d need to spend some time working on extension.

Warm up: Bring palms into prayer in front of heart center. Keeping palms flat against each other, slowly raise elbows to eventually bring forearms parallel to the floor.

Next step: Extend right arm in front of you, palm facing up. Extend fingers down toward the floor. Use fingers of the left hand to grasp fingers of the right hand. Gently pull the right fingers toward the heart. Try on the other side.  This one is easy to do throughout the day—hell, do it at your desk. Your wrists will thank you.

Strengthening the forearms is also super easy—it just takes some patience and determination. Keep up your regular yoga practice, just alternate between traditional downward facing dog and downward facing dog on the forearms (dolphin). If your wrists are pretty sore, start with just a few traditional down dogs per practice, and then build from there.

While you’re working on increasing strength and flexibility in the wrists—either opt for bridge pose instead of full backbend, or do your backbend with your wrists on a folded mat or wedge for a little cushion.

The more wrist strength you develop, the more comfortable you’ll be.  That’s it—no special weights, no tricky maneuvers. Just do yoga.

Broga: What We Can Learn from Yoga for Dudes

Last year, one of the classes I was most excited to attend at Wanderlust was called “Yoga for Dudes.” Sure, I was nervous that I’d be the only lady yogi and screw up the guy vibe, or that the class would focus mostly on upper arm strength and I’d wither before our warm up was done. But mostly, I was just excited to see how this class would be different. I was also really hoping Adrian Grenier would be there. (Sadly, he was a no show.)

I imagined that the intensity would be high. I figured we’d spend lots of time with arm balances and inversions and core. I also distinctly remember anticipating that there would be lots of grunting.

What I found wasn’t at all what I expected. As I settled onto my mat, I noticed how quiet the outdoor space was. The dudes were nervous. A couple of them had even brought a female companion/safety blanket. When our teacher stepped into the studio, she was warm, and gentle, and inviting—not at all the intense or domineering personality I’d expected.   

The class was paced slowly, with several pauses for additional direction and demos. We experimented with arm balances, and practiced linking our breath to the movement. The instructor consistently affirmed our efforts, and the dudes started to relax. We worked on challenging upper body stretches, and took a deliciously long savasana in the sun. And suddenly, the class was over. No male displays of strength. No whiskey or beef jerky consumption. And very little grunting.

Turns out, “Yoga for Dudes” isn’t all that different from yoga for ladies. A good yoga class is a good yoga class, whether it’s focused on men or women. It’s about cultivating an environment where yogis feel encouraged and empowered to learn and grow.  

Since then, I’ve stopped trying to construct my classes to fit the gender of my students. I give everyone the same modifications, and encourage everyone to strive for the same goal. And (much to the delight of the Pilates instructors I work with) I have a steady dude crew that comes each week. 

Namaste, indeed.