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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not expect to put my neck out during a yoga class?

50 replies

user1477282676 · 16/11/2016 08:23

I know IABU but I'm so annoyed! I went to a "Beginners Dru Yoga Class" on the weekend and during the class (2 hours!) I was aware that my shoulders felt tight...this feeling happened right at the start of the class...as soon as we began to move.

I carried on thinking it would ease up and it did....or so I thought!

I woke up the next day with the left side of my neck sort of locked and really painful.

Today it's even worse! I thought a beginners class would be gentle? It only had 2 others in the class so she should have corrected me if I was doing something wrong? Or AIBU?

OP posts:

Whatthefreakinwhatnow · 16/11/2016 08:25

Why didn't you tell the instructor you were uncomfortable?!

It's hardly their fault you carried on despite an injury and have exacerbated it is it! They aren't a sodding mind reader!

HunterHearstHelmsley · 16/11/2016 08:27

Well you can pull your neck doing anything! It's not necessarily that you were doing it wrong. I twinged my shoulder yesterday doing tricep extensions (correctly) and I do this regularly.

Original poster

user1477282676 · 16/11/2016 08:28

Well I didn't say anything because it passed quite quickly...and it's all very spiritual and it didn't feel like the environment where you could speak up...she didn't stop speaking the whole time.

OP posts:

Original poster

user1477282676 · 16/11/2016 08:29

Also it wasn't "an injury" but a "tight feeling" as far as I was aware.

OP posts:

Sirzy · 16/11/2016 08:30

You should have stopped when it was uncomfortable.

Injuries can occur at any time and we need to take some responsibility for listening to our own bodies

WaitrosePigeon · 16/11/2016 08:30

You should always speak up. Put your hand up if you don't want to disturb and they should come over to you. There are always alternatives to all positions.

You may not have pulled your neck, it could also be muscles that you've never used before that you've got working.

Original poster

user1477282676 · 16/11/2016 08:31

Sirzy well that would have been the whole bloody class then! It was almost ALL uncomfortable aside from lying on the floor at the end!

OP posts:

TheNaze73 · 16/11/2016 08:31

YABVU. Unless the instructor was psychic, how were they to know???

You should have stopped when you were uncomfortable

Original poster

user1477282676 · 16/11/2016 08:31

Pigeon I'm 44. I've used all my muscles by now at some point I'm sure.

OP posts:

Original poster

user1477282676 · 16/11/2016 08:32

Can I just ask...if people stop every time they're "uncomfortable" then how on earth do people make changes? If I stopped cycling every time I felt uncomfortable, it would take me a year to ride a mile!

OP posts:

SharkBastard · 16/11/2016 08:34

What did you want the instructor to do? Watch you individually? Try and figure out your body twinges and aches?

What an odd AIBU thread

Cocochoco · 16/11/2016 08:34

The fundamental thing to grasp is that you are responsible for your own body. Do not push your body further than it can easily go - even if (especially if) that means you go only a few millimetres.

that said, choose a yoga teacher who understands anatomy and bodies. You want someone who practises regularly and has done so for at least five years. And they should be telling beginners to go very very gently.

I would find a different class with a teacher you feel comfortable with.

Cocochoco · 16/11/2016 08:37

I adapt when I am uncomfortable but have done yoga for years. And have still pushed myself too hard many times - it can be a useful learning curve (though not in your first class maybe).

The class doesn't sound good to me, and I think you are getting some unsympathetic replies. It's hard to speak up in a class sometimes and in a class of three the instructor should notice if you are doing something weird. I would not go back!

WellErrr · 16/11/2016 08:40

You should sue them for not being psychic

CurbsideProphet · 16/11/2016 08:43

As a beginner the instructor really should have reminded you through out the class that if you feel any discomfort you should come out of the pose and rest. Some instructors are better at this than others.

As an aside, I've tried Dru Yoga and found it a bit woolly. I much prefer Hatha and Vinyassa.

Original poster

user1477282676 · 16/11/2016 08:44

Coco thank you. I do feel that since I paid a lot for this as it was an introductory class...deliberately small....that she should have spent SOME time checking we were all doing positions correctly. She never adjusted anyone or commented on anyone's posture once.

OP posts:

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 16/11/2016 08:45

Pigeon is right,it might just be muscles not used to working. My physio always talks about people thinking they are using / stretching muscles but actually they're compensating with other parts of their bodies.

Use a heat pad and a muscle rub or some ibruprofen gel and it'll probably ease.

Original poster

user1477282676 · 16/11/2016 08:45

Curb Wooly is the word! It's not for me either. DH said I should try the class he's done which is called"flow" yoga but he says it has some Hatha about it.

OP posts:

JCo24 · 16/11/2016 08:47

Yeah, YABU. Yoga is not for you, I would reccomend not going back.

SpuriouserAndSpuriouser · 16/11/2016 08:49

In answer to your question about how people can improve at things if they stop when they feel uncomfortable, there is a difference between the "good" pain of muscles working as they should, and the "bad" pain that comes from stretching too far/pushing yourself too hard.

I do think exercise instructors shouldn't push people too far, and I can sympathise with not wanting to speak up if it was a quiet environment though. And they definitely should have been checking that everyone was in the correct position, especially for a beginners class. I would go to a different class next time, with a different instructor.

LordEmsworth · 16/11/2016 08:49

I am a yoga teacher. (Not Dru, I don't know much about that).

Yes, you should have stopped and told her, that's a valuable lesson for you - but I stress to my beginners' class over and over, stop and tell me if it feels painful, stressful or wrong. She should have made that clear.

You progress by learning what's good practise and not good practise, and you push yourself forwards slowly and with care, with support from the teacher based on the sharing of knowledge between the two of you. Yoga teaching is not a one way street - teachers learn from their students too. Discomfort based on being out of your comfort zone is good; discomfort because you're injuring yourself is really not.

You should contact her - if it were a student in my class I would want to know. My guess (and it is a guess, I am a yoga teacher not a doctor and haven't seen you) is that you have a minor problem in your shoulders and a movement has exacerbated/triggered it, rather than you doing a wrong movement.

I would also go to your GP if it's been 2 days - it might be minor, but neck pain is never good pain and better safe than sorry.

Original poster

user1477282676 · 16/11/2016 08:52

Lord I haven't had shoulder pain for about 3 years...I had a very bad shoulder and oddly enough went to one yoga class (not this one!) and it was "fixed" this class seems to have brought it back but on the other side! DH says that means it wasn't fixed at all...

She just talked a lot...nothing about checking or saying to mention it if something hurt...or even to stop if something was uncomfortable!

OP posts:

Sirzy · 16/11/2016 08:55

It could well have been that you weren't doing the positions wrong though, you were just doing it more than your body was ready for at this point

CurbsideProphet · 16/11/2016 08:55

I was trying to be polite by calling it woolly

With only 3 people in the beginner class I would have expected the instructor constantly be checking alignment and adjusting if you weren't in the pose correctly. I used to go to a class where the instructor would do this with over 20 in the class.

Don't let it put you off yoga - maybe just look for a proper Hatha class, so you can properly see what it's about

Sirzy · 16/11/2016 08:59

If you know you have a "dodgey" area then I would suggest always mention that to the instructors before the class just so they are aware and can suggest any adaptations that may help.

I have a bad knee and although it's generally stable now (let's me run 10k 3 times I week) I always mention it when starting a new class

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