Notes on injury and practice

Over a year ago, I fell off my bike and broke my wrist. Bad news for a yoga teacher.

Typically, scaphoid breaks require surgery. I was ridiculously lucky that mine didn’t. I also wasn’t wearing a helmet (lesson learned), so things could’ve been a lot worse. I just had to suffer through wearing a cast for six weeks – no big deal, right?

As a yoga teacher, I have always talked about injuries as something someone is “working through”. When I would ask at the beginning of a class (not as often as I should) if anyone was working through an injury, I implied that injuries are something with a beginning and an end. After a year with my injury, I have realised that they are something to work with, not through.

As a yoga teacher, one might expect me to be extremely patient with my practice, or to have sufficient anatomical knowledge to know how to deal with an injury. Neither of these things turned out to be true. For a year, I didn’t know what to do with my practice, or with my teaching. Fair play to anyone who does their physio exercises properly. I certainly didn’t. When I was allowed to use my wrist again, I did not manage my practice well at all. I would teach on a Friday, hurt my wrist, rest it for a week and then teach again the next Friday. And then rest and then teach and then rest and then teach. Needless to say, it was not a success.

I did not find the Instagram worthy lesson. I cried multiple times after my practice, but most often I cried five minutes in and then quit. Some days it was fine and some days I couldn’t put my hands together in prayer. I was also extremely aware that none of this was, in any capacity, a big deal. But it was still a pain in the ass.

Finally, after about 15 months, I found balance. I slowly started to rebuild my practice and really tried to listen to my body. Slowly, I rebuilt strength. I adjusted when I felt fatigued. Most importantly, I remembered that my practice could still be potent, even if it needed to be modified.

I have always struggled with my home practice. I want instruction, adjustments from the teacher and the energy of other students. Injury forced me onto the mat in my own home, with my own body and my own head. That’s probably not a bad thing.

Everyone’s practice looks different. Having a weak wrist challenges my practice but it doesn’t have to make me less dedicated, less of a yogi or less of a teacher. If anything, my injury has helped my teaching and it eventually helped my practice, when I allowed it to.

I am grateful to my wrist for taking the fall, instead of letting my head hit the curb. I am grateful for free healthcare in Sweden, and for the lessons that I eventually listened to.

The lessons? Be patient, wear your helmet and, for the love of God, do not cycle home from the pub.