Hello everyone, I am totally new to yoga, one of my friends suggested that I should start doing yoga for the health benefits. I am 14, and my hips, knees, and ankles are constantly in pain and frequently sprained from skateboarding. I heard that yoga will help lengthen the ligaments ,prevent injuries, and relieve pain. Does yoga really help that much? And if so, what are good yoga exercises to help out and strengthen the knees and ankles?
Hi!
Yoga won’t help you so much to strenghten your joints, rather to repair the damage, stretch and lenghten the ligaments, and relieve pain. For this I’d recommend Sarva Hita asanas , or what is in Bihar School of Yoga called Pawanmuktasan. It means very easy and simple exercises. After all, it is usually the best way to start with yoga anyway.
I’m trying to focus specifically on what you ask here in your post Acetelyne.
"Does yoga really help that much?"
There are benefits from a yoga practice. Those benefits can and do differ from one student to the next. Your particular benefits therefore can not be determined. The full answer for you comes from the practice itself.
Yoga however is not neccessarily w wellness program but an awareness practice. So these benefits we speak of are byproducts and not at all the primary essence of yoga practice.
The body may be healed in yoga practice. It may also be harmed. Not all teachers are well trained and not all students listen:-) So there’s no one right answer for you. It is however possible to heal the physical body.
Raher than focusing on strengthening the joints you mention, work first to stabilize. This work always preceeds strengthening. Align, stabilize, strengthen. And frankly you should work with a wualified teacher, not take pose recommendations over the internet please.
Depending on where you are there are a variety of class offerings for students in your age range. You might even discover you prefer your yoga practice to the strains and sprains of skateboarding.