4 Ways Yoga Keeps You Pain-Free, from ShapeShifter Yoga

Contributed by fitness trainer Adam Steer, ShapeShifter Yoga. “Back in the day” I got to spend most of my time out on the slopes or on the gym floor working with my clients. But as I’ve gradually changed my focus to helping people all over the world by bringing my knowledge to the internet, I’m spending way more time than I’d like in front of a computer screen.

1. Avoid “Desk Jockey Syndrome”

But — knock on wood — my body seems no worse for wear. And that’s surprising, because most of the “desk jockey” clients I work with are plagued by the typical aches and pains associated with sitting all day.

Whether they’re at a desk or traveling on commute, these people spend most of their time training their bodies to be “chair shaped”. Sloping shoulders, tight hips and dormant butt muscles are all symptoms of “Desk Jockey Syndrome” (DJS).

Yoga is the only reason I don’t suffer from DJS myself. That’s why it’s the exact same cure I use for clients who come to me with these problems. And the results are VISIBLE in just 3-4 weeks!

Anyone who sits at a desk needs to be doing this stuff! But they aren’t the only ones.

Jobs that involve any kind of REPETITIVE task should include some form of good physical yoga practice. Repetition causes muscle imbalances over time… unless you compensate for it.

Here are a few of the jobs that would benefit from yoga practice:

• Executives
• Receptionists
• Sales reps
• Factory workers
• Nurses
• Writers
• Secretaries
• Waitresses
• And the list goes on…

For years, I thought I was just injury prone. No matter what I was doing at the time — football, hockey, sailing, skiing or even just jogging—it seemed like I was always pulling or tweaking something.

It’s incredibly frustrating to get so close to the top of your game — or almost at your hard won physique goal — and get injured. All your progress comes to a grinding halt. And you feel like you have to start the whole journey over again once you heal.

I rarely get the kind of injuries that used to completely derail my training

Not only that, but once you do feel better you’re constantly worried it’s going to happen again. And it usually does. Because the ROOT of the problem is still there…

Muscle imbalance.

Yep, it all comes down to keeping your body in balance. Nowadays, I rarely get the kind of injuries that used to completely derail my training and other activities. I train hard, so I get the odd tweak. But nothing like back in the day when I was convinced I was “injury prone”.

The simple practice of keeping my muscles in balance has allowed me to work out harder and play harder without constantly looking over my shoulder, waiting for an injury to happen.

3. Banish Back Pain

I’m lucky. I’ve never suffered from serious back pain. But I’ve got plenty of clients who have.

And 9 times out of 10, the problem has nothing to do with their lower back. They usually have tight hips or a lack of mobility in the upper back. Those are the REAL problems they needed to address. And the addition of some simple yoga moves clears up most of these symptoms in a matter of weeks.

Research supports my approach to back pain. A 2011 study published in The Archives Of Internal Medicine showed that yoga practice improves chronic low back pain. After only 12 weekly classes, patients showed better function and

reduced symptoms.

4. Bulletproof Your Joints

You’ve probably been the victim of at least ONE of these two villains. I sure have!

Tendonitis? Had that. Bursitis? Been there…

These two common problems are the source of most of our aches and pains. And they don’t just show up out of nowhere.

We get tendonitis and bursitis when things are out of whack. Think of it this way. If the wheels of your car aren’t aligned, what’s going to happen? You’ll get uneven wear on your tires. And if you let it go on long enough, they could even develop bald spots and burst.

The same thing happens to your tendons and bursa. Your tendons are the “cables” that attach your muscles to bone. And your bursa are the sacks of fluid that sit under tendons and muscle to make sure they glide smoothly over those bony areas.

If your muscles and joints aren’t aligned properly, you get wear. And that’s when you get tendonitis and bursitis.

And what’s one of the best ways to keep your body in alignment? Yep, you guessed it. Yoga.

To learn more about the ShapeShifter Yoga program, go to ShapeShifter Yoga.