How to practise around an injury or sore area with Svayam Yoga
Tell the platform which area is a problem and how bad it is, keep that record current, and read the cautions attached to what you are asked to do.
When this is useful
When a specific area is the reason you have stopped practising, or when you are coming back after a break and one part of you is not ready for what the rest is.
Before you start
- Clearance from a clinician if the problem is recent, painful or under treatment. Do that first, not after.
- A clear sense of which region it is and how often it bothers you - the profile asks for both.
- The understanding that this shapes what you are shown; it is not treatment for the problem itself.
Steps
Step 1
Record the area in your profile
In onboarding, the Body and conditions step lets you select the regions that give you trouble and, for each one, set how severe it is and how often it happens. Update Your Preferences reopens the same answers later.
Step 2
Answer the functional ability questions honestly
The next step asks about balance, dizziness on movement and whether you need a gentler practice. These change what you are asked to do, so a brave answer here works against you.
Step 3
Flag new discomfort at the Daily Check-in
The check-in is five questions and one of them is whether anything new has started hurting, with neck and shoulders, back, hips and knees, wrists, or somewhere else to choose from.
Step 4
Let the check-in reach a teacher
Where your answers warrant it, the check-in is flagged for a teacher to review and the confirmation screen tells you so. That is the point at which a person, not software, looks at what you reported.
Step 5
Read the cautions on your drills
Drills carry caution notes where they have them, shown with the instructions rather than buried. Read them before you start rather than afterwards.
Step 6
Stop when it hurts, whatever the screen says
What you told the platform about your body takes priority over any reading it produces. If a movement hurts, that is the answer, whatever the number says.
What happens next
What you recorded carries through to what you are shown and to the cautions attached to it. It is a record the platform practises around, kept current by you - nothing detects a new problem on its own.
An example
Your lower back flares up occasionally. You set it as mild and sometimes in the profile, and one Monday the check-in asks about new discomfort and you say back. The check-in is flagged for your teacher, you spend that week on the gentler drills, and you have a written record of when it started when you next see a physiotherapist.
Tips
- Update the record when the problem changes. A profile that says mild while you are limping helps nobody.
- Use the check-in for the short-lived things and the profile for the standing ones.
- If one area keeps coming back, that is a question for a teacher or a clinician rather than another week of drills.
Safety and limitations
- Svayam does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it is not a substitute for physiotherapy, medical advice or an in-person assessment.
- Pain is not a target to work through. Stop the movement and, if it persists, see a clinician.
- Where an injury is involved, a living teacher who can watch you move may be necessary rather than merely useful. Software cannot see what they can.
- Nothing here should be read as clearance to resume practice after an injury. That decision belongs to you and the person treating you.
Svayam supports a general wellbeing practice. It does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it is not a substitute for medical advice, physiotherapy, or an in-person assessment by a qualified yoga teacher.
Related how-to guides
How to set up your practice profile with Svayam Yoga
Complete the seven onboarding steps that tell the platform what your body can do, what you are aiming at, and when you practise.
How to work on a tight area of your body with Svayam Yoga
Find which areas are most limited, practise the drills suggested for them, and re-check later to see what has moved.