I have been doing yoga daily with DYWM since the quarantine started in March. I went from very beginner to now doing Intermediate II and III. I felt great but now my muscles are stiff and I am sore all over, from my hips to my shoulders and hamstrings. Am I overdoing it or is this just a stage in the progression?
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Are you taking time to recover? Try taking a yin or gentle stretching class a couple of times a week, it gives your body a chance to recover.
I find when I push myself without recovery days I end up going backwards.
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I am actually doing the challenges. When I finish one, I start a new one. I thought there would be enough recovery built in but I think I will take your advice and try incorporating a gentle class every few days. Thanks for your input. Much appreciated.
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I agree that recovery time is very important. Taking a day off every few days gives your body time to recover and bounce back. Working in a gentle class every now and then is also a great idea, as someone mentioned.
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I would agree. Recovery time is super important. I typically mix up my practice between intense and gentle, alternating days depending on my goals and how I’m feeling.
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Thank you for the suggestions. Since I am new to yoga (as of March and the start of quarantine), I have been very enthusiastic and have practiced daily moving quickly through the stages. What I didn’t factor in was resting. One suggestion I received here was doing yin yoga which I hadn’t tried. Two days in a row now and I am starting to feel much better!
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I’m not an expert, but Yin may not always be the best choice for a gentle, recovery, R&R practice. Yin is different in that it stretches the connective tissues with long holds. Simple poses held for a long time can eventually be very intense; you may feel sore - but differently - afterwards. For your recovery days, maybe try some slow Beg I, Beg II classes as you ease into Yin classes. 
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Aneitatyler, you are right! I barely slept last night due to the soreness. The Yin classes felt great while I was doing them but am still sore. I will try going back to Beginner classes. I have never taken a yoga class in person so really appreciate the feedback here. Thank you.
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Hi
Congratulations on coming so far with your practice. The DYWM challenges are great, aren’t they? I did four of them last year. I find it can be very easy to get a bit obsessed with them though. I feel like I must get up and do that day’s practice no matter what so my challenge is perfect, if you know what I mean. Sometimes I can push through feeling tired or just lazy without any trouble but sometimes the body just needs to rest. Yoga isn’t only asana practice though. On those days when your body is telling you it just isn’t up for another down dog maybe try some very gentle restorative or some meditation or breathing exercises. Also I find that mixing up my practice so that I’m not doing the same poses over and over every single day to be helpful so I don’t have too much repetitive stress, if that makes sense. Like one day is a challenging flow. Maybe the next day is yin. The third day maybe I do a gentle flow that is “wrist less” and so on. I know you posted this several days ago so I hope you’re feeling better by now.
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Thanks, Sherry. I know exactly what you mean! I become obsessed with doing the challenge regardless of how I am feeling. I really need to listen better to my body regardless of what the challenge is asking for. Thank you so much for your insight.
- Nicole
I’m moving on to a more difficult challenge. But I really like Melissa’s and Guy’s Beginner challenges. And I want to re-visit them. So I plan to intersperse their easier classes with the ones of the new Challenge I’m doing in order to get needed rest & recovery.
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