If you lead an active lifestyle, it is not uncommon to suffer from sore muscles. When you do activities which get your heart pumping and your breath heavy, your body will switch from aerobic respiration (the use of oxygen to feed your cells, essentially) and kick into anaerobic respiration (feeding your cells WITHOUT oxygen). This can leave lactic acid buildup in your muscles, which is often the reason for sore muscles in the days following physical activity.

Perhaps you’re sore from being sedentary too much? Sitting all day, hunching over a keyboard, performing the same repetitive motions over and over; all of these can lead to calcium buildup and achy shoulders, backs, hips.

Yoga is a great way to reduce or even eliminate many types of muscle pain. The combination of gentle stretching and deep breathing will get nutrient rich blood flowing to your muscles which helps to flush out the toxins that are causing pain. Taking the time to relax and connect can leave you feeling centered and more comfortable in your body.

Now, some muscle pain can be from simple over-exertion; tiny tears in your muscle fibers leave you feeling very painful. This type of acute muscle damage is different. Be careful not to over-use these muscles in any way while they heal. The opinions vary on whether or not yoga is recommended for this type of pain. One thing is for sure; if you are sore, gentle gentle gentle is the way to go. Just taking the time to breath and delicately stretch over worked muscles can provide relief, but you have to listen to your own body and see for yourself what works best.

For myself, I practice yoga BEFORE I feel pain. Whether it’s a grueling 12 mile mountain hike or a long day of rock climbing, I find that if I take a class that same day, I do not get nearly as sore the next. Often I don’t get sore at all. This is just one way that yoga so wonderfully compliments my active lifestyle.