A reader of my free yoga book asked if yoga should hurt. Here’s my response.
Yoga should NOT hurt. Yoga is about gentle stretching and holding. If something hurts, you should stop. It could be you are pushing your body too hard for its current strengths. It could be something about the specific position simply does not work well given an injury or other situation with your body. There should never be pain. There should be gentle stretching.
For me, yoga is intensely pleasurable. It feels wonderful to press into the spinal twists – as if I’m receiving an expert massage. Lowering down from bridge, vertebrae by vertebrae, is sheer bliss. I’ve heard from many other yoga practitioners that they feel the same way. So that is something to look forward to, if you’re just getting started!