When I first came to yoga, I was taught to be careful.

Do not let your knee go past your ankle. Do not round your back. Do not load your wrists too much. There was a web of warnings embedded in asana alignment, shaping how we were told to practice and how we, in turn, went on to teach.

For years I believed those ideas and, I will admit, passed them on to my own students. At the time they felt like good advice, the responsible way to protect ourselves. But the more I have studied yoga, anatomy, and movement science, the more I have realised something very different. Our bodies are not fragile. They are adaptable, resilient, and designed to move in a wide variety of ways. Many of those old warnings are not just unhelpful, they can actually be harmful. Pain science calls this process nociceptive.

IMPORTANT- it is important that pain is checked by a medic/ PT/ physio, it can a sign of cancer/ infection/ break.

BUT once that is done and anything scary is clearer; with long term persistent pain and no known or immediate cause- and tissue damage is NOT always the cause of pain (!) the best approach is often building confidence and movement.

Nociception: Why Language Matters

Nociception is the process by which nerve endings detect a potential threat, whether mechanical, chemical, or thermal, and send this information to the central nervous system. Importantly, nociceptors do not detect damage, they detect threat.

This means pain can be experienced before any tissue damage has occurred, and sometimes even in the absence of damage. When a potential threat is flagged, the nervous system primes us to feel pain: muscles tighten, the heart rate rises, and our sense of vulnerability increases.

I have noticed this in my own body. When I am rested and calm, a small ache or stiffness feels manageable and usually passes quickly. When I am exhausted, stressed, or anxious, the same sensation can feel much more intense. Sometimes pain flares in one part of my body that has always been sensitive, but sometimes it feels like another old injury suddenly becomes louder. This variability shows how deeply pain is tied not only to tissues but to the state of the whole system.

This matters enormously for yoga teachers. If our language suggests the body is weak, vulnerable, or likely to fail, those warnings are processed as a threat. Students may feel more pain simply because of the way movement is framed. Pain is never a simple input output system; it is always an interpretation shaped by the brain. If we give messages of fear, the body responds in kind.

A Movement Positive Perspective

This is why a shift toward movement positivity, or movement optimism, is so important. Across research fields, from back pain studies to exercise physiology, the evidence points in one direction: we are better off moving than not moving, and in most cases we do not need prescriptive or restrictive protocols to do so.

Yoga, with its accessibility and adaptability, has the potential to be a powerful vehicle for this. Instead of fear and restriction, we can help students rediscover trust in their bodies and confidence in movement.

The benefits of moving are profound and wide reaching:

• Mental health: movement stimulates endorphins and supports emotional regulation
• Cardiovascular health: regular movement supports circulation and heart function
• Bone and tissue health: load bearing strengthens bones, muscles, and connective tissue
• Mobility and longevity: varied movement helps maintain independence and vitality

Given the rise of lifestyle related conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and chronic pain, encouraging joyful and sustainable movement is one of the most meaningful things we can do as yoga teachers.

Moving on from Old Ideas

So what are some of the rules that need rethinking?

Posture

Good posture, upright with chest open and shoulders back, is a cultural ideal, not a medical truth. Slouching has not been linked to back pain or poor spinal health. What we call posture is often more about aesthetics and social values than wellbeing.

Core Stability

The idea that we must constantly brace the core, draw the navel to the spine, or protect the back in every movement has been challenged. Our core is designed to switch on dynamically in response to movement. In yoga, where loads are relatively light, constant bracing is not necessary. Variation and responsiveness are more beneficial.

Pelvic Alignment

Anterior pelvic tilt has long been blamed for back pain, but current research shows no clear correlation. Around three quarters of people have an anterior tilt without pain. The pelvis is designed to move, to shift, to adapt. Forcing it into a single neutral alignment can be counterproductive, limiting natural function and expression.

Alignment versus Load

Classic alignment rules, such as knee over ankle in Warrior II, are often more aesthetic than scientific. What really matters is load, how much stress a tissue experiences and whether it adapts positively. Exploring non traditional alignment can strengthen tissues in new ways and expand the body’s resilience.

Varying Movement and Neuroplasticity

One of the most exciting areas of research is neuroplasticity, the ability of the nervous system to change through experience. When we vary our movement patterns, we give the brain new input. Over time this can retrain the nervous system away from persistent pain responses and toward greater ease and adaptability.

This is why variation is so valuable. Repeating the same limited range of postures reinforces old pathways, but exploring new creative movements encourages the body and brain to adapt. In my trainings we explore exactly this: science based ways of moving that combine yoga, biomechanics, and movement science to give students more options. More options mean more resilience and often, less pain.

Key Principles of Movement Optimism

If we look to movement science, several core principles support this more empowering approach:

• Wolff’s Law: bone adapts and strengthens under load
• Davis’s Law: soft tissues remodel based on stress
• SAID Principle: the body adapts specifically to the demands placed on it
• Load versus Capacity: injury happens when load exceeds capacity, resilience grows when capacity increases
• Biopsychosocial Model of Pain: pain is influenced by biology, psychology, and social context, not simply tissue state
• Neuroplasticity: the nervous system is adaptable, patterns of pain and movement can change with new experience

Each of these describes that the body is dynamic, not static, and resilient, not fragile.

Teaching with Compassion and Honesty

As yoga teachers, our role is not to police alignment or to suggest the body is fragile. Our role is to create a space where students feel safe to move, to experiment, and to discover strength and freedom in their own bodies and minds.

Of course, acute injuries call for care, and in those cases referral to a physiotherapist with up to date pain science knowledge can be invaluable. But in the vast majority of situations, especially chronic pain, doing something new and finding variation is far more helpful than withdrawing from movement.

We do not need to position ourselves as experts who fix our students. Instead, we can become facilitators of movement experiences, offering reassurance and choice. This is a trauma sensitive approach, but also one rooted in the latest science of pain and adaptation.

In Conclusion

Yoga does not need to be perfect to be beneficial. Each student will look different, and that diversity is a sign of health, not error.

It may feel unsettling to revise old ideas, especially ones we have taught for years. But this honest and compassionate approach, one that replaces fragility with resilience and fear with freedom, is worth it. For our students, and for ourselves.

And if you are curious about how to weave these ideas into your own teaching, I share more on this approach in my newsletters & social media.

To understand how to share this empowering approach in your teaching I offer the Anatomy + Movement Science Online course; and (Online) Creative Sequencing Strategy is informed by this approach. Explore new and creative, science informed ways to move that expand the possibilities of yoga practice and empower students to trust their bodies.

References and Further Reading

• Wolff, J. (1892). The Law of Bone Remodeling. Berlin: Springer.
• Davis, H. (1867). Conservative Surgery. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott.
• Hides, J. A., Richardson, C. A., & Jull, G. A. (2001). Multifidus muscle recovery is not automatic after resolution of acute, first-episode low back pain. Spine, 21(23).
• Waddell, G. (2004). The Back Pain Revolution. Churchill Livingstone.
• Moseley, G. L., & Butler, D. S. (2017). Explain Pain Supercharged. Adelaide: Noigroup Publications.
• O’Sullivan, P. B., Caneiro, J. P., & O’Keeffe, M. (2016). Unraveling the Complexity of Low Back Pain. Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, 46(11).
• Lundberg, M., & Styf, J. (2009). Psychological aspects of pain. European Journal of Pain, 13(5).