Are you bendy? Does your practice sometimes leave you in pain, feeling anxious or having trouble sleeping after? And even if you want to believe that doing more yoga will help, if you’re being honest, it doesn’t? If you can relate to these questions, then today’s episode is for you. My guest and I will discuss hypermobility syndromes, chronic pain, and how yoga can both help and harm bodies who deal with these issues.

Libby Hinsley is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a Certified Yoga Therapist specializing in the treatment of chronic pain, hypermobility syndromes, and yoga-related injuries. She has taught yoga since 2005 and trained yoga teachers since 2010. As a person living with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Libby is committed to raising awareness about hypermobility syndromes in the yoga community and beyond. She is also the founder of Anatomy Bites, a monthly membership for yoga teachers who want to learn anatomy in a fun, supportive, and relevant way, and has published a book entitled Yoga for Bendy People.

Join me and Libby for a discussion on why hypermobility can make yoga more difficult, even if it doesn’t look that way, and why you need to ensure your yoga practice is appropriate for what you need. We also talk about why teachers shouldn’t be pushing anyone to take their body too far and how teachers can give the power back to their students during yoga practice.

What You’ll Discover:

• What it means to be hypermobile or bendy and the signs you might have a hypermobility disorder.
• How Libby got into anatomy and yoga and how it impacted her body.
• What it really means when your body feels “tight.”
• Why hypermobility makes yoga look easy but feel difficult.
• What to do when yoga makes you feel worse.
• How teachers should be talking about hypermobility/flexibility to better support both those who are hypermobile and those who aren’t.
• Why pushing people to go further into a pose can be disempowering, whether they’re hypermobile or not.
• Other ways to stretch your body when “typical” yoga poses aren’t working for your body.

Listen to the Full Episode:

Resources for You:

• Arrange a coaching call with me
• Leave a review for this episode or the podcast in general on iTunes and send me a screenshot at erika.belanger@gmail.com to get access to a free month of our Premium Membership.
• Libby Hinsley: Website | Instagram | Facebook
• Yoga for Bendy People by Libby Hinsley
• Anatomy Bites: Website | Email List