Why You Still Have Pain After Practicing Yoga Every Day… and What To Do Instead

Imagine you want to have less back pain and were told that going to yoga would be good. Cool. You drop into some group classes. You go three times a week. Same place, same time, like clockwork. You’re pretty consistent for 6 months. 

It’s great… kinda. You feel more relaxed, present, and limber; but you don’t really notice any changes in your back pain.

You ask a couple people and answers kinda go like this:

• You need more time and to trust the process. Ok, you get that change takes time, but shouldn’t there be more change after 6 months?

• Maybe you’re not trying hard enough. Folks don’t actually say it this way, but you can read between the lines. And the infuriating thing is that you do try. Adding a yoga class into your busy schedule, let alone 3, takes effort, planning, and intention. Who are they to sit back and assume they know what’s going on?

• You know, accomplishing a goal or alleviating pain is not really what yoga’s about. Yes, you get that so much of yoga in the west has been commercialized and appropriated, and you understand that there’s more to yoga than whatever happens in an asana class. AND the whole reason you started practicing yoga was to have less low back pain. You still want to continue practicing, but what needs to change so you can find relief from your back pain?!

These answers aren’t satisfying. And while they might be coming from a good place, they don’t take into account your pain and frustration.

Instead, of providing an direct answer, I would want to know more. “What exactly are you practicing: Not the type of yoga, but the content?” Because while you say your practice is consistent, consistency might not be what you think it means.

Not all consistency is created equal

Here’s the thing. Having a consistent yoga practice that brings better flexibility, balance, less stress, and/or less pain doesn’t necessarily come from practicing yoga every day. You can practice yoga regularly and still see minimal changes towards your goal.

What’s going on?

Progress comes from practicing the yoga themes and foundations that are in alignment with your goals consistently.

• a specific set of asana (poses) and/or myofascial release (self massage with props) for less soreness

• balance foundations for better balance

• pranayama (breathwork) and/or lifestyle changes for less stress

Choose your goals, choose your practice

People come to yoga for many different reasons. It might be mostly physical, like wanting to be more flexible. Maybe the reason is more esoteric, like reaching enlightenment and liberation. Your reasons could be general, like being more relaxed and wanting to move. Or your motivation could be very specific: having less back pain so you can bend over and pick up the little kids in your life, or creating a self care practice that fits into your busy schedule and takes into account all your responsibilities, health concerns, and anxiety.

The more specific your goals, the more specific you need to be in the way you practice. Are you consistent in the amount of days you practice or consistent in the theme of your practice? To be clear, consistency in showing up is the minimum. Consistency in theme addresses the specificity of your goal.

The way you approach your yoga practice can be similar to how you choose to explore a national park.

Imagine this national park is all the different choices of your yoga practice. 

Like the practice of yoga, this national park has many different places to go with many different ways to get there. It’s vast with experiences of verdant meadows, rolling hills, towering mountains, and calm lakes. There’s a trail network of practices that connect all these different experiences and outcomes together.

As you make your plan on how to explore this new territory, you decide where you want to go, the type of experience you want to have, and how much help you would need. In navigating the yoga territory, you won’t find All Trails maps, Reddit threads, or guides for how to get there. Instead, you have the ancient texts, YouTube videos, and teachers.

Take a Group Yoga Class for General Goals: the meadow

The experience that requires the least amount of planning is the group class. Like being in a meadow, you show up, hang out, and have someone guide you in the experience. Maybe you meander: notice the clouds in the sky, the sensation of the grass under your hands, or get used to being outside. In a group class you could notice the thoughts in your head, the sensations in your body, or get used to a specific class format.

Consistency looks like finding a class that you like and going on a regular basis. The consistency of the theme is not guaranteed. Neither is personalization.

While you might end class with a general sense of feeling good or insights from something your teacher said that just clicked; you might be disappointed if you’re trying to receive relief from a specific problem like low back pain.

But what if you’re wanting more than a general sense of feeling good or a chance to move and rest?

What if your low back is sore and going to that group yoga class isn’t fixing it? Or you’re too stressed to get relaxed in that group class?

It’s time to activate the levers of Consistent Theme and Personalization.

Do it Yourself (DIY) for an Unguided Yoga Experience: the self-guided trail

This is the path with the most variables and room for flexibility. If you have a specific goal, this option is better for someone who likes research and deep diving into a topic. It also works if you have general goals. Either way, you’re ok with doing things on your own and being your own accountability system.

Since you choose everything by hand, you’re personalizing everything for yourself but are relying on your research for the consistency of practice and direction.

The consistency of your theme would depend on the quality of your research and how you apply it. On the Do It Yourself (DIY) yoga route, instead of checking All Trails or looking up r/TrailGuides on Reddit, trying to solve your problem could look like going through all the different YouTube videos, blogs, PDFs, and workshops and piecing everything together. You might research through the interwebs or utilize AI tools.

However you research, it can get complicated because 1 problem can have different causes. Is your low back pain caused by tight hamstrings, a lack of core stability, tight hip flexors, a combination of some of those, or something else?

Take a Yoga Series to Move Towards a Specific Goal: the group tour

Now we’re moving towards somewhere specific with help. You’ve hopped on a trail with a group of people all wanting to get to the Lake of Relief, so you’re working with a consistent theme. Each step you take or class you attend gets you a little closer to your goal.

However, since you’re with a group, the amount of personalization is limited. You have to go at the group pace, and on the set route. The path is tried and true. But because of the limited amount of personalization, you could get close to where you want to go without getting exactly there. Remember, 1 problem could have multiple causes. You could address your specific cause at times, but the entire focus of the series might not be on the root cause of your issue. Even if you don’t make it all the way to your goal, you at least got a better lay of the land and know what practices worked better for you and what didn’t.

Choose Private Yoga for a Personalized Path for Your Specific Goals: the private experience

This is the VIP experience. You get to choose where you’re going, and your guide will help you get there safely. They’ve traveled this path before with other people, and know the ins and outs of the terrain.

• The new trail that shortens your journey by 5 miles that’s not yet marked on the map? They know about it.

• They know the spot where most people get tired, and encourage a rest because there’s a river crossing coming up.

• Your guide can take the most traveled path, or notice that you really like waterfalls and detour to make the journey more enjoyable for you while still getting where you want to go.

Similarly, private yoga takes you along a consistent theme to help address your primary concern, and personalizes the practices to you. 

• Remember how 1 problem can have multiple causes? You get to focus on the causes that are specific to your problem.

• Your plan will take into account what you’ve already done with other practitioners – what worked and what didn’t work – so you don’t have to go through that trial and error again.

• Class moves at your pace, so you can ask questions about what doesn’t make sense, or move through concepts or practices faster than if you were in a group.

• The practices will always include something you enjoy because that brings more engagement in your healing journey.

That all sounds great! What’s the catch?

The specificity and focus comes with a higher price tag to compensate for the personalized time with you. Someone sets aside time specifically for you, holds space for you, listens to you, and creates an experience just for you. You're also paying for the experience of your teacher and the time you save from not trying everything on your own. When you take that into account, that’s actually more money saved in the long run and less frustration for you.

Moving Forward: answer these questions

All of the options mentioned above are great. You’ll receive some type of benefit from all of them. As you decide which experience is best for you, answer these questions:

• What is your intention for your practice?

• Is there a specific problem you’re looking to address?

• How much guidance and personalization do you want to have?

You can use the chart below for guidance once you’ve answered the questions. And if you find that a personalized private yoga practice is what you want to move forward with, schedule a Private Yoga Chat with me to see if you’d like me to be your guide.

	Group Class	Do It Yourself	Class Series or Course	Private Yoga
Consistent Theme	❌	❓ This depends on the accuracy of your plan and research.	✅	✅
Guided	✅	❓ You could follow along with videos or do something on your own.	✅	✅
Personalized	❌	✅	❌	✅
Accountability	✅	❌	❓ Classes could be hosted live, you might have group hours, or everything could self paced.	✅
Downsides	General practice might not address the problems you want to solve.	You don’t have much accountability. It can take a long time and trial and error to start from scratch and figure out what works.	Lack of personalization might not get you all the way towards solving your problem, but you have a foundation to work from.	It costs more money for the personalization and experience of your teacher, but you save time and money in the long run.