Yoga worries

I agree could be a combo or could be you are working new muscles. If you are working with an instructor ask them to check your posture. They usually watch it pretty closely.

Does your back hurt while your doing the poses or primarily the next day. I have a hardcore curve in my lower spine (in my profile pic i am standing up straight!!) and sometimes do birkam, but I find it helps my back if anything. Are you comfortable in the poses that put stress on the back. It's important in yoga to go as deep as you can in the pose while still feeling comfortable, so deep but not too deep.

If you aren't comfy while doing the poses that would be a sign that you are pushing too hard too fast. You should feel the stretch but it shouldn't cause any discomfort. If you have had back problems in the past I would highly recommend Back Care Yoga with Rodney Yee, it is a Gaiam product and can be purchased at Target or Barnes & Noble, this helped me get into yoga and in the process cured my back issues.

For aches at night and swelling you need to ice and rest and consider taking some aleve for a few days every 12 hours to aid in reduced inflammation and healing. Also, icy hot or tiger's balm will keep those muscles warm and lose and help keep you from getting tight or causing sleeplessness.

:flowerforyou:

I have the EXACT same issue! Have you looked at pilates? Im my humble opinion, pilates harnesses alot of the same benefits of yoga with more toning moves and is less taxing on the back muscles.

I agree but I have found a nice balance of both. I have noticed that over the years of experimenting with both, I have begun to enjoy each for different reasons. I love yoga because I love that I feel stretched out and my joints and muscles don't tighten up as much. However, like you I love pilates for its toning qualities.

Back to the main issue, I agree with many of the members who think it is probably a combination. Truthfully, child's pose, which should be a "relaxing" go-to position in yoga is very uncomfortable for me...but I think you should continue on and see an instructor for technique purposes and you will soon see the many benefits

I've just began doing yoga for about the past 3 weeks. I've always had back pain from poor posture and car accidents, but since doing yoga I have individual back muscles that really really hurt. Am I doing the poses incorrectly and hurting myself? Or am I just not use to working out my back and these pains will go away?

yoga shouldn't hurt. Yoga should always feel like a flow, even if the poses are hard to do or hard to hold, things can feel tight but pain...no. and if you're feeling those things you need a different yoga form or routine...If you are ever able to get to a class then a instructor can help you check your body to make sure you have proper form - also if you have a prior back injury/condition then they would suggest modifications to the poses, to cause less stress on your muscles, When I go to yoga they always have a form on check in to make sure that you haven't received any new injuries and if you have you have to tell the instructor so they can work with you on modifying poses, so you don't injure yourself further.
So your poses wouldn't look the same as what the video tape might be showing you until your body is able to handle those poses.
It's really important to listen to your body in yoga (all times actually) If a yoga instructor isn't helping you out if you take a class with modified poses then it's not worth going to their classes. There are occassional ones that do that, and there are also a Bunch of different forms/types of yoga.

Which one are you doing?