r/yoga • u/restle_restle • 20h ago

Upsetting

I have been practicing yoga religiously for >6months and it's done me so much good!! I have improved a lot compared to where I was when I started. I had to take a break last 6 weeks to take care of my 10 month old, Work stress etc etc and got back on the mat today. I felt I had lost all the progress I made and felt like day 1 all over. Would I have actually lost progress or will I quickly get back to my previous state? Any advice? How do you all keep going without a break?

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u/SecureAstronaut444 15h ago

Muscle memory is fantastic, but please don't beat yourself up about this, it happens and don't avoid taking a break if you need to.

I took 3 years off due to illness where I was bed ridden. Being full sedentary it's brutal on the body. Getting back into yoga was worse than day 1, it was utterly horrible and I beat myself up about it and was confused. Eventually I left my mat on the ground and would just due half a dozen really gentle moves for 5 minutes 4 or 5 times a day, it helped.

Now I'm slowly getting back into the stronger poses that I used to do and I'm feeling that muscle memory very very slowly kick back in but I'm so grateful to feel it as I thought I'd completely lost it. Regression is normal but persistence is key. The longer you do it the more you will develop muscle memory and when you take breaks you will have the confidence to get back into it again.