Yoga practice: tips to avoid muscle cramps

Muscle cramps may sound like a silly problem to many, but to some it’s quite annoying and for few – it a daily experience.

Here are some tips for your Yoga practice to avoid muscle cramps. Find below a link to a large article and more information (for example if muscle cramps disturb you even at night).

Yoga itself in general is a good remedy. Usually during Yoga session we warming up gently and then stretch a lot – this, especially when regular, will help greatly to fight the problem of muscle cramps.
Now. Intense Yoga practice and even more so intense sports when you sweat, etc. – can cause muscle crams as you loose important electrolytes… So, stay hydrated and get magnesium, potassium and calcium supplements daily, especially before exercising. (Magnesium helps digest calcium.)
Don’t exercise shortly after you ate. Well, this is obvious for all Yoga practitioners, but I still wanted to mention it. Why? – Because digestion process takes blood from muscles, there is less blood supply during digestion.
Some say that simply including bananas in your diet and consuming some salt (not excluding it from your diet) – would do the job for most of us.
Mustard and pickle juice have acetic acid which help body to produce more acetylcholine (acetylcholine deficiency may cause cramps).
Hot shower, stretching and even pressing in on the upper lip (the meridian which is connected to the legs and feet) all help to stop muscle cramping…

NOTE: reasons for muscle cramping may be more serious that occasional ones many of us get during practice. If that is your case – consult your doctor. You can find a lot of materials on the web with details, I find the following article quite detailed and useful: have a look.

Please share your ways to avoid or fight muscle cramps in the comments below.

All the best wishes with your practice!