How I learned to adapt yoga with chronic hand pain

In March 2024, while solo-travelling South East Asia, I started developing pain in my hands.

It began mildly, some aching in my wrists, but it slowly crept to the back of my hands, between my thumb and forefinger, and down my fingers. The pain never stayed in one place, which made it so hard to know how to cope with it.

By that point I'd been practising yoga for 6 years. It had been one of the most consistent parts of my life, and suddenly I didn't know how to attend classes anymore.

When I got home, I started working as a Marketing Manager at a yoga studio, free yoga, amazing. Except it quickly became clear I couldn't practise the same way. No more downward dogs. No more chaturangas I'd worked so hard for. No more crow pose I was slowly learning.

So I started adapting. Teachers helped me find modifications, turning the hands backwards, dropping to the forearms. Downward dog became dolphin pose which, if you know yoga, is significantly harder. Not quite the 'active rest' we're promised.

A few weeks in, the pain had spread to my forearms, neck and shoulders. One teacher said something that stayed with me:

"You might need to learn to adapt for now, or maybe you'll find a whole new way to practise."

I had a gut feeling she was right. 2 years on, I still am. And I feel so much more confident for it.

I won't pretend it's always easy. I still go to classes and catch myself fixating on what I can't do, on the pain, on wishing things were different. Yin yoga has been my escape, almost never weight-bearing on the hands, and so good for calming my nervous system.

In January 2027, I'm heading to Thailand to do my Yoga Teacher Training, and so much of how I want to teach will be rooted in this: you don't have to give up your practice. You just might need to find a new way in.

In the meantime, I've been sharing modifications and adaptations over on my Instagram — come have a look.

One more thing, alongside all of this, I'm working toward my reiki accreditation, which will allow me to practise in clinical and hospital settings.

Living with chronic pain has shaped how I approach this work just as much as it has my yoga, and I'm really proud of where it's heading.

Talk soon,
Gaby, Founder, Yōsei Healing 妖精