Today, we will talk about Safe yoga for hypermobile bodies. For years, I thought the deeper I could go, the more advanced I was in my practice. When I first started yoga in my teens to get fit, I had no idea what it was really about. It gave me access to something I had felt before: stillness.
Unknowingly, I became addicted to that feeling. That quiet moment when Savasana finally hit. I didn’t understand it then, but I was chasing emotional regulation through movement. At that time, I didn’t know either that I was hypermobile or what that meant.
But every time I rolled out my mat, I was going through the motions without the strength or awareness to support my flexibility. I was reinforcing unhealthy movement patterns in almost every session.
How my practice stopped serving me
I really started to notice the impact when I moved abroad. Life was chaotic, but I had developed an inner toolkit to keep me calm. I noticed that the years of meditation and yoga classes had shifted something; it became a part of my nervous system wiring. It gave me an inner emotional resilience when life threw curveballs.
But, physically? I was going for dramatic shapes, Instagram-worthy poses, and Pinterest challenges. Eventually, my body started talking back and something felt off.
Finding LYT Yoga: A yoga practice that’s safe for hypermobility
When I returned home to South Africa, I had a lot of unanswered questions about why my practice no longer felt supportive. I could do virtually any complicated posture yet my body felt like it was crumbling. It was at a local studio when one of the LYT-trained teachers noticed me in a room full of students. After class, she gently advised that I might be hypermobile and pointed me in the direction of LYT Yoga.
It was the first time I heard terms like strength before stretch, proprioception or modifications for hypermobility. The idea that movement could (and should) be rewired was completely new to me. That we could switch off autopilot to unlearn bad movement habits and relearn better ones.
Through LYT,I learned how to connect to my breath, core, and posture before moving into anything ‘flowy.’ The focus wasn’t on how deep I could go, but on how consciously I could move. The sequences were load-bearing, core-integrated, and deeply functional. And slowly, I started to feel safer both in my body and practice.
How can hypermobile individuals practice yoga safely?
It starts with unlearning the ‘more is better’ mindset. Here’s what I’ve learned through my LYT training:
- Always start with neuromuscular activation (that’s what the LYT reset is for).
- Align the skull, scapulae, and sacrum (AKA the triple S method).
- Prioritize closed-chain movements that encourage proprioception.
- Move with control over momentum.
- Use tactile feedback and props to optimize form.
- Let your breath guide your nervous system (not your ego).
This shift didn’t just prevent injuries. It changed the way I relate to my body. I stopped collapsing into flexibility and started building functional strength.
What are the best poses in yoga for hypermobile bodies?
There’s no ‘universal list’, but some principles hold true. All LYT classes start with a ‘reset’, a sequence of targeted postures designed to retrain movement patterns and prepare the body for safer, smarter flow.
- Bridge pose for glute and core activation
- Quadruped to stabilize the pelvis
- Core work to activate the deep core
- Sun Salutations with alignment cues that emphasize strength over stretch
These postures lay the foundation for a strength-building yoga practice for hypermobile practitioners, helping you move out of your end ranges and into patterns that support longevity and stability.
Tips for preventing injuries from yoga
If I could give my younger self a checklist, it would be this. These are the most important tips for preventing joint injuries during yoga for hypermobile people:
- Don’t chase depth, chase control.
- Don’t assume flexibility = progress.
- Use props to support (not bypass) joint integrity.
- Build strength at every range of motion.
- Listen to your nervous system, not just your ROM.
Preventing yoga injuries in hypermobile individuals starts with awareness and continues with consistent, intentional practice.
This practice helped me come home to myself
Yoga tends to attract people who are looking for more than just a workout. Sensitive people. Overthinkers. People with anxiety or a deep desire to feel more connected.
That was me, and it might be you, too.
The irony is that the very thing that helps regulate our minds can slowly undermine our bodies if we’re not careful. The emotional release we feel in Savasana is powerful, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of potential injuries further down the line.
Yoga is still my safe place. Now it’s safe for both my joints and for my mind. If you’re hypermobile and yoga no longer feels right, that doesn’t mean it’s not for you. It might just mean it’s time to try a different approach. LYT Yoga gave me the blueprint. It gave me the tools to practice yoga safely, build strength, and feel empowered in my own body again.
