This might be a little hard to hear, friend. Maybe I’m projecting—it certainly was difficult for me to scale back my bendiness. Here it goes:

There are just some yoga poses you’ll want to avoid if your body is dedicated to sounding like Rice Krispies a.k.a. Snappin’, Cracklin’, and Poppin’.

Now, you know your own body. You know your limitations. We’re all on different journeys and hypermobility is a spectrum. So this is advice, but not a directive.

Trikasana/Triangle Pose

The biggest issue with this one is the tendency for hypermobile people (HMP) to lean into the tendons of their knee and not activating their quads by lifting their kneecaps. It puts significant strain on your hamstrings if you do this.

So if you’re going to do this one—I’m not saying you never can—I recommend modifying it by using a block to cut down the depth of the bottom arm. You should also focus on lifting your knee caps and activating your quads, to protect your knee from slamming back past the active range of motion.

King Pigeon

This pose, along with King Dancer, seems to be the Holy Grail for a lot of yogis. However, when you look at the above photo, you can see the amount of flexibility required. When I see this pose, I not only see a woman who most likely worked hard to get there, but also someone that might really feel it later in their hips and lower back.

There’s also a serious struggle to keep things balanced and with hypermobility, balance is so vital. Our bones are always eager to get out of whack!

Gomukasana / Cow Faced Pose

Loose shoulders sink…ships? Sockets? The biggest issue with Gomukasana is how people force the hands to eventually touch at the shoulder blades. I don’t know about you, but my shoulder joints are always eager to subluxate.

A lot of teachers will recommend using straps to eventually bring your hands together, but that advice is not great for hypermobile people. It’s a one-way ticket to permanent injury if you go too far one day.

Wheel

Look deep into my eyes when I say this: Wheel pose is not for us. Of course, maybe you can do it…but can you do it without compensatory movements? Can you complete this while activating your glutes and core, stretch your hips while respecting the anatomical barrier? Are you able to do it without rotating your shoulders in a special way that avoid subluxation? Do your wrists hurt when you do it?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then tread very, very carefully, my friend.

Standing Forward Fold

This one might shock some people, but it’s true. It seems like a yogi right of passage, being able to touch your eyebrows to your kneecaps. For some HMP—I’m definitely not one of them—this pose offers no pain. No resistance.

Resistance is actually very important. It’s how the body keeps you in the active range of motion, protecting your joints and tendons. Standing Forward Fold can be great for your hamstrings…or the worst enemy. If you’ve been doing yoga for a long time and have hamstring pain, I can promise that your painless Standing Forward Fold is a part of the problem!