I found out the hard way that form is important. You would have thought I would have known this at that point- I had already done my 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training and been in sports for as long as I could remember. Yet, I messed up. 

When I was 22 I was living in upstate New York with my then partner. We were both avid fitness people, and challenged each other to see who could do the most burpees in a day. That day I did over 100 back to back. 

Guess what I did not do? Keep form. 

Inevitably, I hurt myself by doing this. It forked my shoulder over. It took me months of pain and healing to get “back to normal.” But I was impatient and still pushed myself during this process from time to time. And because of that, even two years later the injury would flare up. 

It is difficult to be patient and diligent, yet equally (if not more so), it is important to do so. We do not heal overnight. Not from physical pain/injuries or mental ones. We must take what we know, what we learn and apply it diligently into our lives to allow ourselves to heal properly. Use proper form in whatever you do. After all, 

“The way we do one thing is the way we do everything.” -Iyanla Vanzant

I can now say my shoulder is properly healed! But it took years longer than it needed to because of this tough lesson. Here is a short yoga flow with a focus on stretches for the shoulders!