I'm a new student. In the fire series pose where we lay face down across one knee with the opposite leg extended behind us and the arms stretched in front I get pain in my lower back left side when I lay across the bent right knee with left leg extended. I intend to skip this until the pain resolves. Should I also skip doing the pose on the other side to keep things balanced or continue to do that side and skip only the one that causes pain?

Russel,

Sounds like you've hit your first roadblock on your yoga journey. I wish I could say there won't be more When we encounter pain during our practice, it is always best to get with the teacher of your choice after class and find out a safe way you can get into both sides of the posture without injuring yourself. I have taught students with every injury you can imagine, and we can always find a variation of each pose that you can do until your body opens up a little more and is more permissive of the posture. In matters like these, it is best to think long-term. In 50 classes you will have made huge progress in all your postures and your body will have transformed, but you will still be at "day one" with pigeon pose (the pose in question). Rather than never doing it again, find a way to do it without back pain. Again, this is not good to advise over the internet, so get face to face with your teacher and post later about what solutions you discovered!

Happy journeys

Elizabeth

Thank you, Elizabeth. My teacher this morning showed me how to do the pigeon inverted and I was able to do it without pain.

I'm so glad you worked something out with your teacher. Thanks for posting. One more piece of advice. Try pigeon the regular way every ten classes. Your body is going through a lot of changes and with regular practce, it's always important to check and see if you're muscles have become more accomdating to further advancements over time.