
Do you have back pain?
Today I am going to show you 1 yoga posture, with lots of modifications for knees, ankles and the inflexible to relax your painful back.
Hi I’m Melissa with Yoga with Melissa, I teach Real Yoga for Real People, yoga you can do so you feel better, move better and connect with your True Nature
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Today I’m going to teach you how to relax your painful back which will scratch the surface of back pain but if you want to go deeper, with leading edge research and even more ongoing support from me I will tell you about that at the end.
Modifications:
If you can’t reach your head to the floor you can used a folded blanket to the proper height for head support. If your knees hurt, put a rolled blanket in the bend of each knee to create more space. You can put a rolled blanket under your ankles if there is too much strain there. If your buttocks do not reach your heals, fill the space with a rolled blanket.
If it still bothers your back, lie on your back instead and draw your knees into your chest.
In the Pose: Breathe into your low back. Each time you breathe out imagine your spine getting longer. Over several breaths you will notice that your spine actually does get longer. As it does, lift your chest and head, and accept this longer version of your spine. You can stay here for several minutes as your spine lengthens.
Benefits: This pose will relax your painful back. It stretches the muscles on either side of your spine. It allows you to consciously relax tense muscles. It teaches you to lengthen muscles that you may habitually contract. It allows for more space between the vertebrae of your discs and will decrease disc degeneration caused by constant compression.
Contraindications: Avoid this pose if you have spondylolysis, spondylolisthesis or posterior or lateral bulging discs. If you have spondylolysis, spondylolisthesis or posterior or lateral bulging discs forward bends can aggravate the forward slippage of damaged vertebrae. The alternative would be supine knees to chest. (knees to chest on your back).
If you would like more support for back pain I highly recommend our membership community. We have over 20 classes for back pain: http://www.drwest.ca/showthread.php?1983-Yoga-for-Back-Pain
www.melissawest.com/membership/membership-sign-up/
Press the thumbs up button if your back is feeling better and a little more relaxed. Let me know in the comments how your back feels now.
Thanks for watching, see you next week. Namaste, Melissa
Membership Site Classes:
Upper and Lower Back Rehydration Sequences 27 minutes
Intro to Foot Connective Tissue Classes
(caution if you have Sciatica – don’t do the straight legged forward folds)
Free Yoga with Melissa Classes:
Namaste Yoga 21: Yoga for Your Kidney and Bladder Meridian
Namaste Yoga 133 Beginner’s Series: Twists
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