According to the National Insitutes of Health, Yoga can help reduce stress, lower blood pressure, slow breathing, alter brain waves and assist the heart to work more efficiently. It has been found that people who practice have reduced their dependency on medication with mild to moderate asthma. Improvements in overall back pain have been studied with those improvements lasting several months. Even those with osteoarthritis, experienced less finger pain after taking yoga classes. There are many ailments that people live with every day, but research has shown that Yoga can in many cases, alleviate them.
When practicing Yoga with the goal of alleviating lower back pain, it is important to keep the body in superior alignment. Yoga will definitely test the limits of major muscle groups in the body and the back is one of them. However, going into Yoga full knowing that your back must be taken special care of means to forget what you see and hear about Yoga “pretzel” type poses and focus on protecting the lower back at all times. In general, to protect the low back, practice Yoga with a gentle bend in the knee.
To protect the lower back during Yoga:
- Use bent knees in forward facing folds, bending poses and throughout your practice if necessary. (i.e. Monkey Pose, Forward Fold)
- Try to maintain a nice micro bend in elbow and knee joints at all times. This will alleviate and hyper extension or stress on the joints.
- Use a block in forward facing folds. Find a comfortable range of motion and master the inhale (extension) and exhale (hip hinge) in these poses.
- Allow the legs and upper body to absorb weight rather than allowing it all to sit in the small of your lower back during forward folds. Lead with the heart center and not the shoulders as you approach any fold over pose.
- Practice all movements in a slow, graceful manner. Avoid wrenching joints or moving the body too quickly from one pose to another.
- Retract the shoulders. Physically pull the shoulders towards the ear lobes and then gently push them away. Create as much space between the bottom of the ear lobes and tops of shoulders as you can. Mentally visualize the spaces between the cervical vertebrae (neck) opening and elongating.
- Remember…”Form before Floor!” There is nothing magical about touching the floor with our fingers or hands. Touch thighs or shins first and gradually deepen your poses as the body warms.
- When practicing twists, before extending arms towards the sky, touch the low back first ensuring you are stable and have enough rotation to extend the arm away from the body.
These reminders on body alignment alone will make for a safer Yoga practice. Remember, you are not expected to look a certain way or stretch as far as you could in your childhood. Yoga is a progressive practice, dictated by comfort and what your body communicates to you in terms of challenging it or not. Ask yourself how you’re feeling right here, right now. And love yourself enough not to take your poses too far until your body is nice and ready.
