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.

To protect the lower back during Yoga:

Use bent knees in forward facing folds. (i.e. Monkey Pose, Forward Fold)

Use a block in forward facing folds. Always remember to inhale, extend and exhale, to hinge at the hips. Find a comfortable range of motion and master the inhale (extension) and exhale (hip hinge) in these poses.

Allow the lower body and upper body to absorb weight rather than allowing it all to sit in the small of your lower back during forward folds. Forward folding movements, for example in Monkey or Butterfly, should be carefully maneuvered as discussed above.

Practice all movements in a slow, graceful manner. Avoid wrenching joints or moving the body too quickly from one pose to another.

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.

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. Attempt this retraction even in forward folding positions. Your shoulders will want to inch towards your ears but remember..."Form before Floor!"

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.