Yoga for Lower Back Pain: Strengthen, Stretch and Relax Your Back II
Note: You will need a small towel for this class. Find relief for your lower back pain with part two of this 2-part series on yoga for lower back health, flexibility and strength. David takes you through a thorough, beginner yoga class that helps you strengthen the muscles that support and strengthen the lower back, stretch the back muscles that can cause lower back pain and relax the area around the back, helping you understand how to stop reinforcing the pain pattern in your body. This is the 2nd of a 2-class series. The first is Yoga for Lower Back Pain: Strengthen, Stretch and Relax Your Back I.
Comments
I would love more classes from David like this, that explain how to engage and flex specifically for the lower back during yoga poses. Part 3 and 4 please!
Amazing how it has me focus, strengthen and let go. After hip surgery the lower back is simply not yet fully back and working and it’s so good to turn off the switches of everything I need to do and handle. It really helps to focus on your body. Thank you so much David,
Hello, where specifically should the towel go? Is it directly under the belly button or nearer to the tail bone? Thanks!
Most of the class was helpful, but the hamstring stretches were far too intense for me. With straight knees, I couldn't get my legs (one or both) more than 30 degrees off the floor. Even there, my hamstrings were screaming for relief: there was no chance of finding any kind of release. I've been working on hamstring flexibility several times a week for a year and half with no perceptible improvement. Any suggestions?
Comment Replies
I'm the same way - my hamstrings have been tight my whole life. I gained flexibility by moving into stretches gently and carefully, while repeating that my hamstrings are relaxing and breathing deeply. Keep that mantra, that you hamstrings are letting go. You're working with the nervous system here, not muscle.
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Thanks David. As soon as my leg leaves the floor, the strap produces a stretch that's so intense I can't relax or release anything. What are your thoughts about interlacing my fingers behind my thigh and pulling with my arms instead of using the strap, at least for the single-leg stretch? My knee isn't as straight and my foot isn't pulled back as much as with the strap, but this "give" allows me to lift the leg a little higher, to about 45 degrees, and feel a strong but tolerable hamstring stretch. My arms aren't long enough to pin my shoulders to the floor while holding my thigh; hence my question.
Comment Replies
Oh, I see what you are saying. Yes, if holding the back of your thigh with your hands, or a strap, works better then do that. It's just as effective to do it that way, starting with a bent knee and moving as much as you can toward a straight leg.