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See PlansVinyasa Yoga for Lower Back Care: Alignment
Intermediate II
In part 2 of Fiji's 4-part series on lower back health, she emphasizes core stability and strength, along with alignment, particularly of the hips. She also takes the principles that you learned in the first class and extends them out into the limbs, where you stand, lift and move around in your world. Her descriptions will help you understand and feel what it is like to do all of those things from a place of stability and strength, helping you strengthen and protect your lower back no matter what you do. The entire program, Vinyasa Yoga for Lower Back Care, can be found on our Yoga Programs page.
Equipment:
Block Videos
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Existing Comments
thank you
Awesome! Great alignment & strengthening for the core.
Wonderful refresher for the fundamental movements. After years of practicing yoga, I get complacent and this is a great class to focus and some very critical basic moves. Thank you.
Great class with important tips for lunges and backbends. I appreciated your cue in upward-facing dog to hug the inner thighs together and lift up - in my experience, instructors tend to focus on pressing the tops of the feet into the floor instead.
Hi Fiji,
even by the high standards of your teaching (that I absolutely adore), this session really stands out!
Precision of the cues, comprehensive vision/presentation of elements are truly motivating and rewarding.
Many thanks, it is wonderful to be able to learn and absorb so much while “only watching the screen”.
Looking forward for many many more sessions!
This was great. I've been doing yoga for over 20 years and this one short video taught me new things about back bends and protecting my back that I never knew.
this is a really important class - it showed me exactly how to protect my lower back better! Thank you very much, Fiji
This is brilliant and so helpful. I hadn't realised how badly I was doing back bends wrong. Thank you.
I have a question. Is it OK to flatten the back foot when one knee is on the ground and the front knee is 90 degrees angle and we are stretching with arms up? Thank you! I feel that when my "back foot" is flat on the ground my balance is better than when the toes are curled.
I'm guessing you mean simply un-tucking the toes and having the top of the foot lying on the floor. I do this version most of the time and it is ok as long as you keep your hips aligned. This way you will get more stretch in the inner thighs and are more likely to bend more (perhaps even too much if not careful) in the lower back. With the version that Fiji showed it may be a bit more uncomfortable in the legs but it engages the lower belly more which is better for your lower back. I think it's good to practice both from time to time depending on your goal :)
Thank you very much for your response! It really helps to have this feed-back.
Wonderful to see the community responses here, and I fully agree with what was said! You can untuck the toes if that is better for your balance, I keep them tucked sometimes if I am planning to come up onto them after. Untucked provides a great stretch for the ankle, top of the foot an toes.
Great practice for any level actually. Great to refocus on the lower back and strength it. I will definitely use the last 5-7 minutes on a more frequent basis!
I have a scoliose and this practice has helped me so much with my lower back
using the block was so helpful!! i did a class earlier this summer on chaturanga which was helpful, but using the block between my thighs took me even further. sometimes i feel a pinch in my lower back when i flip to upward facing dog, but this time i didn’t. i will forever think about the block to help me engage my core. thanks fiji!!
This was SO helpful to me. A workshop I will work on again and again to get it into my muscle memory for a safer practice. Thank you Fiji for recommending this to me, a beginner. It is so important to learn these fundamentals. I would love more of these “workshops” to build a safe and strong practice. As a beginner, it is necessary to learn proper alignment from the start.
I've practiced yoga for over 15 years and this is the first time I understood where my muscles needed to be during vinyasa. Thank you. I will be conscious of my movements in the future.
Wonderful focused lower back / core boost. And paradigm shift for upward dog!
Thank you, Fiji.
Will revisit!
I have been practicing yoga for a number of years and just recently have been feeling strain in my low back. I have emphasized proper alignment in my practice, and yet, because of Fiji's meticulously clear instruction, realized I was doing a number of things improperly. Fiji's series on the low back is teaching my so much to improve the overall benefit of my practice, especially as it relates to a healthy lower back.
Quite a few eye openers when using the block! Great class as a reminder to always be aligned. Realized I have not been doing back-bending correctly. Thank you Fiji for all your amazing classes. Namaste.
Love this 2nd class of the series, it's practically like a short yoga core class but so good for refreshing the mind about alignment because of these exercises too! Fiji is my favourite teacher here and it's because of her i've decided to subscribe to support the website. Love this energetic class of core and alignment work!
I've been driving cross country in a minivan and my lower back has been really killing me, so sore and weak that I thought it would go out. I love this series, but this one specifically is especially excellent for strengthening my back when my injuries are acting. Whether from driving or sitting too long or carrying something too heavy. Wonderful. I feel so refreshed!
This series of practices is just what I needed. Thank you so much for taking the time to create them.
This is revelation! I hurt my hip and lower back a while ago doing the yoga practices wrongly. This is so incredibly helpful
So sorry. Make that a 10 star class.
Thank you for another 5 star class.
I'm having an ahaaaa moment so that's why my backs been hurting! So easy to slip into doing the poses incorrectly! Thank you so much I will remember to re visit this class periodicall!
Namaste
Thank you so much for a mindful practice. I really felt a difference with your instructions for back-bends--I was definitely relying too much on my lower back for those. This class will make a true difference in my practice!
Thank you so much for this Fiji. I have done yoga for years and this past year have developed chronic low back pain. I am learning it was because of my weak core and over bending of my low back. Along with the exercises from physio...I will be using his video as it adds perfectly to what I am trying to correct. Awesome instruction and visualization. thanks again!
I too have done yoga for years and am now suffering lower back pain. I was getting a massage to release the spasms in my lower back and the young woman said "I see the problem here. You have a very strong upper body and lower body. Now you need to strengthen the core". This class exactly puts focus on what I need to improve. I need to return regularly to this until your reminders become more natural and habitual. Thank you so much