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Article: Yoga for Back Care
A Healthy Spine is a Happy Spine
To build a
strong and healthy back, it may not be enough merely to
practice some poses on the mat.
By Felicia M. Tomasco
The health of our back
significantly impacts our well-being; this becomes all too
clear if we ever experience aches and pains. Unfortunately,
back problems have become nearly epidemic as millions of
people complain about “My aching back.” Adding a few simple
yoga poses to a daily routine can have a profound effect on
the flexibility and strength of our spine. According to Rita
Trieger, author of Yoga Heals Your Back: 10-Minute Routines
That End Back and Neck Pain, yoga is a useful tool for
dealing with back problems. Trieger says that yoga “brings
balance back to the body as it teaches us to breathe more
deeply, and to consciously connect the body, the mind and
the breath.”
Focusing attention on the
breath to connecting breath and body helps release
accumulated tension. Combining expansion of the breath with
yoga poses increases mobility and articulation of the spine,
maintains suppleness, promotes strength and develops a
healthy back. For these effects, it is important to build
strength of the body’s core muscles. These are the muscles
of the spine and the abdominal area, often mentioned in
yoga, Pilates and other forms of movement.
To build a strong and
healthy back, it may not be enough merely to practice some
poses on the mat. “What do you do with the other hours of
the day?” asks physical therapist and yoga teacher Judith
Hanson Lasater, author of 30 Essential Yoga Poses.
Throughout your day, think about how you are using your
back. For instance, are you slouching with sagging abdominal
muscles, or are you lifting and lengthening the spine and
using the abdominal muscles to support the back? The
seemingly small habits we repeat during the day can have a
profound cumulative effect.
If you already have back
problems, consult with your primary health care provider
before beginning any exercise program. When attending
classes, Lasater cautions people to choose a yoga teacher
carefully—find someone with experience.
While practicing for back
care, focus on linking breath and movement and maintaining
stability in the core and low back. Extend the spine, relax
the shoulders and curl the tailbone under to lengthen the
low back. Consistency is important in promoting a healthy
spine and a balanced back. Be mindful of your strengths and
limitations and avoid overdoing any practice. After
completing some poses, settle in savasana, a lying-down
relaxation pose, to breathe, integrate the experience and
allow the muscles to unwind and let go.
1. Cobra Backbends are
particularly beneficial for building strength in the muscles
along the spine. Cobra is a backbend suitable for beginners
through advanced yoga practitioners.
Lie face down on the mat
and actively stretch the legs behind you. Tilt your tailbone
down so the low back becomes long and the front of the
pelvis, or the pubic bone, becomes glued to the floor. Place
the hands just in front of the shoulders, and as you inhale,
extend the spine forward and peel it off of the mat so the
upper body extends up. Keep the elbows tucked in and the
shoulders down . The neck remains long and the face relaxed.
Only come up to the height that you can comfortably maintain
without tension in the low back. Stay in the pose for a few
breaths, and release on an exhalation, extending the spine
forward as you return to the mat.
2. Locust Beginning as in
cobra, lying face-down, the arms can either be stretched out
down the sides of the body, or tucked underneath the body
with the hands beneath the thighs. Again, lengthen the low
back by tucking the tailbone under, and then moving on an
inhalation, extend and lift the legs behind you. Protect the
low back by only lifting the legs as high as it is
comfortable for you. You may find that your strength in this
pose increases over time. Release the pose by exhaling and
lowering the legs.
Other variations of locust
include lifting one leg at a time and repeating lifting and
lowering the legs, and lifting both the arms and the legs,
either simultaneously or lifting alternating arms and legs.
3. Child’s pose is a gentle
forward fold that stretches the muscles along either side of
the spine. It is also an ideal pose in which you can focus
attention on the breath.
Start on your hands and
knees with the knees wider than the hips and the feet either
touching or coming together. Slide the hips back toward the
heels and extend the arms forward. As you breathe in the
pose, feel the breath slide down the back of the body and
use the breath to release tension held in the muscles
alongside the spine.
Variations of this pose
include letting the arms relax along either side of the body
or keeping the knees closer together. You can also reach
into a side stretch in the pose extending both arms first to
one side of the body, and then to the other. To come out of
the pose, walk the hands back to the body and return onto
your hands and knees.
4. Reclining Twist Twists
stretch muscles along both sides of the spine to maintain
suppleness and flexibility.
Lie on your back with your
knees bent and draw the knees into the chest. Extend the
arms out from the shoulders. Drop both knees down to the
right side of the body, and turn the gaze to follow the legs
so the neck remains soft and the spine extending. Breathe
deeply and feel the spine extend and stretch. Inhale and
roll onto your back, exhale and twist to the other side.
Reclining twists can also be done with one leg crossed over
the other, with both legs straight, or with one leg bent and
one leg straight.
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