Lower back relief

Ah, lower back pain. It makes it so uncomfortable to sit, stand, or sometimes even walk. What I have learned through studying, teaching, and practicing yoga regularly for the past seven years is that focusing on just stretching the lower back will seldom help resolve lower back pain. This is because the culprit (unless there is an injury) is almost always the muscles and fascia that are connected to the lower back. Anything you can do to release tension in your hamstrings, glutes, and hips (especially your hip flexors) will go a long way for giving your lower back some love. Also, if you are really tight or in a significant amount of pain, doing passive (lying on your back) stretching can be extra supportive for recovery.

Which brings me to this week's practice! It is done entirely supine (aka lying on your back) and is a series of glute, psoas, hamstring, and hip flexor stretches. I mean, isn't lying-on-your-back yoga everyone's favorite kind of yoga?? My yogis love this sequence so much when I ask if there are any requests for the practice, they say, "can we do the ones where we are just lying on our back the whole time?" 🤣 and I knew they meant this flow I am sharing with y'all!!

All you need for this practice is some space to spread out a bit, either the floor or your bed, and clothes that will allow for a nice range of motion. Try this routine any time to release tension in the lower back, glutes, and hip flexors. It can be lovely and quite relaxing to try right before you go to bed too!! And while I guide you in this practice for a few breath cycles on each side of the body for each pose, if you don't have the time, even one breath cycle on each side in each pose will make a difference. You can also stay in each pose for a long time too - a full minute, or even 3-5 minutes. Whatever you have time for, and your body is asking for, adjust as needed!

Doing hip opening exercises (try typing in "hip opener exercises" or "hip opener yoga" into YouTube for more practices) has an added benefit of releasing old and/or chronic tension. This is because of some wild built-in features of our autonomic nervous system. I mentioned last week how muscle tension is a signal from our body to the brain (aka the mind-body interface) that we are STRESSED and under threat, activating the fight/flight sympathetic nervous system. Well in addition to our legs and hips activating to prepare to respond to threat, there is an additional, automatic threat response called the withdrawal response wherein our lower back, hips, and upper legs work together to try to curl us into the fetal position to protect our vital organs. While obviously this is great if there is a real physical threat, ummmm not so much for the day-to-day stressors, which our poor nervous systems that haven't quite adapted to the modern day environment still process as life-threatening.

Toddlers and little kids might curl up as part of a tantrum, or when they get a "no" they do not agree with from a parent. But obviously, as adults, it's not socially acceptable to curl up into the fetal position when we we feel stressed (at least not in public! - but def give it a try on your own and you just might find it super soothing 😉). So, we fight the urge to curl up, worsening the tension. This week's flow should help with releasing any day-to-day tension you have accumulated from this natural response.

Even if you don't do this specific practice I am sharing everyday, a little bit of hip release goes a long way to relieve this kind of tension that most of us are building up and experiencing every day. Every night I read in bed, so I lie down on my back and situate myself with the soles of my feet touching, and let my knees fall out to the sides while resting my head on the pillow and holding my Kindle or book. I stay in this position (aka reclined butterfly or reclined goddess in yoga-speak) for about five minutes, and I can actually feel the tension draining - my hip flexors and then inner thighs get a wonderful, subtle, tingly sensation. You could also try standing a few feet in front of a chair or your couch, then placing the top of one foot on the chair, standing with your hands on your hips, for a gentle hip flexor stretch. If you need support for your balance, situate your chair so you can place your hands on a wall, or table, counter, back of the couch or another chair. If you've got some mobility, a couple lunges on each side will help.

Thanks SO much for taking some of your precious time to check out this article. Let me know what you think about the practice, you can just respond to this email! Or reach out militaryyogini@gmail.com. Also let me know if there's a challenge you are facing that you would like some yoga or other mind-body practices for, I'd be delighted to put something together for ya! I'm sharing what I have found to be helpful, and I would love to be more tailored to what you, my readers and viewers, need right now 🥰 This newsletter is for y'all, so let me know!

Have a wonderful weekend and week, friends!

In deep gratitude,

Carly💕