When your lower back feels tight, you might twist or bend forward to try to get some relief. While these movements can work, what your back might really need is side bending. A healthy spine moves in four ways: flexion (rounding forward), extension (backward bending), rotation (twisting), and lateral flexion (side bending). The most common position is flexion, as that’s what you do
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This might be one of the most beneficial poses in the yoga practice, especially for anyone who sits at a desk for a living. Sitting for long periods leaves you feeling stiff, especially in the neck, hips, and lower back. When you practice squatting regularly it improves lower back and hip pain, digestion and constipation,
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This might be what you’re looking for Lower back pain is something that plagues so many adults. You want to be active but you are constantly battling your lower back. Maybe you wake up stiff every morning. Maybe shoveling out from the recent snow storms has left your back feeling cranky and uncomfortable. When I
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Two different practices that can improve your physical and mental health Walking is an amazing form of exercise for many reasons. As a yoga instructor, I take my yoga practice into my life, it’s not only for when I’m on my mat. When it comes to meditation, one aspect of practicing yoga, you can approach
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There are many causes of lower back pain as we age, and tight hips are one of them. “Hips” is a combination term that includes the hip flexors (iliopsoas, rectus femoris, and tensor fascia latae) and the buttocks (gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, piriformis, and deeper hip rotators). Imbalances in these muscles can lead to sacral dysfunction which
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Part of the Ask a Yoga Teacher monthly series Hanumanasana, or Split pose, is one of my favorite poses. I feel like I say that a lot, but I love practicing yoga, so I have a lot of favorites, especially in different categories of poses. This pose requires significant hamstring and hip flexor range of
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One pose, four variations that feel so good… Baddha Konasana, or Bound Angle pose, is a multi-purpose stretching pose that I wrote about in detail in this post: If you only have time for one stretch, this is the one I used to struggle with this pose. My knees were by my ears and I
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Twisting to stretch, strengthen, and breathe Twisting. It feels so good in the hips and spine, releasing all the tension accumulated from the day. I wrote about how to twist safely in the post below, but today I am writing about different approaches to twisting. You can stretch and strengthen your core while twisting. It
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When you get to a “certain age,” you start to realize how important core strength is. I’m not talking about 6-pack abs, I am talking true core strength and support. While having a 6-pack looks pretty, it’s going to fall short when you are running up and down stairs, or picking up a laundry basket.
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All movement comes from your core Whether you are a professional athlete, a weekend warrior, or simply an active person, as you age, your body requires more maintenance to keep going. Using a car analogy, a new car hardly needs any work to run. The older the car gets, the more maintenance it needs to
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