Back Health & Exercise Course Lesson 10

Hello and welcome to the tenth lesson of your Back Health & Exercise Course.
 
In this lesson we'll talk more about Yoga as a form of back exercise and how it can help you get relief from sciata and back pain.

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Wellbeing Reminder:
Please read the Disclaimer again and do not do anything that acts against your doctor's instructions. If your doctor has told you lie down and do not move, do what they say!

This point is emphasised because yoga exercises can be quite demanding if you don't have a good level of suppleness, flexibility and fitness. Be sensible. If you can't touch your toes now, don't dive straight in and force the issue when you start yoga.

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Yoga Benefits

Yoga is suitable for people of all ages and physical condition and provides a refreshing yet calming workout. It is particularly good at building core muscle strength, suppleness and flexibility for back injury prevention. It also teaches proper breathing and good posture.

If you are patient and practice yoga consistently, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how your flexibility builds over time.

OK so you might not be able to put your foot behind your head before the end of the year, but that's not going to help your back especially anyway (trust me on this one).

The Yoga Salute to The Sun Exercise

It is well recognised that you can expect many benefits from practising yoga. If you stick at it, you can expect your body to become stronger and much more flexible, especially your back. These means you are less likely to accidentally injure yourself and suffer back low pain.

Yoga will also help your mind to become more settled and clear. The calmness this brings will help you reduce stress and related niggling illnesses.

The Salute to the Sun is a simple yet powerful exercise that you can do virtually anywhere - your home, at the gym, in a hotel, at the beach etc. 

Strictly speaking, the Salute to the Sun exercise is not yoga. However, it is almost universally used as a warm up to a yoga routine and it is also a very useful exercise routine in its own right because it is just a great all round stretching, strengthening and warm up exerise.

You could say its like the swiss army knife of exercises. Its low impact and if you do it long enough and fast enough, you can even get it to be mildly aerobic too.

You will certainly have worked up a sweat at the end after 10 or 20 rounds.

The stretching and strengthening is a great exercise for your back too.

Salute to the Sun Instructions

You can see the instructions and pictures for the Salute to the Sun exercise below. You can also watch a video of the Salute to the Sun here 

Each round is usually repeated a number of times, between 10 and 100, depending on how fit you are.

Position 1: Pranamasana - Prayer Pose

Technique:

• Stand erect with the feet together.

• Place the palms in front of your chest.

• Relax your whole body.

Breath: • Normal.

Position 2: Hasta uttanasana - Raised Arms Pose

Technique:

• Raise both arms above the head.

• Keep the arms separated by one shoulder’s width.

• Bend the head and upper trunk slightly backwards.

Breath: • Inhale while raising the arms.

Position 3: Padahastasana - Hand to Foot Pose

Technique:

• Bend forward until the fingers or hands touch the ground on either side of or in front of the feet.

• Try to touch the knees with the forehead, but do not strain.

• Keep the legs straight.

Breath: • Exhale as you bend forwards.

• Try to contract the abdomen in the final position to expel the maximum amount of air.

Position 4: Ashwa Sanchalanasana - Equestrian Pose

Technique:

• Stretch the right leg as far back as possible.

• At the same time bend the left leg, but keep the left foot in the same position.

• The arms should remain straight and in the same position.

• At the end of the movement the weight should be supported on the hands, left foot, right knee and the toes of the right foot.

• In the final position the head should be tilted backwards, the back arched and the gaze directed upwards.

Breath: • Inhale whilst stretching the right leg backwards.

Position 5: Parvatasana - Mountain Pose

Technique:

• Straighten the right leg and place the left foot beside the right one.

• Raise the buttocks in the air and lower the head so that it lies between the two arms.

• The body should form two sides of a triangle.

• The arms should remain straight and in the same position.

• The legs and arms should be straight in the final position.

• Try to keep the heels in contact with the ground.

Breath: • Exhale as you straighten your left leg and bend your body.

Position 6: Ashtanga Namaskara - Salute with 8 limbs

Technique:

• Lower the body to the ground, so that in the final position of this pose only the toes of both feet, the two knees, the chest, the hands and the chin touch the ground.

• The hips and abdomen should be raised slightly off the ground.

Breath: • The breath should be held outside. No breathing.

Position 7: Bhujangasana - Serpent Pose

Technique:

• Raise the body from the waist by straighteningthe arms.

• Bend the head backwards.

Breath: • Inhale whilst raising the body and arching the back.

Position 8: Parvatasana - Mountain Pose

This stage is a repeat of position 5

Technique:

• From the arched back position assume the mountain pose as described for position 5.

Breath: • Exhale as you raise your buttocks in the air.

Position 9: Ashwa Sanchalanasana - Equestrian Pose

This stage is a repeat of position 4

Technique:

• Bend the left leg and bring the left foot forwards so that it is near the hands.

• Simultaneously lower the right knee so that it touches the floor.

Breath: • Inhale while assuming the pose.

Position 10: Padahastasana - Hand to Foot Pose

This stage is a repeat of position 3

Technique:

• Place the right foor next to the left foot.

• Straighten both the legs and try to bring the forehead as close as possible to the knees.

• Do not strain if you are unable to touch the knees but do not bend the legs.

Breath: • Exhale as you perform the movement.

Position 11: Hasta uttanasana - Raised Arms Pose

This stage is a repeat of position 2

Technique:

• Straighten the whole body and raise both arms above the head.

• Keep the arms separated by one shoulder’s width.

• Bend the head and upper trunk slightly backwards.

Breath: • Inhale as you straighten the body.

Position 12: Pranamasana - Prayer Pose

This stage is a repeat of position 1

Technique:

• Bring the hands in front of the chest and place the palms together.

• Relax your whole body.

Breath: • Exhale as you assume the final pose.

Repeating the Sequence - Steps 13-24

With steps 13-24 the only difference is that you do the exercises using your other leg. Example: with position 4 stretch your left leg as far back as possible.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep your fitness level in mind. If doing 2 rounds drains your pacemaker batteries, don't try for 20. BE SENSIBLE.

I've actually been doing a few of them as I sat here writing this. OK I confess I've been crouched over the PC for too long, but remember as your Dad always used to say - do what I say, not what I do.

See you later - stay well.

Best wishes,

Rita & Chris

P.S. Reminder: Take a look at the Better Back System It includes a set of unique exercises to loosen and strengthen your back and you can  amazingly good results in a very short period of time. The specialised exercises really help you 'wake up' and strengthen your core stability muscles.  You can  get amazingly good results with back pain relief in a short period of time.