Yoga for a Healthy Lower Back (7 page)

Choose or create a quiet, uncluttered space in your home for your practice and stock it with the yoga props we discussed: a mat, a yoga strap, two blocks, and two or three blankets. Blankets can be folded and stacked to form a yoga bolster if you don't own one. If possible, keep your props within reach so they are accessible to you whenever you practice.

Your space doesn't have to be large—a small area can work, as long as you have space to lie down on your mat. If you like to use a wall for support, choose a space with four to five feet of clear wall space nearby.

You may choose to make your space special by having a small table or shelf to hold things that speak to your heart and help inspire you to practice—a photograph, a seashell, anything that holds meaning to you will do. You may also find that performing one or more small ritual actions, such as lighting a candle, burning incense, or playing a calming piece of music, can help you designate your practice as special time, separate from the rest of your day.

It's usually most effective to make your practice a regular part of your morning or evening routine, whichever is the calmer part of your day. You may need to get up fifteen minutes earlier or eat dinner fifteen minutes later, but the time you put into your practice will pay you back with a happy and healthy lower back—and will more than make up for any perceived inconvenience.

Finally, if it's possible, try to practice with a friend or trusted family member so you can enjoy some of the partner poses in this book. This will also help you to feel accountable to keeping your commitment to practice yoga.

A B
RIEF
N
OTE ON THE
U
SE OF
S
ANSKRIT

Earlier, when we explored the meaning of
yoga,
I introduced Sanskrit as the language of ancient India. You will note Sanskrit words at a number of points in this book. But don't be intimidated! This is not a Sanskrit-based book, nor does it require any background in the language (or in yoga, for that matter) in order to release lower back pain through yoga.

Chiefly, you will find Sanskrit in the names of yoga poses, though the poses will also be named in English. Additionally, yogic concepts will be explained using both their Sanskrit terms and their English definitions, as in, for example, the case of
nadis,
or energy channels.

Whether you're feeling overwhelmed or intrigued by the idea of Sanskrit terminology, you'll be happy to know I've included a
basic glossary
of the terms I use in the book. Use it as much or as little as is helpful to you.

Meanwhile, if you are a language buff, and if you've heard Sanskrit names for yoga poses pronounced and were curious about their structure, here's a small cheat sheet of Sanskrit adjectives you're sure to notice again and again in the yoga practice sections of this book.

•  
Adho:
Downward

•  
Ardha:
Half

•  
Baddha:
Joined, bound

•  
Dwi Pada:
Two legs, or two feet

•  
Eka Pada:
One leg, or one foot

•  
Paripurna:
Full, complete

•  
Parivrtta:
Revolved

•  
Parsva:
To the side

•  
Prasarita:
Spread, expanded, stretched out

•  
Supta:
Reclining, resting

•  
Upavishta:
Seated

•  
Urdhva:
Upward

•  
Utthita
: Extended

Here are two quick examples of how you can use this cheat sheet to decipher the Sanskrit names of yoga poses. First, if the Sanskrit name for Standing Forward Bend is
Uttanasana
, you can guess that
Ardha Uttanasana
means Half Forward Bend. Second, there are two Boat poses, named around the core word for Boat Pose,
Navasana:
Full Boat Pose is
Paripurna Navasana,
and Half Boat Pose is
Ardha Navasana.

2

Y
OUR
H
IPS

Y
OUR HIPS ARE MANY THINGS,
starting with their most general definition: the area between your pelvis and the tops of your thighs. In that region of your body, you have hip bones, hip joints, and a complex web of crisscrossed muscles and connective tissue called hip myofascia.

Hips also have emotional associations, being a source of insecurity for women who feel their bodies look “hippy,” as well as a source of fear for older folks who worry that loss of balance will result in a health-sabotaging broken hip. When we want to dig in and project strong body language, we put our hands on our hips. Elvis Presley started a revolution just by swinging his. And more recently, hips returned to pop culture when the belly-dancing singer Shakira topped the charts by proclaiming, “Hips Don't Lie.”

And hips can hurt—in 2006 alone there were 2.9 million physician visits for hip pain. The overwhelming majority of those visits were from patients older than sixty-one, but the second highest age group was forty-three to sixty-one, who represented 665,000 visits.
¹

You may not belong to either of those age categories (or maybe you do . . . ) and you may not have pain that's specific to your hips (or maybe you do . . . ). But the hips are definitely the best place to begin your healing yoga journey, a perfect entry point into your lower back. In this chapter, you will
get a clear picture of how to bring movement, energy, and healing to your hips, decreasing pain and increasing flexibility. From there, we'll continue to build wellness and strength through your entire lower back.

T
HROUGH
W
ESTERN
E
YES: THE
P
HYSICAL
V
IEW

First stop—anatomy. At their core, your hips connect the skeleton and musculature between your lower spine and thigh bones. As I explained in chapter 1, these bundles of muscles and connective tissue are called myofascia.
²

The myofascia of the hips forms the basis of support for the transfer of gravitational forces that come down through your spine and into your sacrum. Those gravitational forces move through your hips into your legs, where you literally use them to stand on your own two feet.

The bony architecture of your hips is important, to be sure, but the hip myofascia plays an even greater role in back health. Proper stretching of hip myofascia is critical to the functioning not only of the hips but also of the lower back and legs. It is through flexible fascia and toned muscles that your limbs move easily through their intended range of motion, and the nerves that emerge from your spine and travel into your lower back, hips, and legs can do so without becoming compressed or “caught” in inflexible or inflamed myofascia. You should be able to envision your nerves like tendrils of a plant that are free to move, grow, and nourish your body to help it function properly.

Specifically, the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back through each buttock, hip, and leg, is greatly affected by muscle tone. The nerve runs along the fan-shaped piriformis muscle, the major external rotator of the hip joint, so tightness, overuse, or strain in that muscle is often the culprit when patients complain of “sciatica.” There's even a diagnosis specific to this condition: piriformis syndrome (
illustration 3
).

The tone of the iliopsoas muscle group, which is the major hip flexor, also has a direct effect on the sacrum and lower back. The psoas (pronounced “so-waz”) is actually a group of three muscles, the psoas major, psoas minor, and iliacus. This muscle group starts almost midway up your back, at the base of your thoracic spine, and it stretches all along your lower back. The muscles then run through your hips along the inside face of your hip bones. They then narrow and converge to a single attachment point at the inside head of the thigh bone, or femur.

Illustration 3. The Sciatic Nerve and the Piriformis Muscle (Rear View)

Don't worry, you won't be tested on all these details (and I'll be reinforcing what you're learning as our journey through your body continues). I'm explaining all of this here, all at once, to give you an idea of how large this muscle group is, how significantly tightness or weakness affects your spine, and how flexible and balanced hips can set these muscles up for success.

You can imagine what a powerful effect a tight psoas has on the positioning and comfort of the hips and lower back. Tightness in the psoas results in what's called an anterior pelvic tilt, which pulls the lower back forward and downward and results in an overarch of the lower spine that strains the sacral joints, which connect your sacral bone to the back of your hip bones. Weakness in the psoas can also result in a lessening of the natural spinal curves, which often flattens the curve of the lumbar spine and collapses the middle and upper thoracic spines forward. It also causes instability through the hips, and vulnerability in the sacral joints.

All of this should have you convinced that this muscle group deserves your energy and attention. When the muscles and connective tissue of the hips are strong, toned, and flexible, you will experience a confident and delightful ease of movement—imagine a soft sashaying feeling in your hips as you walk down the street, climb stairs, bend down to pick up your pet or your child, and especially when you first get out of bed in the morning. When they are tight and strained . . . well, you probably already know what that feels like.

As you prepare to begin your yoga practice, keep in mind the major muscles of the hips (illustrations 4 and 5):

•  
Psoas,
commonly known as the “hip flexor,” which connects the head of the thigh bone to the hip bones, and then to the thoracic spine.

•  
Piriformis,
known as the “major external hip rotator,” which connects the heads of the thigh bones to the sacral bone.

•  
Gluteus maximus,
also called the “hip extender.” This muscle, often referred to as the largest muscle in the human body, connects the back of the hip bone, the sacral bone, the thigh bone, and the iliotibial tract, which is a wide band of fibers that runs down the length of the outer thigh.

Illustration 4. The Major Muscles of the Hip (Front View)

Illustration 5. The Major Muscles of the Hip (Back View)

•  
Gluteus medius,
a smaller muscle that also connects the back of the hip bones to the thigh bone. This is the muscle that stabilizes your pelvis when you lift your other leg off the ground.

The yoga poses in this chapter will help you stretch, strengthen, and tone the muscles responsible for the range of movement of your hips. Note—since some hip muscles are considered to be part of the abdominal core, please see chapter 5 for a helpful companion to the poses in this chapter.

T
HROUGH
E
ASTERN
E
YES
:
THE
E
NERGETIC
V
IEW

Vayus: Unite Your Upper and Lower Bodies