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Yoga For Your Back Page 3 |
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Yoga Page
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Whether you do these exercises twice a
day, or twice a week, the key to these exercises is
consistency and focus. You are not on
a race, and not suppose to strain yourself in anyway.
As with all yoga exercises, the concentration on
"prana" or breathing is paramount to
the movements.
The exercises are a "prescription" of
exercises from my visit to Baxter Bell, MD, a yoga
instructor who is a partner of Rodney Yee, of the
Gaiam yoga video series.
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As
a graduate of the Advanced Studies
Program under the directorship of Rodney Yee,
Baxter craftily integrates elements of conventional
medicine, Chinese acupuncture, and of course Hatha
yoga creating a cornucopia of back healing exercises.
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13. Purring Cat:
As you exhale from the
neutral cat, push your shins into the ground, lengthen
and deepen your groins and raise your tail bone into
the sky. Feel your lower back arch into a back bend,
and extend your upper chest forward with your neck and
head arching skyward. During this motion feel your
upper chest wall expand and open, symbolic of you
presenting your heart and soul with full surrender.
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15. Angry Cat:
While exhaling from
Neutral Cat, press your hands and feet, dropping your
tailbone between your legs as you hollow your belly.
Curl your head downward and back towards your
tailbone, and expand your back. Press your arms
downward into the ground to draw your wide, hollow
chest into your back.
Inhale and return back
to Neutral Cat.
Repeat this sequence:
Neutral—Purring
—Neutral—Angry—Neutral 3 times.
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Sitting Meditation:
2-3 minutes |
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16. Sitting
Meditation:
With you legs crossed,
alternate crossing one shin over another. Bring your
knees close enough together so that your legs form a
square. Make sure that you are comfortable enough for
your hands to fall on your thighs with the palms face
up. Feel a release down the back of your shoulder
blades and close your eyes as you concentrate on the
motion of each breath.
Modification:
If your legs and hips
are too tight, consider sitting on a block or a folded
blanket that is high enough to allow your pelvis to be
upright. Or you may choose to sit with your back to
the wall, as this will help you focus on proper
alignment of you shoulder blades, sacrum and your
pelvic bones.
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Advanced Yoga
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Pre-Lord of the Fishes Stretch |
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17. Preparation for
Lord of the Fishes:
Here
we feature our yoga expert,
Baxter Bell showing us the
Lord of the Fishes pose:
Sit with the lower leg
crossed under and the upper leg crossed over. Place
the sole of one foot passed over the knee of the lower
crossed leg. While doing this, place your hands on
your knee pulling the leg back into a compressed
position.
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Lord
of the Fishes:
Hold 1-2 minutes |
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18. Lord of the
Fishes:
As you exhale, rotate
your upper body away from the crossed legs, utilizing
one hand to support your back, and the other arm to
push the upper leg away from the twist. You should
feel a gentle releasing feeling with this twist as the
lower leg and the upper quadriceps stretch.
As with sitting
meditation, if you have difficulty stretching, try
sitting on a blanket or a block.
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Hold for 1-2 minutes.
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Advanced Lord of the Fishes:
Hold 1-2 minutes |
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19. Advanced Lord
of
the Fishes:
If you are daring enough,
reach your crossed arm underneath your thigh and pull
your back arm around you to increase the amount of
stretch. Marvel as our expert
Baxter does this
effortlessly!
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