We all know the multifold benefits that yoga has on our health. One of it being relief from back pain too. Back pain is now becoming a common issue in modern India with the huge number of jobs involving continuous sitting hours.
So, Women Fitness today brings to you a few easy yet effective Yoga Poses to relieve you back pain:
1. Cat Pose:
Start with your hands and knees in a “tabletop” position. Make sure your knees are set directly below your hips and your wrists, elbows and shoulders are in line and perpendicular to the floor. Center your head in a neutral position, eyes looking at the floor.
As you exhale, round your spine toward the ceiling, making sure to keep your shoulders and knees in position. Release your head toward the floor, but don’t force your chin to your chest.
Inhale, coming back to neutral “tabletop” position on your hands and knees.
2. Child’s Pose:
Often referred to as the most relaxing yoga pose, the child’s pose definitely helps in stretching your entire back and hip area, which most often becomes stiff while sitting.
Start on all fours, keep your arms forward and sit back so your butt is resting just above your heels. Hold and breathe deeply, feeling the breath reach all the way into your hips. The more you extend in either direction, the more you’ll feel relief.
3. Downward Facing Dog Pose:
Come onto the floor on your hands and knees. Set your knees directly below your hips and your hands slightly forward of your shoulders. Spread your palms, index fingers parallel or slightly turned out, and turn your toes under.
Exhale and lift your knees away from the floor. At first keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor. Lengthen your tailbone away from the back of your pelvis and press it lightly toward the pubis. Against this resistance, lift the sitting bones toward the ceiling, and from your inner ankles draw the inner legs up into the groins.
Then with an exhalation, push your top thighs back and stretch your heels onto or down toward the floor. Straighten your knees but be sure not to lock them. Firm the outer thighs and roll the upper thighs inward slightly. Narrow the front of the pelvis.
Firm the outer arms and press the bases of the index fingers actively into the floor. From these two points lift along your inner arms from the wrists to the tops of the shoulders. Firm your shoulder blades against your back, then widen them and draw them toward the tailbone. Keep the head between the upper arms; don’t let it hang.
4. Bow Pose:
Lying face down, reach your hands toward your ankles and grab hold one at a time. Slowly lift your chest and thighs away from the floor by drawing your chest forward and the back of your thighs toward the sky. This posture is a wonderful way to strengthen the back muscles, but if you have a back injury, take this easy as it can be intense.
5. Triangle Pose:
Stand with your feet 3 1/2 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.
Turn your left foot in slightly to the right and your right foot out to the right 90 degrees. Align the right heel with the left heel. Firm your thighs and turn your right thigh outward, so that the center of the right knee cap is in line with the center of the right ankle.
Exhale and extend your torso to the right directly over the plane of the right leg, bending from the hip joint, not the waist. Anchor this movement by strengthening the left leg and pressing the outer heel firmly to the floor. Rotate the torso to the left, keeping the two sides equally long. Let the left hip come slightly forward and lengthen the tailbone toward the back heel.
Rest your right hand on your shin, ankle, or the floor outside your right foot, whatever is possible without distorting the sides of the torso. Stretch your left arm toward the ceiling, in line with the tops of your shoulders. Keep your head in a neutral position or turn it to the left, eyes gazing softly at the left thumb.
Stay in this pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Inhale to come up, strongly pressing the back heel into the floor and reaching the top arm toward the ceiling. Reverse the feet and repeat for the same length of time to the left.
These poses will definitely help in curing your back issues. For beginners though, you must begin with these yoga poses.