Easy Peasy Way to Keep Your Back Happy and Healthy

by Nina

The last few days I've been staying with a friend (a man in his sixties) who doesn�t do yoga, but who is very physically active (hiking, tennis, cycling, etc.) and who also sits at a desk. While we were hiking together  we talked about his back, and what he could do to keep it healthy. I said, I do have one simple suggestion, and I told him about the passive backbend that Timothy recommended in his post Cultivating Healthy Posture with a Simple Restorative Pose. When he asked about buying a prop, I said that I was sure I could find some things in the house we could use. And as soon as we got home, he brought out a rolled up blanket to support his chest and I got a towel from the bathroom to put under his head, and I set him up in the pose for 5 minutes. He loved it! So now he�s going to try to do it on a regular basis, especially on days when he spends a lot of time in front of the computer (he works mostly from home these days). And I asked him to keep me updated on his practice ad the results he sees from it. In the meantime, for all of you out there who may not have read Timothy�s original post (see Cultivating Healthy Posture with a Simple Restorative Pose)  and our post with four different versions of passive backbend (see Featured Pose: Supported Backbend), I thought today I�d remind you about this very simple, very pleasant way of maintaining back health and/or finding relief from mild low back pain. I myself practice it about five days a week, cause, yeah, I�m a writer.

Happy practicing, Bob!

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Friday Practical Pointers: Your Posture Affects Your Breathing!

by Nina

Supported Backbend is
Excellent for Improving Posture

Did you know that your ability to take a deep, full breath is influenced by your posture? Because when you inhale, your rib cage expands to its maximum to make room for your lungs to expand. And if the muscles that allow your rib cage to expand are tight�due to habitual slouching or other postural problems�your lungs won�t be able to expand to their maximum because there just won�t be as much room within your chest cavity for them. If you have long-time poor posture, you might not notice this problem when you�re sitting at your desk. However, in physically demanding situations, you will likely notice that your breath is restricted. 

And if some of your chest or back muscles are weak, your endurance will be affected. That�s because if the muscles that allow the rib cage to expand are weak and therefore tire easily, you�ll run out of steam when you are in a physically demanding situation that requires rapid or deep breathing. 

To maintain good posture for optimum respiration, cultivating both the flexibility and strength of your torso muscles is vital. In general, a well-rounded asana practice that includes standing poses, backbends, twists, forward bends, and side bends, will help you maintain the flexibility and strength you need. 

However, you can also use asanas to target specific problem areas. For example, if you are developing more rounding of your thoracic spine, adding more back bending poses to your practice will help reverse this trend. If the sides of your chest are tight, you can lengthen them with full side stretches, such as Crescent Moon pose, and partial side stretches, such as Triangle pose. And if your back muscles are tight, forward bends, such as Standing Forward Bend and Child�s Pose, will help release them those muscles.

You can also use asanas to strengthen weak muscles around your lungs. To strengthen chest muscles, practices poses where you lift your chest away from gravity, such as Plank pose and Downward-Facing Dog. To strengthen the sides of torso, practice poses where you keep one side lifted away from gravity, such as Side Plank pose variations and Triangle pose. And to strengthen back muscles, practice active backbends, such as Warrior 1, Cobra pose, or Upward-Facing Dog.

Medical conditions that influence posture, including kyphosis and scoliosis, also restrict your breathing capacity by limiting space in the chest wall . So for these conditions, it is especially important to maintain both the flexibility and strength of your torso by doing poses appropriate for your condition. For scoliosis, there is even early evidence that certain yoga poses can help reduce the curve of your spine (see Side Plank Pose (Vastithasana) Could Reduce Spinal Curves in People with Scoliosis!). Work with a yoga therapist or teacher who is an expert in your condition to find the poses that are right for you.

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