Do you have back pain?

Today I am going to show you 1 yoga posture, with lots of modifications for knees, ankles and the inflexible to relax your painful back.

Hi I’m Melissa with Yoga with Melissa, I teach Real Yoga for Real People, yoga you can do so you feel better, move better and connect with your True Nature

I put out a tutorial like this where I answer your questions every Wednesday, so if you are new here, subscribe and turn on notifications so you don’t miss a single one. If you like today’s video remember to give it a thumbs up and let me know what you liked about it in the comments.

Today I’m going to teach you how to relax your painful back which will scratch the surface of back pain but if you want to go deeper, with leading edge research and even more ongoing support from me I will tell you about that at the end.

Modifications:

If you can’t reach your head to the floor you can used a folded blanket to the proper height for head support. If your knees hurt, put a rolled blanket in the bend of each knee to create more space. You can put a rolled blanket under your ankles if there is too much strain there. If your buttocks do not reach your heals, fill the space with a rolled blanket.

If it still bothers your back, lie on your back instead and draw your knees into your chest.

In the Pose: Breathe into your low back. Each time you breathe out imagine your spine getting longer. Over several breaths you will notice that your spine actually does get longer. As it does, lift your chest and head, and accept this longer version of your spine. You can stay here for several minutes as your spine lengthens.

Benefits: This pose will relax your painful back. It stretches the muscles on either side of your spine. It allows you to consciously relax tense muscles. It teaches you to lengthen muscles that you may habitually contract. It allows for more space between the vertebrae of your discs and will decrease disc degeneration caused by constant compression.

Contraindications: Avoid this pose if you have spondylolysis, spondylolisthesis or posterior or lateral bulging discs. If you have spondylolysis, spondylolisthesis or posterior or lateral bulging discs forward bends can aggravate the forward slippage of damaged vertebrae. The alternative would be supine knees to chest. (knees to chest on your back).

If you would like more support for back pain I highly recommend our membership community. We have over 20 classes for back pain: http://www.drwest.ca/showthread.php?1983-Yoga-for-Back-Pain

www.melissawest.com/membership/membership-sign-up/

Press the thumbs up button if your back is feeling better and a little more relaxed. Let me know in the comments how your back feels now.

Thanks for watching, see you next week.  Namaste, Melissa

Membership Site Classes:

Intelligent Core 68 minutes

Upper and Lower Back Rehydration Sequences 27 minutes

Hippy Shorts

Intro to Foot Connective Tissue Classes

Yoga for Herniated Discs

Yoga for Sciatica

Do you have back pain? Today I am going to show you 1 yoga posture, with lots of modifications for knees, ankles and the inflexible to relax your painful back. Hi I’m Melissa with Yoga with Melissa, I teach Real Yoga for Real People, yoga you can do so you feel better, move better and […]

Sea Salt Bath for Adrenal Fatigue

Today I’m going to show you 2 yin yoga poses for adrenal fatigue that you can do in a beautiful aromatherapy sea salt bath to restore energy. This will scratch the surface of adrenal fatigue so if you want to go deeper, with leading edge research and ongoing support from me then stay tuned all the way to the end.

Today’s question comes from, Guyla Mullins from Facebook: I was in a car accident with severe thoracic damage, aortic dissection and ruptured spleen. Yes I survived. I’ve also worked through recovery from this trauma at a very intense labor job for 13 years after. I now am on disability and am completely exhausted. Have PTSD and COPD. A friend suggested me contacting you for adrenal fatigue yoga. I do have symptoms of this. I find it amazing how PTSD and adrenal fatigue have similar symptoms. Local yoga instructors are too intense and favor competition. I need something to restore balance.

Today I am going to recommend 2 yin yoga poses that you can do for long restorative holds in a warm replenishing bath with Scentuals Yoga Vitality 100% Natural Relaxing Bath Salts.

The reason why I am going to recommend pairing these 2 restorative yin yoga poses and do them in a warm bath with the relaxing bath salts is that they contain:

dead sea salts bath specially formulated to replenish vital minerals in your body

Bergamot, Lemongrass and Jasmine that will ease stress and anxiety and lift your spirits for a feeling of Vitality.

Bergamot Essential Oil – Acts as an antidepressant, relieves stress and muscle tension, relieves headaches

Jasmine Essential Oil – good for anxiety, depression, and negative emotions

Lemongrass Essential Oil – boosts energy, relieves headaches, relieves muscle pain

Epsom Salts improves nerve function by regulating electrolytes

For a 15% discount on the Scentuals Yoga Vitality 100% Natural Relaxing Bath Salts or any other Scentual Products my viewers can enter discount code “melissawest15” when they check out at scentuals.ca

Yin Yoga Full forward bend/Caterpillar Pose

This straight leg forward fold stimulates your urinary bladder channel, that intersects with your kidneys and also stimulates your kidneys (the traditional chinese medicine equivalent to your adrenals). The effect is calming and reenergizing for your system. This pose is both restful and refreshing. You can stay in this pose for 3-5 mins or more. Avoid this pose if you have low back problems or sciatica.

Butterfly Pose

This pose stimulates your kidney meridian. Your kidneys are the storage containers for your essence energy. This pose will help you restore vitality. Avoid if you have sciatica or low back problems.

At the beginning of the video I told you I would give you more resources for your adrenals. I would recommend the:

Nourishing Your Energy Series

Restorative Yoga classes on Yoga with Melissa

However, we have 9 restorative classes for adrenal fatigue in our membership community ranging in length from 18 mins – 2 hours

We also have 12 yoga classes on our TCM playlist for kidneys in our membership community,...

Sea Salt Bath for Adrenal Fatigue Today I’m going to show you 2 yin yoga poses for adrenal fatigue that you can do in a beautiful aromatherapy sea salt bath to restore energy. This will scratch the surface of adrenal fatigue so if you want to go deeper, with leading edge research and ongoing support […]

Vlog 60 We started our week on Monday filming three new yoga tutorial videos for this, our secondary channel. I filmed a yoga for self care video on savasana to help promote my collaboration with Sherry Zak Morris on her Yoga JP channel coming up on April 7, 2017. Here is a preview of the […]

Savasana

Are you feeling pain in your neck, shoulders and back? Maybe you’re just feeling exhausted, stressed, anxious, sad, angry, and frustrated? If so, you are going to want to watch this video.

This morning after writing up a video for Sherry Zak Morris’ Yoga JP channel called Hatha Yoga for Self Care I shifted gears to think about creating a video for this channel. I wanted to do something on tips for self care, or why self care is important. As I was standing at my computer I noticed my brain was getting fuzzy, I could feel the tension mounting in my neck, shoulders and low back and so I went and laid down on my yoga mat.

Savasana.

This one pose has become my go-to for self-care. I lie down, I feel the support of the earth underneath me and I surrender to gravity and I let the tension melt into the earth. Sometimes I lie there for 30 minutes, sometimes I lie there for five or ten minutes. But afterwards I get up and I feel refreshed and restored, the tension is gone, the stress has left my body, the pain from my shoulders, neck and back has magically disappeared and all I did was lie down.

This is a pose that I am putting at the center of my life, practice, self-care and teaching more and more. Lying down, feeling the support of the earth underneath me, letting go of physical, mental, and emotional tension offers a huge boost to my physical, mental and emotional well-being. It leaves me feeling healthy, relaxed and ready to take on my work and personal responsibilities.

So the next time you are feeling overwhelmed, anxious, stressed out and physical tension mounting in your body, why not give it a try? Lie down! It is that simple! If you have low back issues, lie down with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor or place a bolster underneath your knees.

If this video was helpful for you, please give it a thumbs up. Let me know in the comments what your favourite yoga pose is for self care.

And if you would like a full-length hatha yoga class for self care then be sure to check out Sherry Zak Morris’ channel Yoga JP on Friday April 7th, 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/user/YogaJP

Namaste, Melissa

 

Savasana Are you feeling pain in your neck, shoulders and back? Maybe you’re just feeling exhausted, stressed, anxious, sad, angry, and frustrated? If so, you are going to want to watch this video. This morning after writing up a video for Sherry Zak Morris’ Yoga JP channel called Hatha Yoga for Self Care I shifted […]

Spring in Victoria We started our week with some filming (would you believe that?) I filmed a video about what is hatha yoga? Hatha yoga is its own style of yoga. Hatha is a sanskrit word which breaks down to ha for sun and tha for moon. Just like the sun brings the energy to […]

What is Hatha Yoga?

Have you ever wondered What exactly is hatha yoga? Today I am going to explain exactly what is meant by this style of yoga.

Hi I’m Melissa with Yoga with Melissa, I offer Real Yoga for Real People, yoga you can do so you feel better, move better and connect with your True Nature

I put out a yoga tutorial every Wednesday at 9 am PT, so if you are new here, subscribe and turn on notifications so you don’t miss episode. If you like today’s video remember to give it a thumbs up and let me know what you liked about it in the comments.

Hatha yoga is often defined as a generic term to any type of yoga that teaches gentle physical postures that is not a flow based class. I take offense to a whole style of yoga being described solely in terms of what it is not! Additionally hatha yoga is also inaccurately described as an umbrella term to encompass any kind of physical yoga postures from Ashtanga to Iyengar yoga. Oh and I’ve also heard several sources describe it as gentle yoga.

Hatha yoga is a whole style in and of itself and actually has a specific meaning.

Hatha is a sanskrit word which breaks down to ha for sun and tha for moon. Just like the sun brings the energy to the day and the moon brings the quiet to the night, hatha yoga balances the energy in our body.

During the day we are active and at night we rest. Ha represents that active energies. Tha represents the quiet qualities. Together through hatha yoga, we strive to bring harmony to your body.

The Sun qualities of hatha yoga are stimulating, vibrant, energizing and strong but we can burn out if we are always efforting. In our day to day lives we tend to push forward, be addicted to busy and doing and be more comfortable with effort and energy. Generally, our culture needs to connect with our moon energy more, the quiet, receptive, nurturing, introspective, restorative energy.

In the hatha yoga classes that I teach, I focus on balancing the Ha or energizing qualities and the Tha or the restorative qualities, in your body.

This week, I am a guest on Maris Aylward’s Yoga Upload channel. On Thursday March 16, 2017, Maris will be releasing my Beginner Hatha Yoga class on her channel. You can come on over to Yoga Upload to check it out

Give this video a thumbs up if I cleared up any misconceptions on hatha yoga for you.

Thanks so much for watching and letting me clear that up. That has been bothering me for awhile now!

Let me know your yoga pet peeves in the comments below and I will see you next Wednesday!

Namaste, Melissa

 

What is Hatha Yoga? Have you ever wondered What exactly is hatha yoga? Today I am going to explain exactly what is meant by this style of yoga. Hi I’m Melissa with Yoga with Melissa, I offer Real Yoga for Real People, yoga you can do so you feel better, move better and connect with […]