Oh My Back...!!! Gentle Yoga for Back Pain Relief

Learn to ease your back pain and keep it supple with this gentle stretch

During the past 15 days, I have heard from three people that either they lifted something heavy and hurt their back or their back simply gave away.

So let’s talk about our back. Although not chronic, I have had issues with my lower back from time to time. Lower back issue seems to affect almost all of us at some point in our lives.

I have literally seen thousands of people in yoga classes all over the world and I came to realise that If pain is chronic, then it is not simply a matter of your muscle or your posture or exercise you did yesterday (or lack thereof) that is causing it. Yes, our body is made up with bones, muscles, ligaments, tissues, etc... but we are also our emotions and our energy. Our body shows who we are. It is "work in progress" map and representation of our inner self. Pain, sickness and discomfort are our body’s way of making us aware that something is not quite right. When we are in pain, our body is not trying to 'get us' but rather calling for our attention. Let us be mindful of the signal our body sends out so we can catch it early on before it becomes chronic.

In yogic terms, your lower back is related to your 2nd chakra (energy center) called Svadhisthana. It is located along our spine about 5cm below our naval. When this chakra is balanced, we enjoy our creativity, feelings of abundance, pleasure in all forms, sensuality and joy. On the other hand, if this energy center is not well balanced you might find it difficult to connect to your emotions. Spontaneous joy and fun seem to fade away from your life and you might find yourself losing interest in intimacy and sexuality. The need to control starts to seep out into all corners of your life.

We could work on any pain by moving our physical body at the same time being aware of what kind of personality tendencies might be contributing to certain issues in our body.

Here is a short video to ease your back pain and keeping it supple. At the end of the video try sitting down for 3 minutes more while mentally imagining that you have your favourite flower in tight bud or simply a tight knot (whichever you prefer!) around your 2nd chakra and as you breathe in and out slowly and mindfully, blossom that flower gradually (or unknot the knot).