How to Prevent and Correct Spine Problems With Yoga
There’s an expression that floats around in the yoga world: You’re only as strong as your spine is flexible. We’ve all seen what happens when a spine suffers too much wear and tear. People get bent over, sometimes so severely that their upper torso is parallel to the ground. Add years of sitting at a desk and pounding on a computer to the natural aging process, and you’re going to end up with a rounded back and a head that juts forward. Here are a few tips on how to prevent this from happening--and how to correct problems you may have already begun to notice--through yoga.
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Instructions
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Do weight-bearing exercises--which, you might be surprised to learn, yoga most definitely is. No, you’re not lifting weights; but various parts of your body are bearing the weight of other parts during postures, and that makes it a weight-bearing exercise. Almost any yoga posture qualifies. If you’re a female and fear osteoporosis (brittle bones), do yoga in addition to taking calcium supplements.
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Do the plough, shoulder stand or headstand. Use a prop, such as the wall, if you need to. You’ve turned everything upside down, and the body--although surprised at first--will appreciate the reverse of the gravitational flow. Upside-down postures actually help a body maintain its symmetry and equilibrium.
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Keeping your back straight, in a standing or sitting position, lift your arms upward. If you spend a lot of time hunched over a desk at work, or are simply a creature of habit and bad posture, now is the time to start counteracting your bad habits of the past. Straighten up!
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Improve your posture. Not only will your body thank you, particularly your spine, you will look and feel better: You will appear taller, thinner and more confident. Consciously combat years of slumping by reminding yourself to straighten up. You can undo some of the damage that has been done over the years.
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Make a circular motion to the right with your head. Hear the calcium deposits in your neck crack. Break them up. Tilt your right ear to your right shoulder. Do not raise your shoulder, but lower your head to meet your shoulder. Dip your chin into your chest, then tilt your head backward. Work on preventing that dowager’s hump.
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Sit on the floor, your legs stretched out in front of you. Inhale and lift your hands over your head; on the exhalation, bend forward at the waist, keeping your back straight (not hunched) and reach forward. Try to reach your toes. If you can only reach your thighs or knees, that's fine. This is a good way to get back some of the mobility you’ve lost over the years. It won’t happen overnight, but you will gradually see an improvement in your posture and your ability to execute a stretch. Some people will think that you’ve grown an inch or two.
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Tips & Warnings
If you are sedentary, your joints are going to freeze up. You’re going to become stiff and achy--the polar opposite of a flexible, graceful, tall and lengthy specimen. When we lose muscle tone from lack of use, the joints are strained and lose space; that’s when your joints start getting banged up.
It’s always best to be supervised by a yoga instructor, particularly if you are new to this practice or if you have physical limitations.
Check out the myriad of yoga postures to be found via the link in Resources.
Resources
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