Half Dog Yoga Pose for Lower Back Pain

Video Transcript

"Now that our backs are a little more warmed up than they were before we are going to go for the biquitis(phonetic) down dog and I know that is a scary prospect for some people especially when you have chronic pain in your back but I have a way to work up to down dog that is going to make you feel really great. It is going to help your back a lot and it is going to make you not scared any more of trying down dog. So this pose is called half dog and you do it against the wall. You can do it anywhere you want. All you're going to do is bring your feet into your tadasana right under your hips and you're going to try to judge your distance from the wall as best you can but you can adjust once you get into the pose. From here all you're going to do is put your hands on the wall. We are going to come to a 90 degree angle with our body, 90 degrees from here to here as close as we can. The trick here in this half dog is to press your palms into the wall and reach your tail bone back behind you so that you're engaging all the way through the spine and you're lengthening, see the crown of the head is still reaching forward and the tail bone is reaching away, palms of your hands are pressing into the wall. Again we are going for 90 degrees. I don't want to be like this because then I am going to over extend. Find the place where you are comfortable, get someone to check your position if you are unsure and this is your half dog. When you are comfortable with your half dog you move into practicing down dog. Come on to the floor, into your table top, tucking the toes, exhaling and lifting up into down dog, releasing the heels into the floor, fingers are spread, palms are flat, shoulder blades are wrapping around, inhaling, lifting the tail bone up, exhaling and releasing through the crown of the head, stay as long as you are comfortable, release when you are ready and we're almost done."