Forward Bend Yoga Pose for Back Pain

Video Transcript

"Alright so after we've opened up our hamstrings a little bit we can be a little more comfortable in a seated forward bend. This is paschimothanasana and I'm going to do it yen style and this pose is really amazing for opening up all through the lower back, the hamstrings, the gluts all of it but again if you've got really tight hamstrings and you're constantly in a posterior tilt you kind of don't want to do this pose because what is going to happen is your pelvis is already here and when you try to bend forward it is just not going to be effective, you really want to be careful about this and consult your doctor when you do these poses. We are going to allow our legs to turn out, our knees to bend, our feet to be just loose and heavy. We are going to drop the chin towards the chest and we're just going to come forward over the legs as much as you are comfortable. Now you can use in this pose blankets or bolsters on top of your legs and just lay on top of them any way you want. The point here is to release all the way through the gluts into the lumbar spine so what happens is we rest here, we let the knees release and all that good stuff, we concentrate on giving up all of our effort in the pose and this one is one where you've got to stay for a while so rest here for one to three minutes and when you are done just walk your hands up inhaling and come all the way on to your back to prepare for your corpse pose, savashna."