by Baxter
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| Water Lilies by Claude Monet |
This sequence combines gentle poses to improve strength, flexibility, and overall movement of the body without triggering pain with poses that allow your body to rest and repair itself. The final five supported and restorative poses reduce stress levels, which can help reduce pain, and move you into the Rest and Digest state, which bolsters both healing and immune system function.
As you practice, focus on your breath as it comes and goes, returning back to it again and again if you are distracted by other body sensations. For your final Relaxation pose, if you have a recorded guided relaxation that you enjoy, add that in to your practice. If not, practice simple breath awareness, use a mantra, or choose use any other mental focus you prefer.
For information on breath awareness, see A Balm for the Soul: Practicing Simple Breath Awareness. For information on Gradual Lengthening of Equal Breath, see Breath Practices for Balance. For information on Exhalation Lengthening, see Calming Breath Practices We Recommend. For your mantra, you can use a traditional Sanskrit mantra or any word or phrase in any language that has a positive meaning for you.
Caution: Always listen to your body, and on days when pain your worse, hold the poses for shorter lengths of time. And if any pose increases your pain, simply stop doing the pose.
1. Breath awareness, 2 minutes, seated on chair
2. Chair Cat-Cow Pose x6. See Featured Pose: Cat-Cow Pose.
3. Restorative Reclined Twist 1 min. each side. See Featured Pose: Reclined Twist.
4. Classic Cat-Cow Pose x6. See Featured Pose: Cat-Cow Pose.
5. Half Downward-Facing Dog Pose, hands on the wall, either with straight legs or bent knees, 30 sec., x2. See Featured Pose: Half Downward-Facing Dog Pose.
6. Dropped Knee Lunge Pose, 30 sec. each side, x2. See Featured Pose: Lunge Pose
7. Chair Warrior 2 pose, 30 sec. each side. See Featured Pose: Warrior 2 Pose pose.
8. Chair Extended Side Angle pose, 30 sec. each side. See Featured Pose: Extended Side Angle Pose.
9. Cobbler’s pose with support for hips and knees, 1 min. See Featured Pose: Cobbler’s Pose.
10. Easy Sitting pose with your back against the wall. Gradual Lengthening of Equal Breath, 2 min. See Featured Pose: Easy Sitting Pose.
11. Bridge pose with a crosswise bolster under pelvis. Breath awareness, 2-3 min. See Featured Pose: Bridge Pose.
12. Easy Inverted Pose, Exhalation Lengthening, 2-4 min. See Featured Pose: Legs Up the Wall Pose.
14. Relaxation pose with head support, 5-10 min., with mantra. See Featured Pose: Relaxation Pose.
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Hello Nina. My comment is not for public consumption. I see that you review comments before posting so maybe you can keep this one to yourself. Or, if you want to post it it's OK. I just want to thank you both so very very much for your blog spot and The artwork. You are doing a great service, especially to our aging population. The paintings that you illustrate the blog spot with are just wonderful. . . . so appropriate and inspiring. (I am assuming that one of you must have studied art at some point.) I have had excruciating chronic pain from sciatica for a year now and am looking forward to doing these particular poses.Thank you again very very much. Keri
I'm publishing this because I want to reply to you! Let me know if you want me to take both comments down later. What I wanted to say is that if you have so much pain from sciatica, you shouldn't just practice pain management. Instead, because yoga can help with the condition itself, you should seek out a yoga therapist or yoga teacher who is experienced at teaching yoga for back care, and see if they can help you come up with a sequence or two that addresses your sciatica directly. Meanwhile, here's a link to an old post we have on sciatica: http://yogaforhealthyaging.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-think-i-have-sciatica.html