Releasing Tension: Low Back

The low back is a place of deep support—and yet it often holds chronic stress and is in need of support and care itself. This 20-minute practice relaxes your back with gentle movement, then helps you release tension with a guided breathing meditation, spreading warmth throughout the lower back, leaving it—and your whole system—soothed.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Paige,

And this is an embodied meditation practice to relieve tension in your low back,

A place where so many of us experience chronic stress and discomfort.

We'll start with some gentle movement and finish with a brief guided relaxation and breathing practice,

And we'll do all of this lying down on our backs.

So make yourself comfortable.

You can lie on a yoga mat or just a rug or a blanket on the floor.

Give yourself enough cushion to be comfortable,

But also stable.

And let's start with knees hugged in toward the chest.

Simply scoop your knees up.

You can drape your arms over your shins or have your hands resting on your shins.

And it might feel nice to apply just a little bit of pressure about mid-shin so you really get the weight of the legs dropping in toward the body.

And can respond by allowing the whole space of the low back to spread against the earth.

From there,

Begin to really slowly rock from side to side.

Gentle sways over to one side and through center and back to the other side,

Walking across the whole swath of the low back.

Just a lulling quality to the rocking so your whole system begins to settle in here.

Our low backs represent deep support on both a physical and an energetic level.

At the same time,

We can often overtax them,

Especially if they're not feeling strong.

We can neglect the low back.

It's a less visible part of the body and we're often very forward,

Front body focused.

So physical and emotional energy can get lodged in the low back,

Stuck there.

The result can be chronic low grade ache or something more acute.

Our practice today is designed to bring awareness and soothing energy to your low back,

Offering it both support and release.

As you feel ready,

That gentle rocking action can slow down and become still.

Keep your right knee hugged in.

Simply stretch your left leg out long.

You can just rest against the earth,

Right knee hugging in.

And stretch your whole body long so your left leg stays stretched out and your right leg stretches out to meet it.

And maybe your arms even stretch all the way up alongside your ears so they're resting on the earth,

Just stretched up alongside your ears.

Hug your left knee in so the right leg stays stretched out long,

The left knee hugs in.

Whole body stretching out long again,

Both legs,

Both arms reached up alongside your ears if that feels comfortable.

And we'll begin to move through this sequence now,

Threading the movement along our breath.

So let your body stretch to an inhale here,

Legs long and arms long.

And as you exhale,

Scoop your right knee back up,

Right up towards your chest.

And you might even feel you want to lift your forehead up towards your knee.

And then inhale,

Everything lengthens and stretches again.

And as you exhale,

The left knee draws in.

You can lift your forehead if you like.

Keep moving like this.

The inhales allow the body to lengthen and take up some space.

And as you exhale,

One knee draws in.

Your head could gently lift forehead to knee.

Inhale body lengthens,

Just an effortless stretch.

Exhale,

Knee hugs in,

Maybe the forehead rises up to meet the knee.

Inhale whole body stretches long,

One more time each side.

Exhale knee scoops in,

Maybe the forehead lifts to meet it.

Inhale body stretches and breathes open.

Exhale knee hugs in.

Let the other knee come in again.

So both knees are once again hugged in toward the body.

And if you lifted your head,

You can rest it back down against the earth.

Go back to allowing the body to simply rock side to side.

From here,

Rest both feet against the earth.

So they'll just come down,

Feet resting against the earth,

Knees bent.

Simply feel your feet about as wide apart as your hips.

And just to get this motion of the low back,

Take one hand back and slip it right beneath your low back.

So the hand is resting between your low back and the earth.

And then with your hips on the ground,

They won't move.

Simply peel your low back away from the earth and away from your hand.

So you'll create a little bit more space between the ground and your low back.

Your hand has a little bit more space back there.

And then do the opposite.

Let your low back smooth back down against the earth.

So it feels a little bit like it's flattening into your hand.

Less space between your low back and the earth.

Hand pressed between that space.

Try that one more time just to get a sense of that movement.

With the hips on the earth,

The low back curls up away from the earth.

It's as if your pelvis is rocking forward.

And then lower the back back down so it spreads back against the earth.

Like your hand is being pressed down toward the earth.

Good.

And then simply remove your hand now.

And we'll let the back do that movement,

That rocking movement of the pelvis along the breath.

So the hips stay grounded,

As you're ready to inhale,

Simply peel your low back away from the earth,

Creating that space.

And as you exhale,

Spread the low back back down against the earth.

Like you're flattening that space out.

Inhale the low back peels away from the earth as if the pelvis were going to rock forward.

As the pelvis tips back,

The low back spreads against the earth again,

Flattening that space back out.

Inhale low back peels away from the earth,

Pelvis rocks forward.

Exhale the pelvis rocks back,

The low back spreads back down toward the earth.

Three more of these inhaling,

Rocking the pelvis forward,

Peeling the low back away from the earth.

Exhale rocking the pelvis back,

Whole stretch of the low back spreads back down to the earth.

Inhale low back curls away from the earth,

Hips stay grounded.

Exhale low back rocks back toward the earth.

Last one,

Inhale,

Peeling,

Curling the low back away from the earth as the pelvis rocks forward.

Exhale rocking the pelvis back,

Low back spreads back toward the earth.

And then let your low back now come back to neutral.

So it's neither arched away from the earth,

Nor is it pressing down toward the earth,

Just a beautiful neutral,

Natural position.

Knees are still bent,

Feet are still resting on the ground.

You begin to do some gentle bridge lifts.

So as you inhale next,

Let your feet press into the earth and lift your hips now all the way away from the earth.

They don't have to lift too high,

Just lift them as much as feels comfortable.

And as you exhale,

Just lower the hips back down,

All the way back down.

When the feet press into the earth,

The hips float away from the earth.

And as you exhale,

The hips rest back down toward the earth.

Little bridge lifts as you inhale,

Heel bones press into the earth,

Hips float up.

Exhale,

Hips relax back down to the earth.

Moving nice and slow on the breath.

Inhale,

Hips lift,

Exhale,

They relax back down.

Last two,

Inhale,

Hips lift,

Exhale,

Slow release of the hips back down to the earth.

Next time,

Inhale,

The hips lift,

Slowly relax the hips back down to the earth.

Pause here.

Let your body and your whole system take that in.

Your knees are still bent,

Your feet are still grounded.

And now simply heel toe your feet away from each other.

So they're going to get wider,

Maybe as wide apart as your yoga mat,

If you're using a mat,

A little bit wider apart than your hips.

From there,

Let both of your knees drift over to the left.

So the feet stay wide,

Your knees drift over to the left.

And that may feel fine.

May feel that you'd like to walk your right foot over to the right a little bit more so that thigh stretches a bit more.

Maybe that is plenty for your body.

If you'd like to add one more piece,

You can experiment with stretching your right arm up alongside your right ear.

So it rests on the earth,

It stretches up,

Creating space from the right knee all the way up the right thigh,

The front of the hip,

The right side body,

All the way up the arm to the fingertips.

Take a few more breaths here,

Opening up any tension in the front body that may be tugging on the low back.

Two more nice,

Full,

Easy breaths here.

Next time your body inhales,

Let that inhale stretch all the way again from the right knee to the right fingertips and open your mouth as you exhale,

Let it fall out like a soft sigh.

Bring everything back through center so the arm can lower,

Both knees come back through center,

Your feet reground.

They're still wide,

A little bit wider than your hips,

Maybe as wide as your yoga mat.

We'll take that stretch to the other side.

So both knees this time drift to the right,

The feet stay wide,

Both knees drift to the right.

As you get settled there,

You may feel that you would like to heel toe your left foot even a little bit more to the left.

You can experiment with that,

See how that feels.

If you'd like a little bit more for the front body opening here,

You can stretch that left arm way up alongside the left ear and then it just rests to the floor there.

As your body's ready to inhale next,

You can imagine that inhale stretching from the left knee all the way up the front of the left thigh,

Front of the hip and side body all the way to the left fingertips.

And as you exhale,

Let it wash back out.

Two more breaths like that all the way along the left side body,

Untangling any tension here that may be tugging on the low back.

Next time you inhale again,

A long inhale up the whole left side body,

A gentle open mouthed sigh as you exhale,

Releasing.

Bring your knees back through center.

Let your feet stay wide if that's comfortable.

So they'll be just as wide as feels comfortable when you let your knees fall toward each other.

There's no striving of the knees to meet each other.

So you may want to adjust the feet so that the knees can simply rest inward.

Knees resting by your side,

Low back flushed with circulation and energy.

And we'll move from here into a simple breathing practice.

As you inhale,

Imagine warmth spreading from the center of your spine all the way out to the edges of your low back.

And as you exhale the low back releasing completely.

As you inhale from the center of the low spine,

Like a warm compress,

Stretching along the low back all the way out to the edges.

And as you exhale,

A releasing of any knots of tension,

Any gripping,

Any holding.

Inhale from the center of the low spine,

Warmth extending,

Spreading through the low back all the way to the edges of the side body.

And as you exhale the whole low back releasing any holding patterns,

Any tensing.

Inhale from the center of the low spine,

Warmth stretching and spreading through the low back.

Exhale low back softening,

Releasing and relaxing.

One more breath just like that.

The inhale from the center of the low spine,

Like warmth spreading through the low back all the way out to its edges.

And as you exhale,

Any bits of holding or tension releasing and letting go.

And simply drop into a quiet,

Soothing cadence of breathing.

Bring the low back to spread and melt and relax.

As you feel ready to begin to head to what's next,

You can simply heel toe your feet back in and go back to where we started,

Hugging the knees in,

Letting the body gently rock.

See if you can find some brief moments throughout your day,

Maybe when you're stopped in traffic or waiting in line.

To take a full breath,

Let it spread from the center of the low back all the way across the low back.

And as you release that breath,

Feel the back itself release and see what effect that has.

Thank you so much for taking this time for yourself and I'll be with you again soon.

Reviews

A perfectly paced exercise routine and meditation. My back feels stretched and soothed this morning. Thank you.

Such a soothing session with you that has really helped some psoas/low back pain. Thanks!🙏

Im so grateful to have experienced your kind gentle voice and practices today.

I needed that very much. Thank you for the perfect balance of movement and breathing. As always, your voice is a perfect guide towards relaxation and letting go. 💟☮️🙏🏼🌼

Glad I came across this!! I hurt my lower back by just pushing a shopping trolley can’t get into a physio due to it being Easter. That practice has given me a release! 🙏🏼thank you 10/10

Brilliant. Love these practices. Thank you Paige🙂🙏🏼♥️

Thank you for this wonderful meditation. It relieved my stiff back. 😊

Helped! I will continue to do this. Thank you for creating this track!

Oh my Goodness. Haven't stood up yet, but the pain has lessened tremendously. Thank you!

Really helpful low back release thank you 🪺🐚🌷🌺🌝

Really enjoyed that and my body feels much more comfortable. Thank you.

I lay down in absolute agony, and when this meditation was finished, I felt so much better. Thank you so much, Paige! You are the best. xx

Amazing!!! Will be coming back to this one regularly. Thank you!

My first time trying this. It was difficult for me (found holding my legs was painful) but I found holds that worked for now. It did help - in less pain now and more relaxed back. I will try this daily and see where it takes me. Thanks so much for this really interesting practice - I've not tried this approach before.

A perfect way to start the day.
I feel relaxed in every way. This low back stretch is here to stay.
The in and out, the gentle sway will offer ease throughout the day.

Thank you for this lovely meditative routine. 🙏🏻
Penelope

Thank you. Amazing.

This is the perfect exercise for my lower back, and it works every time. Your soothing voice, and the pace of the stretch is just right. Thank you!

A wonderful gentle way to treat my lower back with love. Thank you 😊

Very useful, comforting and relaxing 💕 Thank you for your gentle guidance ✨

I just needed some extra support with pillow, when bending my knees to the side, at hhe end part.

Really great and helpful. See you tomorrow morning!