20 Min Yoga for Spine Mobility - Back Pain Relief

Join me for this gentle mobility yoga flow, where we focus on improving spine health, relieving back pain, and easing tension through deep, mindful stretches. In just 20 minutes, this yoga sequence is designed to improve your spine’s mobility, release tightness and any discomfort, and create more relaxation in your back and shoulders. Perfect for anyone seeking back pain relief, this session includes gentle movements to help you feel more flexible, aligned, and refreshed Grab your mat, take a deep breath, and GET READY TO NURTURE YOUR SPINE!

Transcript

Namaste! Welcome to this practice for spine mobility. We're going to move gently but also do a deep stretch for the whole body. Since your spine is connected to the whole body, To the legs, To the hips, To your arms, Shoulders, So if your spine is not strong enough and not flexible enough, You might be experiencing pain in your shoulders, In your hips, So I invite you to sit down in a comfortable position. If sitting like this is not comfortable, You can always just keep your knees up and keep your feet on the ground. Let's close the eyes, Move the shoulders back a few times to create more space in the chest and the heart. Exhale all the air out of your lungs. Inhale, Taking a fresh, Rejuvenating breath and exhale, Releasing any stress, Any tension. Again, Inhale fully, Nice and long. Exhale, Release it all. Remember that your spine is a foundation for the whole body, It's like the skeleton for the whole body. It's also connected to your feeling of safety and support in this world, So we are going to cultivate the feeling of safety, The feeling of grounding, Knowing that at each moment of now, You are supported, You are safe. Alright, With the next breath, Just bring your hands to heart. Inhale, Arms around and stretch your arms to the sky. You can interlace the fingers, Press the inner palms up to the sky. Open, Open, Lengthen. Exhale, Stretch your right arm all over to the left. Inhale, Just turn the chest up to the sky. Exhale, Stretch. Inhale, Both arms up. Exhale, Left arm stretching to the right. Remember not to lift the knee. Inhale, Open chest up. Exhale, Stretch little bit more. Keep extending, Extending, Expanding. Inhale, Both arms up. Exhale, Let's go one more time with your right arm to the side, But now we are going to bend the elbow and look behind, So we are adding a gentle twist. Inhale, Stretch the arm. Exhale, Twist and look back. Inhale, Open. Exhale, Squeeze the shoulder blades together, Elbow down. One more time. Inhale, Up. Exhale, Twist and up. Going now through the front, Stretch both of your arms. Reach your left arm to the side. On the exhale, We are going to squeeze and move the elbow down. Inhale, Stretch to the side. Exhale, Look to the back. Left shoulder down. Inhale, Up. Exhale, Squeeze. One more time. Inhale, Up and stretch. Exhale, Squeeze. Stretch to the side. Stretch one more time, All over to the front and lift your arms up. Exhale, Hands behind you. We are going to lift the knees now. Feet on the mat, Hands behind you, Fingers pointing front. Keep your feet little bit wider than your knees and we are going to drop the knees side to side. So we are adding a really nice movement for the hips. Feel free to keep your feet even wider so your knees have space to drop down. So here we are focusing on this inner and outer rotation of the hips and we are going to add a little twist as well, Landing now with your right leg in front. Both knees are 90-90 bent. Inhale, Arms up. Exhale, Right hand behind, Twisting behind your right shoulder. Inhale, Stay. Exhale, Twist. Inhale, Arms up. Twist behind the left shoulder now and let go. Now landing with your left leg in front, 90-90 bent. Remember, Adjust the hip, The knee in the same line and then the ankle and the knee. Inhale, Arms up. Exhale, Twist behind the left. So left hand just behind you. Remember not to collapse, Keeping yourself in the center. Exhale, Twist. Inhale, Stay. Exhale, Twist. Inhale, Arms up. Exhale, Twist behind the right shoulder. One more breath here and back to center. Lovely. Both knees up now. Bring your feet now hip distance apart, Hands still behind you. Inhale, Press through your feet and your hands to lift the hips off the mat. Beautiful stretch for the chest, For the shoulders. Exhale down. One more time like this, Lifting up. Open, Stay here. Exhale, Release. Let go of your hands now. Give them a little stretch to your wrists, To your hands. Let's lift arms up. Let's go for another twist. Now right hand behind you, Left elbow towards your right knee. Inhale, Straighten. Exhale, Twist behind. Help yourself pressing towards the knee and twisting a little bit more. Inhale, Arms up. Exhale, Change the side. All the twists are so amazing for the spine. The spine loves to move in so many different directions. And come back to center. Alright, Keeping your hands underneath your knees now, Engage your core, Belly button to the spine, Lowering slowly down. Lower down until your whole spine is on the mat, Keeping the knees bent. Inhale, Using your core, Rolling your spine up. Reach your arms in between your legs. So open your wider to make some space for your upper body. And again, On the exhale, We are rolling down, Engaging the core. The strength of the core is really important when it comes to your back. Very often lower back pain is connected to not having a strong core. Okay, Let's do it two more times. Rolling forward, Make some space and reach front. And lower down with control, Feeling vertebrae by vertebrae of your spine. One more time, Squeeze your belly, Use your strength and go forward and reach. And now we're going to lift the arms up and hands behind. Alright, Let's change on hands and knees. Rest the tops of your feet and let's move in a cat and cow motion. So inhale when you arch the back and look up. Exhale when you roll the back, Press the earth to the ground. Inhale up. Again, If this breathing pattern feels unnatural to you, Of course you can change it. You can exhale when you look up. And inhale when you go down. Depends on you. Listen to your body, Listen to your breath. And back to center. This movement is really great for the spine because we are moving the spine in the opposite direction. We're exercising its strength and flexibility. Alright, Tuck your toes now and let's lift up on to downward dog. We are lengthening the spine here. Feel it nice and long. Walk on the spot and stretch your legs as well. Stretching your hamstrings, Stretching your glutes and your calves. Let's nod the head a few times. Move it yes and no. Again yes, Always ending on a positive. And lower down on hands and knees. Okay, We're going to reach the right leg all the way to the back. And then bend the knee towards your hip and let's do a big circle. Three big circles to one direction and then change direction. Again we need to engage the core here so our upper body is not moving too much. Stretch it one more time to the back. Exhale and bring the leg to a low lunge. So lower the hips, Hands down and keeping the right knee open here. Okay, Holding here. If you want you can press your right hand to your knee to open this knee just a little bit more. Staying here and the right arm goes up. Holding here and open. We're going to reach the arm to the front. On the exhale we will bend the elbow and again squeeze but the lower body is twisting a little bit. So it's like you want to turn to see what's behind you and your right leg instead of facing down to the mat is moving a little bit to the side. So your knees to the side, Your toes are to the side. It should come pretty naturally as your body is opening here. So inhale reaching the arm front, Exhale bend the elbow and twist. Inhale front, Exhale twist. My bones are clicking today but it's actually pretty normal. And twist. One more time stretch front, Exhale twist. Holding here, Squeeze and stretch this arm all the way to the back and lower. Now we're going to lower the left glute. We're going to place the right foot just in front of the left thigh. So adjust your body here, Left leg extended, Right leg on top. Inhale here and exhale. If you want you can lower on your forearms. And this is a really amazing stretch for the side body, For the glute. Let's stay here just for three deep breaths and slowly lift yourself up on your hands. Turn your body forward. So move yourself back to this low lunge. Inhale look front and exhale step to hands and knees. Let's do a little flow in between. So lower on your belly, On your chest and chin. Hands close to your chest, Elbows back and toes pointed. Inhale press your hands open to a gentle cobra. Exhale lower down. One more time. Inhale press and lift. Let's drop the left hip down, Look behind your right shoulder. Inhale back to center, Drop the right hip down, Look behind the left and back to center. On the exhale let's move to downward dog. Stay here, Three deep breaths, Feeling both of your legs. And we're going to slowly lower down and let's do the other side. So left leg all the way to the back, Keep it straight. Open the knee, Bend the knee and let's do three big circles. Fast to one direction. Really try to lift this knee, Engaging the core and then three times to the other direction. If you're struggling with lower back pain working on hips flexibility and mobility is really important. I've got lots of classes here for that. Inhale leg back and bend the knee, Move it all the way front to a low lunge. Staying here, Press your left hand to the inside of the knee to open a little bit more and try to keep your spine straight here. If you're rolling too much maybe use a block to help you lift up and align. And we are going to lift the left arm now to this twist, Look up and open. Then we're going to stretch it to the front and on the exhale we bend the knee when the right hip is dropping down to the earth. Inhale we stretch front, Exhale we turn and twist. Inhale front, Exhale twist. Let's do two more times and exhale twist, Twist, Twist. Stay here now and fully lower onto your right leg. Keeping right knee up now, I'm just going to turn. Okay, Right knee up, Left leg straight. There is a space here on the side where you can go. Inhale and exhale, Lower on your forearms. If this is not comfortable you can stay on your hands. Let's take your three deep breaths, Relax. And slowly lifting yourself up, Back on your hands and turning back. Stretch this leg in the low lunge. One more time, Inhale and exhale. Hands and knees. Let's do one more flow. Inhale look front, Exhale bend your elbows all lower here. Inhale we press up. Remember to engage the glutes, Shoulders away from the ears. Exhale lower. Let's do one more time like this. Inhale up, Maybe you want to go to an upward dog where your thighs are off the mat. And exhale we're going to release in child's pose with your knees wide open, Stretching your arms to the front. Relax here, Let go. Slowing down your breaths, Connecting back to the earth. Notice where you are here and now with your inner awareness. Comparing to the start of this practice. Notice how your back is feeling. And remind yourself again about this feeling of safety. Feeling safe physically about your body, Safe in your mind, Safe financially, Knowing that you always have enough, You always have what you need. The mind is very often creating so many problems, So much fear and so much anxiety. But most often this is completely unnecessary, Doesn't help with anything. So always come back to here and now. In this present moment I have all that I need. In this present moment I am enough. I am safe. And I am supported. Beautiful. Now if you want to stay here for longer, Feel free to. This is your practice. The longer you practice, The better. You can slowly start lifting up. Lifting yourself up, Let's stretch the arms around one more time. And exhale, Bring the hands to heart. I hope your back is feeling better. I hope your spine is feeling a little bit more mobile, More flexible. Thank you for that and I hope to see you again. Namaste.