Hi,
Welcome to this brief practice for your lower back.
Go ahead and get started by lying on your back.
Lie down flat and then bend your knees and start to pull them in toward your chest.
If this even feels a little bit aggravating on your lower back,
You might rest a pillow or block underneath your feet and your feet can just rest on that surface.
Just want the knees to be elevated here,
Which starts to round out and stretch the lower back and gently add some side to side rock.
Start to deepen your breath as well.
As you take big inhales,
Your rib cage lifts up away from your pelvis,
And that helps to stretch some of the deeper lower back muscles that connect your ribs and your hips.
And then drop your knees off to your left side so your right hip is on top of your left hip.
Stretch your right arm out long.
Beside you and you might even gaze toward your right hand to complete the twist in your neck.
As you take a few more deep breaths here,
See if you can allow your head to be heavy and your neck muscles to stay relaxed as you breathe.
Gently return your knees to center.
Rock and roll side to side a couple more times.
And then let your knees fall to your right.
Outstretch your left arm and gaze toward your left hand.
Come back to center.
One more time to rock side to side.
And then plant your left foot down,
Cross your right ankle over your left for figure four stretch.
You can stay right here if you feel enough of a stretch in your right glute.
If you need more,
Lift your left leg,
Hold somewhere on that left leg,
Behind your thigh or on top of your knee.
And I love to add a little bit of side to side movement in this position as well.
If at any time you feel like you need a little bit longer in one of these stretches,
Then feel free to pause the video and take as much time as you need.
Plant your left foot down,
Send your right leg up facing the ceiling and hold behind your hamstring.
So just circle your ankle.
And then reverse direction.
And then banjoony.
Straighten it up toward the ceiling.
Bend.
And straighten.
Your leg does not have to straighten completely.
So if you do feel any tingling or numbness or sharp pain as you straighten your leg,
You may be overstretching your sciatic nerve.
So just be gentle and stop right before you get to that sensation.
Pointing your toes instead of flexing will also help.
Last one and set your right foot down on the ground figure four on the other side cross your left ankle over your right thigh again you can stay right here or pull your knees closer to your chest for a deeper stretch,
And then feel free to add on any motion that feels comfortable,
Natural.
Allowing your body to.
.
.
Explore these poses in a way that fits your body and how you're feeling today.
Again,
Pause if needed if you would like to stay here longer.
Otherwise,
Set your right foot down on the ground.
Send your left foot up toward the ceiling and hold behind your leg.
Start to circle your ankle.
Take it in the other direction and then bend your knee.
Straighten it up toward the ceiling.
Bend.
And straighten.
Again,
Stopping before you reach any point of pain.
Tingling,
Numbness,
Which would indicate you're overstretching a nerve.
And go ahead and release your foot down to the ground.
Separate your feet so they're at least hip distance,
If not wider.
And let your knees fall to one side.
And then the other.
So a little less rotation through the spine than you had in your supine twist.
We're focusing more on just allowing the hips to rotate.
So both knees are falling to the left and then both knees are falling to the right.
And then come back to center.
Pick up your knees so they're now over your hips and your feet are facing the end of your mat.
Press your lower back down just a little bit.
If it doesn't make contact with the floor completely,
That's okay.
You just want to feel that your core muscles on the front of your abdomen are engaged to hold your legs up here.
And if this feels hard right here,
You can stay right here.
If you want a little bit more of a challenge,
Start to extend one leg at a time.
Push your right foot forward.
Then bring it back to the starting position.
Push your left foot forward.
Bring it back so the whole time as you keep alternating from side to side You should feel like your core muscles are pushing down toward the floor.
And your lower back is not lifting away from the ground excessively.
A little tiny bit of space between your lower back and the floor is just fine.
So it should feel like you're working here.
If it feels too easy,
Make sure your knees aren't coming close to your chest.
Keep them right above your hips.
We'll do about three more on each side.
Keep breathing throughout.
One more on each side.
And then with control,
Lower one,
Heel down,
And then the other.
Take a break to just breathe deeply.
And let it go completely.
All right,
Roll off to one side.
Come all the way up to a tabletop position onto your hands and knees.
Align your hands underneath your shoulders,
Knees underneath your hips,
Hip distance apart.
Inhale cow pose lower your belly gaze forward if there's any pain here reduce your range of motion Exhale,
Cat pose.
Round your back.
Let your chin roll into your chest.
And flow between inhale cow.
Exhale,
Cat.
Go at the pace of your own breath.
On your next inhale,
Come back to tabletop.
Tuck your toes under.
You might walk your hands forward.
Exhale,
Downward facing dog.
Push your hips up and back.
Allow your knees to be really bent here in your down dog.
This will allow you to focus more on lengthening out your spine.
Push into your hands.
Push your hips high away from the ground.
One more deep breath in.
And out.
Begin to walk your feet up toward your hands,
One gentle step at a time.
For ragdoll.
So feet at least hip distance,
Let your head hang.
Hands could touch the ground,
Grab behind your ankles,
Or hold opposite elbows.
Ragdoll is a great posture to add some movement side to side.
Play around with shifting your weight.
Breathe out,
Begin to release your hands down toward the floor.
You're gonna use your hands to walk up your legs to help yourself lift up,
Nice and slowly.
When you come to a standing position,
Roll your shoulders onto your back.
Bring your hands to your heart.
Just take a moment here to find yourself balanced between your right foot and your left you can take your stance out a little bit wider if that feels more steady on your inhale sweep your arms up high Exhale side bend to your right.
Bring your right hand down toward your side.
Slide it down your leg as you reach your left hand up and over.
Make sure as you're side bending that you are not leaning forward.
So think about broadening your chest.
Pulling your arms slightly behind your body.
One more breath out.
Inhale,
Reach up.
Exhale,
Side bend to the left.
Slide your left hand down,
Reach through your right arm.
Keep that right arm toward your back body.
Breathe out.
Inhale,
Reach up.
Exhale plant your hands on your lower back or your hip muscles or your hip bones rather inhale lift your chest Exhale,
Little back bend.
So only go so far as feels comfortable for you.
The focus here is on pushing your hips forward,
Lifting your chest.
One more breath out.
Inhale stand up reach your arms out wide and begin to twist from side to side so allowing your heels to lift so you pivot on your toes as you swing your arms side to side There's really no right or wrong here,
So let yourself just get into the motion.
Use the momentum of your arms to help bring your spine into a twist.
And then come back to center.
Step your feet out really wide now.
Bring your hands to your hips and begin to fold forward,
Wide-legged forward fold.
Push your hips back.
Let your head drop your hands can now rest on the ground or they can stay on your hips or grab a hold of your legs.
Allow your head to hang heavy so your neck muscles relax.
One more deep breath in.
Long breath out.
Begin to walk your hands.
Back up your legs to come up to a standing position.
Step your feet together.
Bring your hands to heart center.
Thank you for joining me today.
Namaste.
