Read Online Yoga for a Healthy Lower Back by Liz Owen - Free Book Online Page B

first, its subtle actions take concentrated effort to produce and hold. But as your inner strength develops, holding it becomes natural and almost instinctual. Incorporate Root Lock into the poses in this book and you’ll feel that it helps you carry the weight of your body. You can practice Root Lock together with Chin Lock to effectively stretch and align your spine from the bottom to the top. 4 After you’re finished practicing Root Lock, sit for a few moments and meditate on the great source of inner strength you have just created for yourself.
    Root Lock is contraindicated for such conditions as high blood pressure, vertigo, abdominal pain or inflammation, during the menstrual cycle, constipation, fever, and during late pregnancy.
    U NITING E AST AND W EST: THE H OLISTIC V IEW
    Let’s bring together East and West, spiritual and physical, with a simple breath exercise. This pranayama practice is meant to cultivate a healthy connection between your physical body and your energetic body, and it will optimize your frame of mind to engage with the yoga poses I’ll share to help you open your hips and tone their surrounding myofascia.
    Start by focusing your attention on your breath. Sit comfortably on a cushion on the floor. Your lower back should be comfortable. If it is painful when you sit on the floor, try supporting your back against a wall, or sit in a chair. Rest your hands on your thighs with your palms facing upward, and with the thumbs and index fingers of each hand joined together. This is Jnana mudra, Sanskrit for “the seal of knowledge.” According to certain schools of yogic philosophy, when you join your thumb and index fingers together, you unite your own individual energy with the energy of the cosmos, and you begin to understand your oneness with the cosmos and with every being within it. Close your eyes, and start to observe your inhalation and exhalation.
    For a few moments, just observe the flow of your breath without trying to alter or “fix” it in any way. Where does your inhalation go? Does it move all the way down into your hips and sacrum, or does it stop somewhere around your middle or lower lungs? Does your exhalation begin at your lower abdominal area and your hips, or does it start somewhere higher up, perhaps in your middle lungs or even your throat? Are both your inhalations and exhalations full, soft, and deep? Or is one stronger than the other?Taking the time to observe your everyday, unconscious breathing pattern is a step toward becoming a good friend to your breath, a friendship that will benefit you physically, mentally, and emotionally.
    Now inhale and consciously draw your breath all the way down into your hips. Let your lower abdominal area expand—this is an especially helpful, if initially challenging, exercise for anyone who has been taught to “suck it in” at the lower abdomen. You might feel a wonderfully expansive feeling of freedom in your lower abdomen when you allow yourself to fully let go. Envision your inhalation moving around into the sides and back of your hips so that your breath reaches, touches, and nourishes your entire pelvic girdle. Visualize your pelvis as a strong yet supple bowl that receives and circulates prana to your sacrum and throughout your hips. Let your exhalation follow the reverse path, moving softly and slowly upward from your hips through your abdomen, diaphragm, and lungs.
    Once you connect with the feeling of your breath moving all the way down to your hips, you can practice Dirgha Pranayama, or Three-Part Breath. The word dirgha means “long” in Sanskrit, which should give you a hint that this practice is all about elongating your breath, filling your body with prana as you breathe. To practice Three-Part Breath, sit comfortably and inhale into your hips and lower abdomen (part 1). Then lift your inhalation into your diaphragm (part 2), and finally lift it up into your chest (part 3). Your