Yoga For Back Pain - 30 Minute Back Pain, & Sciatica Relief For Beginners

hi I'm Jen Hilman and today I'd like to share with you some simple beginner stretches to help relieve low back and sciatic pain so if you would like to join me go ahead and make a space and we're going to begin from a comfortable seated position you can sit cross-legged comfortably here we're just going to do a little bit of movement to start to warm up your spine and start to loosen up your hips and get the blood flowing so if you'd like to go ahead and leave me a thumbs up here on this video favorite it it'll be easy for you to come back and follow along with me in the future so you can help reduce your back pain and relieve your sciatic pain as well so once you have a comfortable seat we'll begin with a little stretch for your spine so you're going to reach your chest forward move your shoulder blades together on your back and even lift your gaze to stretch the front of your body and as you exhale begin to round your spine tuck your chin to your chest and rock back on your hips you can even use your hands to pull pull back on your knees so you can really get a deep stretch along your spine we'll come forward again open through your chest lift your gaze really squeeze your shoulder blades towards your spine then round your back Rock back on your sacrum stretch your spine then again coming forward so once you start to get the flow of this movement you can link the movement with your breath and so on your inhale you reach forward and on your exhale you rock back so we'll just do this a couple more times move to the Rhythm and the pace of your own breath there's no rest there's no right way or wrong way we're just starting to move and loosen up your spine so for those of you that are dealing with a lot of low back pain this stretch is going to be really great for you to start to loosen up those [Music] muscles so just moving nice and slow and when you're ready we'll come back to neutral sitting up nice and Tall so now we're going to take a Twist reach your left hand across to your right knee and bring bring your right fingertips behind you lift up really tall in your spine sit up nice and straight and then start to twist to the right you can use your left hand to give you leverage to help you twist even further but remember to keep sitting up tall this will allow you to create more space in your spine so you can twist just a little bit deeper [Music] and then we'll slowly make your way back to the center and twist the other way so reach your right hand across to your left knee and your left fingertips behind you sit up really straight and tall and then twist to your left sometimes you may notice a little popping or cracking and the joints in your spine or in your hips this is pretty normal it can happen to anyone it's not a bad sign or a good sign it's just loosening up tension and creating a little more space and we'll slowly come back to Center and from here just walk your fingertips forward going to slowly start to fold over your legs just go as far as you can you'll notice starting to feel some sensation in your outer hips this is going to be the main target area if you're dealing with sciatic pain so a lot of times the sciatica that you're dealing with the pain in your hips and in your legs is actually a result of tension in your hips so the muscles around your sciatic nerve nerve are tight and compressing on the nerve and that's what causes that pain and it shoots all the way down your leg sometimes so by reaching your body forward folding over your legs you're going to start to stretch and open up the tension in your hips this is going to do a lot to relieve your sciatic pain and walk your hands back towards your body coming all the way up and just gently change the cross of your leg leg so you'll bring the opposite leg in front and then walk your hands forward again and you'll notice how it feels a little different from one side to the other and wherever you are wherever you're feeling that sensation just take some nice deep breaths here your breath is your friend so when we start to feel tightness or tension the natural reaction is to want to hold your breath breath that it's going to be far more beneficial if you can take some deep slow mindful breaths this will help to relieve the tension instead of creating more then we'll slowly come all the way back up now we'll change positions here just by bringing the soles of your feet together you want to open your knees out wide and pull your heels in as close as you can to your torso so it'll be different for everyone but just find your own personal Edge once you found your seat lift up through your spine see if you can grow really tall so we don't want to be hunched and rounded if you're hunching over you might try sitting on a pillow or on a cushion to lift your hips up a little higher and that can help so you can grow tall in your spine now with your hands on your ankles start to pull on your ankles and draw your chest forward your shoulder blades will move together on your spine and then again you can lift your gaze as you grow tall lifting up through your chest then slowly start to reach your heart forward and slowly fold over your legs you can walk your hands forward to give you added support and just come as far forward as you can find your own Edge and continue your deep breath and after you stay here for a moment it may become possible to move just a little bit deeper into your stretch so you can see if it's possible and start to fold just a little bit deeper notice how the stretch changes where do you feel it the [Music] most send your breath to that place and we'll slowly come all the way back up all right so from here we're going to start to stretch our hamstrings a little bit your hamstrings can be a major contributor to low back pain so we're going to stretch them out see if we can't reduce some of that pain start by extending just your right leg forward then you'll bring the sole of your left foot to the inside of your right [Music] thigh remember sit up nice and Tall really lift through your chest this will help you strengthen the muscles along your spine and help you build your core strength and we'll slowly start to walk your hands forward folding over your right leg so just go to your Edge it may be different for everyone no matter where you are just try and focus on stretching the back of your right hamstring you may find it helpful to grab onto your foot if you can't quite reach yet you can grab onto your ankle or your shin and that will help you have the leverage to keep pulling your chest forward you really want to get the stretch on your hamstring that's our main target [Music] area and we'll make our way back [Music] up and this time we can change legs so bring your right foot back in and your left leg straight out in front of you so bring the sole of your right foot to the inside of your left leg and sit up nice and Tall so you should feel the muscles along your spine starting to strengthen that's the good sign that's what we're working towards okay then you'll reach your heart forward walk your fingertips forward and start to fold over your left leg now for me my left leg is a lot tighter than my right leg so I have to breathe even deeper and be patient and allow the muscles to soften at their own pace so don't be surprised if it's different from one side to the other we rarely are symmetrical we carry tension in different places in our body all over the place so yoga is the practice of discovering yourself so whatever you notice accept it as is and we slowly begin to work Beyond those [Music] boundaries and as you're ready you can begin to come back up all right from here extend both legs forward we're going to start to fold over both legs it may seem kind of intense but we'll go slow there's no rush slowly start walking your hands forward reach through your chest and let yourself fold over your legs it may be helpful to have a pillow or a cushion underneath your knees if your hamstrings are very tight or you can just come up a little higher remember you can grab onto your feet or onto your ankles or shins if that helps you just use it as a tool to pull pull yourself forward and help you to get deeper into this [Music] [Music] stretch and then we'll come all the way back up so we're going to do another stretch that's great for your hips bend your knees bring the soles of your feet onto the floor you can lean back onto your hands a bit so you're in a pretty wide position here let's start with the right side so cross your right ankle over your left knee the idea is to keep your right knee as open as possible possible so you want it to move away from your shoulder now to really take this stretch deep into your hip bring your left heel closer into your body you could even scoot your hips a little closer to your heel then walk your fingertips in and sit up nice and Tall now you're in a much more narrow position position and you should be feeling a pretty intense stretch in the outside of your right hip this is where it's tight this is where we need the love so don't give up keep with your deep breaths and stay with the stretch if it's too intense just back out of it a little bit don't push yourself too hard this is the practice of learning how to honor your limitations find your own Edge and then we'll come out of the pose the same way we got in nice and easy so you can start by walking your hands back a little bit releasing the stretch and walk your foot forward and a gent and then gently release your right leg down and we'll switch to the other side so left ankle over your right knee and again you want to think about moving your left knee away from your shoulder so you have a nice open angle here once you're set up draw your right heel in and you can even scoot your hips forward a bit then walk your hands in and sit up nice and tall and so again you may notice on one side feels different than the other that's totally okay it's normal just remember to breathe and stay patient be gentle with your body and sometimes when you're stretching it can feel intense it can be uncomfortable but it's worth it to work through those Sensations because the end result is less pain and less tension in your body so it's worth it to take these few minutes to really stretch get into your body work into the areas that are tight and ultimately it's going to relieve your pain and help it feel better so we'll come back out nice and slow walk your hands back walk your foot forward you can adjust your hips and release your left left leg down now from here we're going to go ahead and lie all the way down onto your back all right so now that you are on your back we're going to do another great stretch for your hips we're going to keep on with this theme so bend your knees and bring the soles of your feet up to the ceiling and again cross your right ankle over your left knee same setup you want to press your right knee away from you then draw your left knee up towards your chest you can reach between your legs with your right hand and around your shin with your left hand and begin to pull your left knee in towards your chest remember to keep opening your right knee out to the side while you simultaneously pull your left knee closer to your chest this is a great stretch that really targets those glute muscles the pur foris those muscles that are tight and pinching on your sciatic nerve this is a great one that's going to relieve that [Music] pain [Music] then release your left leg down and draw your right knee in towards your chest really squeeze it nice and tight then go ahead and extend your left leg down to the ground now again we're going to Target your right hamstring remember tight hamstrings are a major player in contributing to low back pain so we're going to loosen up stretch out those hamstrings and relieve your low back pain so with your knee drawn into your chest you'll start to extend your right leg now chances are it probably won't go straight that's okay that's not the goal reach with your right hand to either grab your foot your ankle or maybe just behind your calf keep pulling your knee close as you slowly kick your heel away so the idea is that eventually one day your leg would be straight but as long as you're getting a stretch in your hamstring that's all we're really concerned about so you don't have to impress anyone with how straight your legs are it's more about your own process Can You Feel the stretch in your hamstrings if you can then you're doing it right and we'll release this stretch by simply bending your knee hug your knee in towards your chest again and now let's take a Twist slowly start to twist your right knee over to the left see if you can bring your knee all the way down to the floor your right shoulder might come away from the floor but that's okay just open your right arm out to the right side and this will help you get a little stretch across the right side of your [Music] chest you can even let your gaze roll over to the right side and take some deep breaths here as you twist in your [Music] spine and then we'll make our way back to Center rolling onto your back then let your right foot come down to the floor and from here you can cross your left ankle over your right knee open your left knee out to the side then pull your right knee up towards your chest reach between your knees to grab a hold of your shin and pull your right leg closer to your chest but remember to keep your left knee open to the side breathe into this stretch try not to hold your breath but let it be soft and fluid [Music] [Music] one more breath here take a full inhale and a full exhale and release your right foot down to the floor now hug your left knee in towards your chest really squeeze it in there and extend your right leg down to the floor now we're going to Target this left hamstring now so pull your knee nice and close to your chest while you start to extend your heel Towards the Sky remember it doesn't matter if your knee goes straight what matters is that you're getting that good stretch in your hamstrings that's what we're really focusing on so keep moving your knee close to your body as you slowly extend your heel Towards the Sky and then as you're ready to release bend your knee again pull your leg close and then we'll twist to the left so let your leg come across your body see if you can bring your left leg all the way to the floor then open your left arm out to the side take some deep breaths in this [Music] twist [Music] [Music] for and as you're ready you can begin to roll onto your back coming back to Center and release both legs all the way down to the floor let your palms rotate up towards the sky let your feet fall open to the sides as your hips and legs completely relax let your eyes softly close and release any tension in your [Laughter] jaw and just take a few moments here to let yourself completely [Music] relax it's so rare in our day-to-day living that we actually take time to stop the distractions to stop doing all the [Music] time but it's extremely important to our health and well-being to experience moments of [Music] Stillness so forget about your to-do list don't worry about all the things that you think you should be doing just focus on your breath focus on the sensations in your [Music] body just observe your experience [Music] [Music] here you're welcome to stay and enjoy this rest for as long as you have [Music] time and whenever you're ready to come out of it slowly roll over onto one side coming into a fetal position lying on one side then using your top arm press into the floor and press yourself all the way up to a comfortable seat you may be able to keep your eyes closed to stay in a meditative space and just sit for a moment and enjoy the residue of this practice I'd like to thank you so much for joining me today on yoga TX I hope that this video has been helpful for you if you're feeling better leave me your comments below it's great to hear feedback from you thanks for following along with me today I hope that you'll come back and practice again the more practice you can get the better your body is going to feel have a wonderful day namaste [Music]

Channel: YOGATX

Views: 967,330

Keywords: yoga for beginners, beginner yoga, beginners yoga, yoga for beginners weight loss, yoga for beginners at home, yoga for back pain, yoga, back pain relief, back pain yoga

Id: cTOwkQwRskE

Length: 31min 16sec (1876 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 06 2015