Best Yoga Poses to Soothe Back Pain

These yoga poses for back pain provide traction for your spinal muscles as you root through the hips and let a gentle pull or gravity make space between the spinal bones. You’ll walk taller and enjoy a body that’s no longer stopping you, but rather serving you to live, move and play to the fullest.

Multiple studies have shown the power of the ancient practice, which emphasizes stretching, strength, and flexibility, to relieve back soreness. In fact, several studies have found that yoga can even trump usual care for back pain when it comes to improving back function.

Pigeon

This is the best yoga for back pain. From all-fours, bring your right knee behind your right wrist with your lower leg at a diagonal toward your left hip. Square off your hips toward the ground. Bend forward. Widen the elbows and place one hand on top of the other as a pillow for your forehead. Hold 2-3 minutes and then switch to the left side for 2-3 minutes.

Bound Ankle Pose

This pose requires that you bind your ankles—and by doing so you’ll unbind your hips. Bring the soles of your feet together, pulling the heels close to your groin, bending the knees, and butterfly flare the legs open. If you notice your knees are set too high to relax, simply place a blanket right under the sit bones to prop the hips up. You can also take the feet out further from the pelvic cavity to create a diamond shape with the legs. Keeping your spine straight, lead with the chest, pull your shoulders back, and fold toward your feet. This pose will open and relax the inner thighs and groin.

Spinal Twist

You have many options when it comes to twisting postures. One of the basic and effective ones is Marichyasana C. Keep your left leg straight and bend your right leg so your foot is flat. Place your right hand on the floor behind you for support, like a tripod, and twist so you can hook your left elbow over the right thigh. If this is too much, you can also grab hold of your right knee and twist to look over your right shoulder. Other options are to bend the left leg under you or bend both legs and let them fall to the side then twist in whichever way your knees are facing.

Wall Plank

Stand in front of a wall at arm’s length. Reach forward from your shoulders and plant your palms on the wall, fingers wide, middle fingers pointing straight at the ceiling. Firm your fingers into the wall and draw your navel back as you lengthen the tailbone towards the floor. Lift your ribs from the pelvis. You want to work with a natural lower back curve but an active belly. As you lift the navel and lower ribs into the body, reach long through the tailbone and legs into the floor while reaching the spine, arms and head towards the wall. Repeat for 10-20 breaths, then fold into Fists Forward Fold once again. Move to the next pose after a few breaths.

Cow Face Pose

Begin by threading the left leg under your right leg. Work toward stacking the knees, while keeping both sit bones on the ground. Tuck the toes in to protect the knees. Sit in the pose for several minutes. When the muscles start to loosen and you no longer feel a stretch, fold forward with a straight spine. If this stretch is too intense, you can situate both sit bones on a blanket and place a block or blanket between the knees.

Downward Dog

There’s a reason Down Dog is one of the most iconic postures in yoga. It can rejuvenate your entire body. Start in tabletop and raise your hips so your body is in an upside down V position. Relax your head and neck and draw your inner thighs toward the back of the room. Spreading your shoulder blades apart will stretch your upper back even more, and reaching your hips up and back will help to open your lower back.

Child’s Pose

Roll over and take Child’s Pose for one minute or more. Try knees wide, big toes closer, but end with knees together for a neutral spinal stretch. If your head doesn’t touch the floor, place a yoga block or fists under your forehead so you can relax completely. Breathe slowly into your back body, expanding more nourishing energy and space on the inhale, and on the exhales, let ever more tension dissolve.

Infra-Sec

The 26 Bikram Yoga Postures

Bikram Yoga is named after its founder - Bikram Choudhury, who studied Yoga with Bishnu Ghosh, brother of Paramahansa Yogananda. It's a series of 26 poses performed inside a room with temperature of 105 degrees. Each Yoga Pose is usually performed twice and held for any certain period of time. Yoga Sessions begin with Standing Postures, then the Backbends, Forward Bends, and Twists. The poses are combined with Kapalabhati Breath or the "blowing in firm".

It has been established and experienced by millions that these 26 postures systematically work every aspect of the body, to give all the organs, all the veins, all the ligaments, and all sorts of muscles everything they need to maintain optimum health and maximum function. Each component takes care of something different within the body, and yet they all work together synergistically, adding to the success of every other one, and extending its benefits.

Standing Deep Breathing

Due to sedentary habits, most people use only 10 % of their lungs, never allowing the lungs too get to the maximum expansion capacity. Standing Deep Breathing teaches you to employ the other ninety percent of your lungs. This exercise ought to be done before any kind of physical activity. Because it expands the lungs for their full capacity, it increases circulation towards the whole body, waking everything up and preparing the muscles for doing things.

Hands To Feet Pose

Increases the flexibility from the spine and the sciatic nerves as well as most of the tendons and ligaments from the legs, and strengthens the biceps of thighs and calves. Additionally, it greatly improves blood circulation in the legs and also to the brain, and strengthens the rectus abdominus, gluteus maximus, oblique, deltoid, and trapezius muscles.


Triangle Pose

The only posture on the planet that improves every muscle, joint, tendon and internal organ within the body. At the same time, it revitalizes nerves, veins, and tissues. This is actually the most important yoga pose to increase the strength and flexibility from the hip joint and of the muscles from the side of the torso. Additionally, it firms upper thighs and hips, slims the waistline, and improves the deltoid, trapezius, scapula, and latissimus muscles.


Awkward Pose

Strengthens and corporations all muscles of thighs, calves, and hips, and makes hip joints flexible. Additionally, it firms the upper arms. It increases blood circulation within the knees and ankle joints and relieves rheumatism, arthritis, and gout within the legs, and helps to cure slipped disc and lumbago within the lower spine.

Eagle Pose

Supplies fresh blood towards the reproductive organs and the kidneys, increasing sexual power and control. It will help firm calves, thighs, hips, abdomen, and arms. It also improves the flexibility of the hip, knee, and ankle joints and strengthens the latissimus dorsi, trapezius, and deltoid muscles.

Half Moon Pose

Gives quick energy and vitality; improves and strengthens every muscle within the central part of the body, especially in the abdomen; increases the flexibility from the spine; corrects bad posture; promotes proper kidney function; helping to cure enlargement of the liver and spleen, dyspepsia, and constipation. It increases the flexibility and strength from the rectus abdominus, latissmus dorsi, oblique, deltoid and trapezius muscles.

Standing Visit Knee Pose

Helps develop concentration, patience, and determination. Physically, it tightens abdominal and thigh muscles, improves flexibility from the sciatic nerves, and strengthens the tendons, biceps from the thigh muscles, and hamstrings within the legs, in addition to the deltoid, trapezius, latissimus dorsi, scapula, biceps, and triceps.

Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose

Cures and prevents sciatica by stretching and strengthening the sciatic nerves and also the tendons of the legs. It will help the functioning of most from the internal abdominal organs, especially the little and large intestine, and improves muscle tone and flexibility of thighs and calves and also the flexibility of the pelvis, ankles, and hip joints, as well as the last five vertebrae from the spine. Read more for all Bikram yoga poses....