yoga tips for a healthy spine
Channel: Happy Holistics
Date: 2017-08-31

My website:  www.happyholistics.ca
Fore! Yoga: www.foreyoga.ca

When we’re bending or twisting, we are taking the spine away from neutral.  You may have experienced it yourself, where doing either action abruptly has lead to injury - though the entire length of the spine is susceptible, you may notice that it almost always hits you in the same spot or spots.  These are the same spots you need to bring your awareness to, in order to prevent future injuries. 

Many classes begin with sun salutations and in the first couple of forward bends, I ask people to bend their knees so deeply that their bellies are touching their thighs and their hands are supported - either some blocks or on the floor.  

Straightening your legs in this pose engages the hamstring muscles at the backs of your thighs but when we’re tighter at the beginning of each practice and we’re straining to - i dunno, to hug ourselves or something - the pelvis starts to tilt, which tugs at our lower back muscles.  When muscles aren’t sufficiently warmed up and you’re straining into a pose, it can lead to over-stretching and injury - in this  case, the hamstrings and lower back muscles.  So, do yourself a favour and keep the knees bent for the first couple of sun salutes - as your body becomes more mobile, then gradually work your legs toward straight.

When guiding students through these motions, I remind everyone to always think in terms of long, smooth lines from the base of the spine all the way to the crown of the head. 

The most obvious way to see this is when we’re doing forward bends or backbends, the head is holding itself up to protect the cervical spine.  You’re not tilting the head back to try and look at the teacher and we’re also making sure it’s not just dropping down.  The neck is in its safest place when it’s in the same line as the rest of the spine - so take a slight tuck of the chin and keep the neck long.  

When there’s an abrupt change in the curvature of the spine, it can put unbalanced pressure on specific contact points of your back body, which can therefore put that particular section at risk for injury.  For example, as I drop my head here, I can feel pulling and straining sensations in my neck, simply from how the weight transferred.  As I lift my gaze, there’s also an interruption in the bend and I can feel my breath moving less freely.  Find a middle ground where the neck is comfortable.

Same rules apply with back-bending.  To distribute the force evenly through the length of your spine, you’d have engagement of your abdominal muscles to prevent your lower spine from over arching.  At the same time, you want to encourage more of the backbend to happen in the upper, thoracic spine by taking your shoulders back and widening your collarbone.  The idea is to support the flexible lower spine with muscle tone and to find openness through the tighter, upper areas of the spine to create a balanced backbend.

In terms of side bending and lateral movements, we want to make sure we’re not crunching or  collapsing on the inner edge of the torso.  The goal isn’t to see how low we can go, but simply bending to the sides.  Collapse = squishing and compacting the space and you may even notice the breath doesn’t move as freely as it could.  

I like to instruct taking your elbow into the ribs.  Reach up with the opposite hand to elongate on an inhale and as you exhale, fold towards the bent elbow.  By beginning your side bend this way, the elbow positioning will really help prevent you from collapsing downwards.

With respect to twists, a lot of the times, I see the actions concentrated in two areas: the lower belly and then cranking the neck - here, my chest is more or less facing forward as my eyes try to look backwards in space.  Ideally you want to distribute the force of your twist evenly throughout the length of your spine.  First grow tall.  Then the action starts in your lower belly, but there’s also a spinning of your chest more open, towards the side wall.  The last part to engage is the neck and your gaze will follow. 

And, finally, pay attention to headspace alignment.  The tendency is to adopt a forward head posture, likely due to our love of cell phones and computers.  This puts extra force on the supporting muscles and you might notice tension creeping into the neck and shoulders.

Stack the ears above your shoulders to protect the cervical spine in yoga class and in your day to day life.