Low Back Pain Relieving Sequence
Child's Pose (Balasana) — 1 to 3 minutes
Child's Pose takes the pressure off your lower back by elongating and aligning the spine, which decompresses it and gives you a nice stretch.
Kneel on your mat with your knees hip width apart or wider and your big toes touching behind you. Take a deep breath in, and as you exhale, lay your torso between your thighs, walking your hands toward the top of your mat.
Press your tailbone towards your heels.
Rest your forehead on the ground, with your arms extended out in front of you.
Hold for one to three minutes.
Cow-Cat Pose (Chakravakasana) – 4 to 8 cycles
Cat cow is a highly effective yoga pose for back pain. The slow, controlled movement brings activation to each segment of the spine to improve mobility.
Begin on your hands and knees. Exhale as you round your back, pull the belly button toward your spine and tuck your chin toward your chest.
Starting at the tailbone, release one segment of your spine at a time, relaxing through the lumbar spine, thoracic spine (mid-back) and finally, your cervical spine as you lift your chin upward into full flexion. Then reverse the motion. Be aware of what segments feel stuck. Breathe into these spaces and remember to move slowly.
Beginners’ Tips
Don't Strain Your Neck. When you lift your gaze to the ceiling, do so with control and don't overextend your neck. When you go into Cat, let your head drop naturally rather than forcing it down. Also, be sure to keep your shoulders relaxed and not drawn up toward your ears.
Transition to Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) – 5 or more breaths
Have your hands shoulder-distance apart, creases of the wrists parallel to the front edge of the mat, index fingers at 12 o’clock. As you press down with your hands, try to lift your forearms away from the ground.
With your feet hip-distance apart, toes tucked under, pull in on your core and lift your knees 2 or 3 inches off the mat. Hold as long as you like for core strengthening.
On an exhalation, press your hips back and up. Glance at your feet to make sure they are parallel. Keep your knees bent at first as you find length in your spine.
Slide your shoulder blades down along the spine, collar bones spread. The base of the neck relaxed.
Maintaining length in the spine, ‘walk your dog’ by alternately bending and straightening your legs, one then the other, eventually bringing both heels towards the floor. They do not have to touch the floor.
Stay for 5 breaths.
Beginners’ Tips
It’s more important to keep length in the spine than straight legs. So if you find you are rounding in your back or you are hunching your shoulders it’s fine to keep the knees bent as much as you need to.
Keep ‘walking your dog’ as long as you need to, before coming into the full expression of the pose.
To come out of the pose, take one cycle of breath to wave the spine up and forward, core tight, and bring your knees back down to the floor.
Reverse the sequence, back through Cow-Cat for a few rounds of breath, then widen your knees and press back into Child’s Pose.