Cultivating Healthy Posture with a Simple Restorative Pose Rerun

by Timothy

Poor posture is a common problem that people of any age can have but it is one that tends to worsen over time. Particularly common is the rounding of the upper back into a C-shaped curve, aka Slumpasana. People often hold their heads several inches forward of the body’s plumb line, which can lead to neck and upper back discomfort, among other problems. I’m just back from teaching workshops on therapeutic yoga at Kripalu and the Himalayan Institute and several of the people I worked with—some despite years of yoga practice—still had this postural habit. So I thought today I’d share with you a simple technique that in a number of cases has proved helpful for improving posture.

You might not think poor posture would be a factor is serious health problems, and we certainly weren’t taught much about it in medical school. But if you read medical textbooks and search out relevant studies, you will see that poor posture can contribute such problems as carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoporotic fractures, and even heart disease and depression. From a yogic perspective, this combination of slumping posture and the less-than-ideal breathing that accompanies it is also believed to contribute to anxiety, insomnia, digestive difficulties, etc.

When your back rounds, your lower ribs compress the top of the abdomen so it’s not possible to fully move your diaphragm, the major muscle of breathing, and take a full breath. As a result, people take shallow breaths, primarily bringing air into the upper parts of the lungs. Such a breathing pattern is not as efficient in bringing oxygen into the body, and more importantly for many health concerns, is agitating to the nervous system. I won’t go into the physiology here, but suffice it to say that I have repeatedly seen that improving your posture in a way that allows you to take slower, deeper breaths can lead to an improvement in overall health and well-being.

When you’ve had a long-term habit of slouching, however, it may not just be as simple as remembering to sit up straight or to pull you shoulders back when standing. Long-term slouching leads to shortening of muscles in the front of the upper body, as well as of the fascia, the connective tissue that surrounds and interpenetrates the muscles, and which can limit movement. It’s said that longer holds of poses are necessary to help lengthen the fascia, and while people differ on what the ideal holding time is, I believe staying in a pose for a few minutes may be ideal. That’s hard to do in most regular asana, particularly the backbends, which open up the back. The pose described below is a supported backbend, which like a regular backbend helps correct the postural problem, but because it’s restorative, it’s easy to stay long enough to have the desired effect on the fascia.

To do the pose, you’ll need one blanket and something to place under your head. Take a standard folded yoga blanket and unfold it once, so that you’ve got a long rectangle. Roll the blanket from the longer edge into a thin cylinder. Place the cylinder sideways on your mat a couple of feet from the head of the mat, sit in front of the blanket, and lie back so that rounded edge comes to your mid-thoracic spine.

Thoracic Spine, the portion of your spine to which your ribs attach—
between your cervical spine (neck) and lumbar spine

You can play with the placement, maybe a little higher or lower to get the region of your upper back that seems the most stubborn. Most people, particularly those who tend to slouch, need a pillow or folded blanket under the back of their heads, so that the chin can be more or less at the level of the forehead or slightly lower.

This photo uses a bolster in place of a rolled blanket, but you get the idea...

Once you’ve got your props in place, come to a supine Mountain pose with your back on the blanket roll, your head on the head support, and the tops of your shoulders on floor between the head support and the blanket roll. Now, take your arms out to your sides in a T-position, externally rotating your upper arms so your palms face the ceiling, which will help counteract the tendency of most slouchers to internally rotate them. Engage your leg muscles and lightly flex your feet. After  you’ve established your alignment, let go of all effort and lie back into this restorative backbend and let the blanket do all the work. Your only job is to remain mindful, trying to breathe slowly and deeply for the next several minutes. Titrate the time you stay to your comfort levels and schedule. For most people, I’d recommend starting with a minute or so then working up to 5-15 minutes a day. The longer you hold it (as long as you remain comfortable), and the more regularly you do it, the better the results!

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Yoga for Every Body An Interview with Janet Wieneke Rerun

by Nina

September Photo from 
the Yoga for the Larger Woman Calendar

“Around the same time, the thought hit me that I had been dragging this body around for all these past 50 years instead of really living in it. It came to me that I had not claimed this body, not moved into this body. I was renting it, but I didn’t live there. I didn’t want to live there—in the “undesirable” section of town.
 
“That began to change though when I realized no amount of wishing, bargaining or promising will change the fact that this is my body and that it benefits me greatly to “step up” and partner with my abilities, instead of wishing that things were different.” — Janet W

I was so moved by this quote from Janet Wieneke from the Yoga for the Larger Woman Calendar that Baxter mentioned in his post Healthy Eating and the Digestive System that I decided I just had to interview her. For I believe it’s so important for everyone to understand that anyone, of any age or body type—small or large, flexible or stiff, strong or weak—can not only do yoga, but will all benefit tremendously from it. Now, let's hear what Janet has to say!

Nina: What was your life like—and your relationship with your body—before you started doing yoga?

Janet: For the first 40 years or so of my life I didn’t think too much about my body. In fact I made an effort to avoid seeing or connecting with it. I had a lot of aches and pains but figured it was my own fault for being so fat for so long. I did get some exercise—I did Volkswalks for a while, did jazzercise for a few years, swam laps at the local pool and even joined a gym a few times. None of it was something I was really enthused about but did it because I knew I needed to keep moving.

My diet then was probably better than people would assume. I usually tried to “shop around the edges” at the supermarket and visit farmers’ markets and avoid heavily processed foods. I had a few food sensitivities at that time (citrus primarily, whole wheat) but nothing to difficult to deal with.

Then, in my early 40’s I started having more GI problems. I tried all sorts of OTC drugs to deal with the pain/gas and nausea but nothing really made it better. I had my gall bladder removed as that was assumed to be the problem. After that things got worse and my diet options narrowed considerably. I spent a couple of years trying to force my body to accept and process what I wanted to eat. My body fought back by upping the intensity and frequency of the gut “attacks.” It was a continual battle. It got to the point that I realized if this was going to be the rest of my life, it didn’t want it.

Nina: How did you get started with yoga, and how did it change you?

Janet: I got started in yoga when I realized I really didn’t have an exercise plan that I wanted to do. There were lots of things I could or should do, and I did, on occasion. I enjoyed taking the occasional class through our local community college, and one day when I was leafing through the booklet I saw “Yoga for the Larger Woman” advertised. I thought, “Wow, I’d have half a chance!” I was in a book group that met at the same time though, so I just shelved the idea away. The next term I looked again to see if perhaps they had changed the time. They hadn’t. I decided to back out of the book group and give yoga a try. I really didn’t think I’d like it that much as I’ve never been very flexible.

The first few times were a struggle. I was so ashamed of bending over in front of others, exposing my extra-large ass to the masses. I cringed inwardly anytime it was suggested.  Then Vilma started doing the “Sellwood salute,” which is basically Downward Dog at the bar, where we would envision “beauuutiful tail feathers” that we would proudly display in a waving motion. It cracked me up every time. Gradually as I quit forming opinions of myself that I could fob off onto other people, I looked around and noticed I didn’t stand out so much in class. Sure most of the women were smaller than me but a few were larger, and—big picture—it really didn’t matter. Within a few months I noticed I was having far less back pain and even my gut “attacks” were less frequent.  I started to really pay attention and noticed other things, like how great a stretch felt from the inside out or which muscles activated when I raised my leg. I started to consider my body and excess flesh with more awareness and less judgment. During this time I was also doing some counseling and the two modalities together brought to light how I was “caring” for myself, and I began to question if what I was doing was actually working for me or if I was just existing on habitual thoughts and habits.

Eventually I realized the more time I spent on my matt, the more attached I felt to this body, in a positive way. I started to care about what I was eating and was more willing to accept the responsibility of my actions. This last year I began seeing a naturopath who put me on a regime of nutritional supplements and I continue to feel better. Today I still struggle with eating what my body needs/tolerates over what I want to eat, but I feel my yoga practice gives me support in making better choices.

Nina: A couple of our readers wanted me to ask if you’d seen any improvements in your balance and flexibility.

Janet: I have noticed a slight improvement in flexibility, nothing dramatic—my nose will never meet my knee cap. But after the first year of yoga though I headed out to do a good spring clean up in the yard and reached down for something and literally smashed my fingers on the ground. I remember how surprised I was as the year before that never would have happened! My balance may be slightly better as well. I’m certainly more confident on my feet but whether that is a balance thing or just general alignment I can’t say for certain.

Nina: Is there anything else you'd like to tell our readers?

Janet: I’ve always been more of a thinking person than a feeling person. Now after having a fairly regular practice for a few years, it’s almost as if a third way of being has come into play. It is more of an intuitive way of being. It’s something I cannot fully explain with words or isolate within my body. It’s almost a middle ground—a balance? When I can operate from this level, my stress level decreases, I make better choices from everything between what I eat to how I show up for others and it is far easier to live in this body. I wish I had “discovered” yoga long ago.

The years I’ve spent wishing I looked different, acted different, was different—all a waste of time but apparently held the lesson/s I needed to learn. I never felt that yoga was available to me, a fat person. Yoga was the domain of the lithe and “enlightened.” While I think that is still the predominant thought, I KNOW yoga is available to anyone willing to let go of their “cerebral” inner voice and listen to the wisdom of their own body. It’s a tough sell, especially if you’re fat, but it is so worth the effort.

Janet Wieneke is a native Portlander, works in health care as a dosimetrist, and is the personal servant to two animals (one cat and one dog). Her favorite pastimes are fused glass, yoga, photography and being out in nature. She studies yoga with Vilma Zaleskaite at The Yoga Project in Portland, Oregon,  and she is “Miss September” in the Yoga for the Woman Calendar, which you can purchase here. 

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Featured Sequence Dynamic Reclined Hip Stretches Rerun

by Baxter

Last week I introduced some thoughts on low back pain and yoga (see here). As I mentioned, the majority of episodes of lower back pain are related to short-term issues of muscle strain or spasm, or other soft tissue and joint situations that usually resolve in six weeks or so. However, it is possible that a regular yoga practice or a special sequence directed at the lower back area can speed up that process and get you back on track a bit sooner. I have frequently observed that for students who come to class for the first time, acute low back strain often requires only a few sessions in my Back Care Yoga class before the student is well enough to return to or advance to a regular yoga class. In this setting, the variety of poses that may be helpful is a bit larger than with more serious lower back injuries or conditions. For example, you can be a bit more comfortable with some twisting and forward bending poses, which often have to be modified in the other situation.

This week I would like to give you a very brief sequence of poses to try when addressing low back pain. 

My intention is to add to this sequence over the next few weeks. I have found that it is better to start with shorter practices and advance as you are ready. 

The Reclined Hip Stretches sequence allows you to gently release tension around your hip joint and hamstrings, which may help relieve lower back pain. This sequence is a good general warm-up you can do at the beginning of any asana practice. It takes your hip joint through most of its range of motion, so it could be helpful for conditions from mild joint stiffness to arthritis. It is also a great way to begin stretching your hamstrings, and because your arms move up and overhead at the start of the sequence, it can help loosen up tight shoulder joints. 

Caution: If you have significant lower back problems, make sure to take your knee across your mid-line slowly and keep it on the easy side for a while. Allow your lower back and pelvis to stay flat on the floor.

1. Start by lying on your back, with your legs straight. You can set yourself up near a wall, so your feet can press into the wall. 

2. Inhale and raise your arms overhead and back toward the floor.

3. Then exhale and bend your right knee to your chest, bringing your hands to meet the knee. 

4. Inhale, and gently guide your right knee toward the right using your right hand. 

5. Exhale, and guide your knee back to center, then, changing to your left hand, guide your knee 6-12 inches over to the left.

6. Inhale, and guide your knee back to center. Then exhale, and holding onto the back of your leg, straighten your leg toward the ceiling as much as you can. 

7. Inhale, bend your knee, release your foot to the floor, and straighten your leg along the ground.

Repeat the entire sequence on your left side. After that, if you wish, you can repeat the sequence on both sides a few more times.

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