I have been reading a very interesting article in the Saturday edition of the Times (Weekend Body+ Soul October 11th) about back problems and how to deal with them and ‘beat the pain’.
The article states that almost 80% of us suffer from back pain at some point in our lives and back troubles definitely seem to be on the increase. It seems to be because of the life style we are leading.
Everyone is becoming more sedentary -spending so much time sitting hunched in front of a computer at work; driving everywhere rather than walking; spending hours on our devices.. and it’s frightening how little we are all moving or even standing!
Apart from getting bad backs and other aches and pains our posture is really suffering. We’re becoming hunched and out of alignment. We’re also becoming overweight through lack of exercise- which definitely doesn’t help.
The article gives lots of suggestions for dealing with back problems, but I am really pleased to see that yoga is mentioned as a good way of treating and preventing back troubles and in particular the Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs course which is a 12 week specialist yoga course proved to help.
I think that one of the reasons that Yoga is so helpful for backs and other aches and pains is that it really improves posture, helping people become more aware of how they stand, sit and move and any bad habits they may have got into, such as slumping or putting there weight on one leg more than the other-even having one shoulder higher than the other or standing with the chin lifted-the list is endless!
On a physical level Yoga works on strength and flexibility /mobility, minimising effort and relaxing muscles, but it also helps you breathe well and calms the mind, so you feel much more positive and uplifted. You’re relaxing tension, living in the moment and feeling less anxious and that definitely helps..
It’s amazing what a bit of healthy movement and awareness can do!
(PS: If you’re interested in finding out more about how yoga can help bad backs including information about the Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs course, please contact me):
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