Yoga advice from Christine Burke, Candace Morano and Anthony Benenati
A few simple techniques can make the difference between a sore back (or other body part) and a strong, healthy one.
CHRISTINE BURKE
Co-owner and director of Liberation Yoga, Los Angeles
Downward-facing dog: The body bends at the hips in an upside-down “V,” with arms straight, hands on the floor and heels pressing toward the floor. The head is aligned with the spine.
• Don’t: Drop or hang into the shoulders. People do this in an attempt to truly stretch, but it prevents the joints from stacking properly and puts stress on the shoulders, elbows and wrists.
• Do: Lift the shoulders and slide the arms forward a little, taking some of the pressure off the shoulders. Also, open the hands and press them into the floor. (Curling the fingers up will put the pressure right back into the wrist.)
Warrior I: The body is in a modified lunge position, with the front leg bent and the back leg straight. Arms are straight and parallel, reaching upward, palms together.
• Don’t: Push the knee too far over the ankle. When the knee goes too far forward, the knee joint is in a precarious position. This puts strain on the kneecap and the knee joint, possibly causing pain. It’s like building a structure — you don’t want to have boards on an angle, you want to have a square foundation.
• Do: Make sure the ankle is under the knee so that the leg is in a straight line perpendicular to the floor. To balance in this pose, push into the back leg. This is easier to do if the front knee is directly over the ankle. The back leg tends to get underused, and it can sometimes take you too far forward.
Warrior II: Legs are as in Warrior I, but the arms are outstretched at the sides, perpendicular to the sides of the body.
• Don’t: Let the shoulders rise toward the ears. The shoulders are a common place to hold tension, and people sometimes tend to let them move up when they’re tired. But holding the shoulders up can shorten the trapezius muscle (which extends from the base of the skull across the shoulders and down the back) and can cause a bit of spasming.
• Do: Concentrate on using the rhomboid muscles (back muscles that connect the shoulder blade with the spine) and the core to prevent the tension from riding up into the shoulders. This is a challenging posture and also an endurance posture. Because the core is at the center of the body, maintaining the right form is grounding — helping lift through the chest and promoting proper alignment of the spine.
Plank: Facing the floor, the body is elevated and supported by the feet and arms, with the arms straight, as if starting a push-up.
• Don’t: Lift your bum, especially if you’re not feeling that strong in the upper body. It puts extra pressure on the shoulders, elbows and the wrists. Most likely the shoulders will be ahead of the wrists, a position that doesn’t use energy efficiently and is unnecessarily exhausting.
• Do: Drop into a gentle diagonal from the shoulders to the heels. This employs the core muscles, taking pressure off the shoulders. It also stacks the elbows over the wrists and the shoulders over the elbows, so excess pressure isn’t on any of the joints. There’s an even dispersion of energy. Because the plank is often used to connect one pose to another, the proper form will make transitions easier, without unnecessary shifting.
Cobra: With the body lying on the floor, the legs are stretched back with thighs and feet touching the floor. Back is arched and chest is lifted, supported by the hands, which are underneath the shoulders.
• Don’t: Get the chest up too high. Some people tend to push their arms straight, thinking they’ll naturally assume a deeper and more advanced version of this pose. But this makes the shoulders start to move up toward the ears, putting strain on the shoulders.
• Do: Bend the elbows so that the back muscles are engaged. This is an upper back bend that’s meant to open the chest, heart and lungs — and sometimes being a bit lower makes that easier. Bending the elbows helps the shoulder blades knit toward each other, and the shoulders don’t have to go up toward the ears.
CANDACE MORANO
New York-based yoga instructor and educational kinesiologist
Seated pose with pranayama: Knees are bent, with one leg placed over or in front of the other. The pose is done with pranayama, or breath control.
• Don’t: Sit with the shoulders rounded forward, which collapses the area around the rib cage. That can affect the ability of the lungs to hold a lot of oxygen and to get air deeper into the lungs. Think of a bent straw — it doesn’t move liquid as well.
• Do: Feel the front of the body lengthening — and the sides too, from waistline to armpits and from lower back to skull as you breathe in. Breathing is like pouring water into a glass; the body is a container, and the breath goes into that cylinder. In some exercise classes, the abdominal muscles are strengthened by doing a crunching motion. But in yoga, the abdominal muscles are strengthened by lengthening them. This also takes pressure off the back muscles, helping prevent back pain caused by a weak center.
Standing forward bend (also called a standing forward fold): Feet are together as the torso and head bend forward toward the legs.
• Don’t: Hyperextend the knees. That puts pressure on the hamstrings (the muscles at the back of the thigh) and the Achilles tendon. There’s a connection from the Achilles all the way up to the spine, so hypertextending almost puts a lock on the energy flow. This can lead to more tightness in the lower back and strain on the knee joints.
• Do: Bend the knees a little bit. This helps draw the hips forward over the ankles. Sometimes that will make people feel as if they’re falling forward, but it also engages the muscles in the front of the thigh, in turn lengthening the front of the thigh muscle (the quadriceps) and then the hamstrings. This creates more of a balance.
Warrior III: While standing on one leg, the torso and arms extend forward while the other leg elevates and extends backward.
• Don’t: Forget about the rear of the pose. People often only think of what’s ahead of them, so they tend to reach and drop their chest forward and forget to extend strongly through that back leg. Also, sometimes people will twist their hip up as they lift the leg.
• Do: Flex the back foot, which engages the muscles of the back leg. Imagine pressing a foot against a wall, with energy going in both directions. To keep the hips square, use the inner thigh muscles in the lifted leg. Otherwise, when the hip is turned up or twisted, the inner thigh might not be used, putting pressure on the standing leg and hip.
This is a hard pose for people sometimes because it requires balance, so hold on to a chair or the wall if necessary.
Upward-facing dog: From a prone position, the chest and pelvis rise off the floor while the tops of the feet stay on the floor. Arms support the raised torso and are perpendicular to the ground.
• Don’t: Tense the neck or the muscles in the upper back and shoulders, such as the deltoids and upper trapezius. Some people do this when they carry heavy bags, so they do it in yoga out of habit. Over time that can lead to a sore neck and may cause shoulder or rotator cuff injuries.
• Do: Bend the elbows a little bit and use the back muscles (rhomboids, lower and middle trapezius) and the supraspinatus (one of four rotator cuff muscles) to lift, instead of the neck and shoulder muscles. Also, keeping the hips on the ground instead of slightly raising them will shift focus to the upper body, keeping the shoulders relaxed and drawing them up and back. Keep the chest open as the body is lowered — the shoulders shouldn’t feel a lot of pressure, rather they should feel as if they’re easing into a hammock.
ANTHONY BENENATI
Founder of City Yoga, West Hollywood
Chaturanga: The torso and legs are parallel to the ground and are supported by the feet and hands. Arms are bent and hands are tucked under the chest.
• Don’t: Let the shoulders dip past the elbows when you bend your elbows and lower down in this pose. Letting the shoulders go lower than the elbows can cause the back to round. It also puts the arms out of alignment and forces weight onto the wrists. That can immediately cause shoulder and wrist pain.
• Do: Engage the back muscles, keeping the shoulders at the same height as the elbows. The shoulders should be back, the hands strong and the chest lifted. While on the floor, the hands should be relaxed and as strong as any other part of the body that touches the ground. Engage the fingers and use the hand and forearm muscles.
Cobra: With the body lying on the floor, the legs are stretched back with thighs and feet touching the floor. Back is arched and chest is lifted, supported by the hands, which are underneath the shoulders.
• Don’t: Let the upper and lower body move toward each other. The cobra is a backbend, but the upper and lower body should be moving in different directions. Otherwise, the lower back will compress, causing immediate pain.
• Do: Root the legs on the ground and move the chest away from the pelvis. Backbends are supposed to be extending, so the hips shouldn’t be pushed toward the chest; instead, the legs should be extended away from the chest, toward the knees. The shoulders should be back, with the backbend felt in the middle and upper back.
Downward-facing dog: The body bends at the hips in an upside-down “V,” with arms straight and hands on the floor and heels pressing toward the floor. The head is aligned with the spine.
• Don’t: Focus too much on pressing the heels toward the floor. This rounds the back and can create a strain in the lower back. Similarly, resting too much on the heels of the hands can strain the wrists.
• Do: Make sure the bend comes from the hips, not the back. The weight should be shared in the entire hand, with the arms straight and strong and the shoulders back. Most of the weight is centered in the upper body, but it’s also shared with the legs. The head doesn’t need to go all the way to the floor.
