Back Strengthening - Part 2

Hi. My name is Olivia, and this is back strengthening part 2, which ties in nicely from back strengthening part 1, and also the back relief classes because it's fairly easy to find exercises to strengthen the Barry, and we'll be doing many. But while you do them, it's helpful for your back to keep the abdomen in mind. I'll be queuing you to help you along with that. And we'll start lying down. You can take a blanket for your head and also have, for later in the class, a second blanket, 2 Blocks, and a strap. And we will start also using the strap right off the Barry, as well as 1 of the blocks.

So you'll take a block actually to your left side, and you're just gonna reach your arm out, put the block down, wherever it lands on its highest height. And then take your strap. We'll place the strap just on the Barry, feet a little wider than the hips, knees come in. Alternatively, you could lie in Shavasana. Tap your shoulder blades under a little bit.

Close the eyes. And you may feel the touch of the strap to the belly as you inhale. Barry and the strap rise. As you exhale, they naturally soften and release down, breathing through the nose, lips lightly touching, let the breath be steady, slow and smooth. Now begin to lengthen your exhales squeezing more of the air out, more air out, and what happens in the abdomen when you exhale and exhale and exhale is you find that belly contraction occurring. So in keeping with the natural flow of the exhale where the belly releases down, engaging the abdomen, belly hugs lower back.

Alright. And letting that go return to gentle normal breathing. I'll let the eyes open, and you'll take your strap from the belly. And we'll take 1 foot up and into the strap. So lasso, the ball of the foot, extend the right leg, right leg up, and straighten the left leg forward on the mat. Now both inner thighs here are going to roll from front to Barry. So on the right leg, the right inner thigh rolls away from the face towards the left foot.

And on the left leg, the inner thigh rolls down. Nevertheless, you can bend your elbows a little bit and draw up the right leg overall closer to the head as if the shin and the ankle are moving towards the head, even as the inner thigh releases the other way away from the head. From here now take both strap ends in the left hand. Straighten your left arm and reach your right arm to the right. Palm faces up on the mat. Inhale. Exhale.

Take your right leg across to the left. And that block, hopefully, it's naturally in the right spot to support your ankle or your heel. If not, go ahead and adjust. So that your foot does rest on the block. Your left leg, the 1 that's still on the ground, let it turn all the way out so the pinky side of the foot is on the ground, feet are active, flex your feet, and reach through your heels to help you keep the legs long and straight. Similarly, reach out through the upper arms open across the chest.

Inhale from the base of the spine up to the crown of the head, get long through the spine, exhale soft, and the upper trapezius soft in the jaw. And if you like, you might turn your head to the right and look towards the right hand. With your mind's eye, enter into the inner thighs again and roll them from front to back. Inhale. And exhale. Right leg goes up.

Bend your knee. Place your feet on the floor, and let's move the block from the left to the right. Reach the block away out to the side, highest height, and then lasso the ball of the left foot. Take your left leg up. Right leg, skip the heel forward along the mat, and work with the inner thighs. Rule the left inner thigh from front to back towards the right foot.

Roll the right inner thigh straight down. Extend out through your heels to help your legs be straight and long and that reach of the legs helps even the lower part of the spine have some space and some length. Then catch the strap ends with the right hand only. Arm is straight to begin. Left arm to the side, left palm up to the ceiling.

And now you'll take your left leg to the right, bring the inner portion of the ankle or the heel or shin, wherever. Works for the block, or you can move the block around to meet the leg so that your legs are straight. If 1 knee needs to bend, let it be the left, if you're a little tighter in the hamstrings, but reach out through especially the right heel and connect that reaching to the lower back length. So there's a reach through the lumbar spine and through the right leg together towards the right foot. Quadriceps firm, toes spreading, Right now, we're very active in the legs, a little bit more relaxed in the back as a starting point so that we can get some range of motion into this twist.

And including the neck with the twist, you can roll your head to the left and maybe see the left hand. Now coming in with the breath, inhale up the spine, exhale down the spine. Let there be space between the vertebra of the spine. This time, inhale up the spine, start the same. Must take 1 of those longer exhales where you try and exhale all the air out the belly hugs the lower back as you keep exhaling, and that's a good time to transition and bring the left leg back up, bend your knees, and remove the strap.

Rest for a moment. Hands on the belly. Take a breath. Relax the shoulders in the face again. And from here, we'll roll over to the side.

And you'll come up. You can set the blanket aside, or since we're going to be on your knee our knees, if you prefer the blanket as a cushion under the knees, that's also an option. Stack your wrists right beneath your shoulders, your knees, beneath your hips. Reach forward through the crown of the head, and back through the tailbone pelvic floor, sit bones. So your spine is pulled long in 2 directions. Next, arm straight.

Take the right leg. You're gonna tuck the toes under on the floor and straighten your right knee. So the right leg is like a plank leg. And as we straighten that knee, the thigh moves up, doesn't it? Towards the ceiling. And now the same thing through the lower Barry.

You might even take your left hand to the space between the pubis and the navel and support the lower belly Hug the lower belly up to the lower back. And then at that point, reach your left arm forward. And lift the right leg off the floor. Lift the right foot off the floor. And when the left arm and the right leg lift, did the belly drop?

Scoop the belly up again. The back is working if you lift your arm and your leg. So lift them yes, but include the abdomen in it. Lift that too. And then release down.

Second side, curl your left toes under straighten your left leg. Maybe put the right hand in the lower Barry. So beneath the belly button and lift up there. So the right thigh moves up to straighten the right leg, even with the toes still on the ground. The thigh moves up, but with the thigh bring the abdomen, then extend the right arm forward and lift the left leg up and lift them. So you actually feel your back muscles turn on.

There's a point in the lift where the back starts to fire. And at that point, engage the abdomen as well. And release down a little more quickly now. Take a breath in, exhale Barry hollows up, left arm forward, right leg Barry. Inhale limbs are down, exhale Barry hugs up, right arm forward, left leg Barry, release down, breathing in, exhale, right leg Barry, left arm forward. Coming down, inhale, and exhale opposite arm and leg.

From here, lower down both hands, both knees, walk your hands a few inches out in front of your shoulders. Tuck your toes under auto mokashvanasana downward facing dog. And walk your feet forward to your hands. Feet together or hip distance, inhale, reach the chest forward, exhale lower belly to lower spine, keep reaching chest forward, hands on hips, lift your shoulders, lift your elbows, and then slowly stand. Long spine means of strengthening spine, strengthening back.

And you're at the top of the mat, arms by your sides. Alright. For the next sequence of poses, there'll be some standing poses, and you may, use your blocks. You might want them. You might need them. So you can place them near the front of the mat.

Off the mat, and then they're there for you as you need. Then find Todd Austin again, find mountain pose. And draw your thighs Barry. Place your hands on the top thighs. And take the thighs back and where your thumbs are, inner thighs draw back there as well.

So like we did earlier, the inner thighs roll from front to Barry, then switch the hands, thumbs to sacrum, release the sacrum down, From their arms come forward, and then lift the arms up. Palms face in. So we're externally rotating in the upper arms triceps wrap in and keep drawing the arms back the thighs back as well. So this is how we get the back strengthening as we draw the arms back without letting the hips step forward. Thighs back, arms back, and then lengthen the sacrum, the back of the pelvis down.

Perhaps look up, inhale, join the palms, and then exhale, split the arms wide and fold. Utanasana into ardhautanasana inhale, extend the chest forward, inner thighs roll back, exhale palms on the mat step to plank, look forward, inner thighs roll up sacrum towards the heels just like tadasana, Keep that knees down is also an option lower to the mat, all the way down, release the toes Barry, inhale low cobra, open the chest. Again, buttocks reaching for the feet, roll your inner thighs up to the ceiling, exhale, take the head back down, press to all fours, curl your toes under. Deep breath in. If the hamstrings are tight, the spine will round, then you can bend the knees, draw the hips back, lengthening the spine. Automokushvanasana is relatively unmuscular.

In the torso. There's a lot of arm and leg work to bring some space, some traction to the spine. Transitioning forward, lift the head. Look between your hands. Walk the feet or hop the feet forward. Inhale.

Fold Now passing through Arda, again, reach your chest forward. Take the arms out to the sides and slowly rise. Inhale. Arms up. Size back. Arms back. Exhale. Hands come down by your sides.

Moving on, take the arms up, inhale, exhale, bend the knees, hips Barry, shift the weight to the heels, and I'll take the hands behind the head, and draw the head back into the hands. And you can feel the back muscles turn on on the right and left sides of the spine just by bringing the head back into the hands. What happened in the abdomen? That also is where we wanna hug back. So keeping the head in the hands, bring the abdomen back as well.

So there's a sense of for this sequence equal density and the abdomen in the Barry. Chances are you're gonna feel it more in the back, but we're trying in the abdomen to keep pace. Taking the arms back up if you like, palms face in, inhale, maybe look up, and then exhale come all the way down, utanasana, inhale, ardha, exhale step back to plank, inhale, and plank legs straight or knees bent on the floor and lower. You can lower halfway down or all the way down. Releasing the toes Barry, inhale low cobra may become a little higher. Exhale downward facing dog.

Heels up, knees down. Step your right foot forward. Come up onto your fingertips or onto your blocks, straightening the arms, straighten also the left leg, and then turn your left leg out, placing the heel down on the mat, ankles are about hip distance apart. And bend the right knee. So it stacks over the right ankle.

Meanwhile, draw your outer right hip back. It's been the left hip forward. And press back through your left thigh. Keep that leg straight, good weight down through your left heel. And notice your back when your arms are down.

So we put some weight into the hands actually to focus on the work in the legs. But we've taken work out of the back by putting the hands down. And so here we go. Lifting the arms up. Reach your arms out to the side.

Or sorry, reach your arms back and then to the side. And you're lifting up now. So your back is on. Remember the abdomen hug up there as well. From side arms rotate them, thumbs are up. Palms face forward and then reach the arms forward without dropping them.

Palms face in, lift the arms up alongside the ears. And we're gonna keep lifting up into warrior 1. Coming all the way up, maybe look up, join the palms inhale. Exhale. Hands come down. You can use the blocks or set them aside Step back to plank. Inhale.

Lower chaturanga or to the floor. Inhale. Low cobra or upward facing dog. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Inhale. Heels, lift, exhale.

Touch the knees down. Blocks or fingertips, step. Your left foot forward. Stacking the left knee over the left ankle straighten the right leg and then turn the leg out The heel comes down, ankles are about hip distance apart. Draw your left hip back and the right hip let it come forward.

Meanwhile, keep the right leg straight. Press the thigh back in our thigh back as well. Inner thigh to the back of the thigh. Alright. Now let's lift in the belly preemptively support the back and then float the arms back alongside the torso. Here the palms can face the floor.

Also lift your shoulders. So the upper back muscles narrow to the spine, just like the mid and the lower back muscles hugging the spine, very activated Take the arms wide now, rotate the arms, thumbs up palms face forward, and keep your arms tall as you up the ante and send the arms forward alongside the ears. Lift the wrist, lift the right thigh, lift the Barry. Inhale. Exhale. Coming up.

Beerbedrosinone. Inhale. Looking up. Possibly join the palms, exhale, hands come down, stepping back to plank, you could keep the blocks, lower Chaturanga, or to the floor, inhale, low cobra, updog, on exhale downward facing dog. Breathing here. If you'd like a child's pose here, you could take that as well.

And moving on, lower your knees down, Step the right foot forward, straighten the left leg. So we're beginning the same way, turning the left leg out, place the heel on the ground, extend the arms back, reach them to the side forward. Come up to warrior 1. Inhale. Look up. Exhale.

Right back down over the right leg. Lie down over the leg. And lift your left heel. And as you do that, take the inner left thigh up. The inner left thigh from the front of the leg to the back of the leg means up.

Notice if the belly starts to drop hug the belly up. Lift the wrist up. And here we go. Step forward a few times. Stay low in the chest. Lift the wrist.

Lift the Barry, and then lift your left leg. Lastly straighten the right leg. Verabedrasana 3. Reaching through the limbs. You're gonna take the left hand down to the floor, right hand to the hip.

Now you could also put a block under your left hand, a right hand on the hip, and keep your left leg up. Turn your chest to the right. So we're in twisting half moon pose, body over to Artis Andrasana, and float the right arm up. Really lift through the right arm. You'll feel your back muscles turn on. Lift also the left leg.

Inhale through the spine. Exhale. Firm the belly and turn. Bend then the right leg. And you're gonna place the left foot on the ground.

Bring your block or your hand outside the right ankle. Left foot is turned out. Left heel rooted. Inhale through the spine. Exhale twist.

Very strong in the left leg as you lower the hands down. Left eye presses Barry, then hands to the floor or the blocks. Step both legs Barry, both thighs drop Barry, downward facing dog, inhale plank, exhale. Moving through your Vanessa. Whichever that may be today.

Inhale, heels up, and exhale. Lower your knees. Bring your blocks if you're using them. Second side, take the left foot forward. Straighten the right leg and bring the right heel down in and down.

Once the right heel connects to the mat, turn your right hip forward. Left hip draws back inhale chest reaches forward, exhale lift in the belly, and then the arms float them back alongside the torso, then to the side, rotating them thumbs up, so that when you bring your arms forward here, the palms face in. Alright. Lots of Barry. Lots of belly come up in the nail. VR of address in a 1 And then exhale, lie right back down over your left leg. Pick your right heel up and find that internal rotation where you roll the inner right thigh up to the ceiling.

Did the belly release down Barry common, scoop up in there again, keep your wrist up, and then start to step forward with the right foot, steady your gaze, lift your right leg, and then straighten the left. Left the wrist, lift through the right thigh, and in the Barry. Inhale. Exhale. Hands come down. Maybe take a block under the right hand.

Left hand to the hip, begin to twist. And once you've turned your chest to the left, to ignite more of the back, reach your left arm up. Right thigh presses up, belly out with a twist, and twisting from the back muscles revolve the spine. Inhale. Exhale. Bend the left knee.

Step the right foot back. Bring your block with you, or maybe there's another block waiting for you there from earlier and twist, twist. Press the right thigh back, root the heel, inhale long spine, exhale release, setting the blocks aside, step Barry, downward facing dog, Last Vinyasa, and then we'll lie down right on our bellies. Come down on the mat. Set your blocks aside, and you'll take your head to the right and just rest.

And then to the left, and wrist. And place your forehead on the floor. Reach back for your legs and your arms. Roll your inner thighs up, hug the belly muscles up, the pubis, tailbone down, and we're gonna lift the legs. Legs come up. The buttocks firm down, but not together.

Pubuses down, lower belly scoop it up, maybe even put your fingertips there. The lower belly lift, and then lift your head and shoulders. And just like we did in the standing poses, reach your arms back. And then reach your arms side, legs stay up. Turn your arms, palms face forward.

Reach your arms forward. Lift your arms. Lift your legs a little higher. Notice if the belly is dipping. Lift there too.

And then interlace the fingers behind the head and Macross and I lift the head and release down turning the head again to the right. And then to the left. And then to child's pose. Little bit of length for the back. Childs pose is uncomfortable on your knees.

You can just rock back any amount and forward. Try to get the knees moving just to their edge. Rest the eyes in the temples, rest the face in the jaw. Come on your forearms. You lift your head, come forward onto your elbows, interlace your fingers.

Preparing for dolphin, draw the shoulder blades away from the ears. So we'll be practicing dolphin together. If you have a headstand practice, you could take a headstand here. Curling the toes. Lift the hips. Let the head release down.

Not that it needs to touch the floor. In fact, you're so much pressing down through your forearms. You're so much lifting your shoulders. That chances are the head does not touch the floor. But you're releasing in the neck. The bones of the neck releasing down.

Meanwhile, lift the outer hips up. Now back muscles can help you out here. You firm your back muscles to help you move your chest in the direction of your ankles. As you do, wrap your inner upper arms forward. Lower your knees release the toes and change the cross of the fingers, other pinky on the bottom.

So what is that rolling the inner upper arms forward? Another way of saying that is to wrap the biceps out. And so when we engage our back and we move the chest towards the ankles, just to protect the shoulders, continue to turn biceps out triceps in. So let's look at our thumbs. And turn the upper arms in that way out.

And then keep looking at the thumbs as you lift your hips, keep turning the biceps out, and then lower the head and start to engage the upper back, move the chest towards the ankles, Still modern monitoring your shoulders. And then if you like to build more strength, you could lift 1 leg, working that internal rotation, the inner thigh, leads the lift, And then lower down and lift your opposite leg. Inertile leads the lift. Front of the 5 faces, the floor. Hips are side by side.

Breathing softly lower. Down and then release the knees to the mat and slowly come up so that we can lie down again this time on our Barry. And we'll lie down for a supported bridge You can use your block, and the legs have the option of going up. And so have your block handy as you lie back And there are the 3 heights with the block. And so to get up high, we actually need our back muscles.

You may notice with the back muscles very on that you could get very high on the block. And it's a comfort choice in general if you would like the block narrow or wider, but on the lower 2 heights of the block, keep it white. Keep it on its very widest width. So you have a lot of support for the back of the pelvis. And then wherever you've chosen, center the block, release the arms to the side, and tuck the shoulder blades under. And at this point, you can release in the lower Barry.

So you're doing less there now. And if you're not on your menstrual cycle, you can take your legs up. If you like, softening through the neck and the jaw. Roll the outer shoulders down. So we still roll the biceps out here. So there's still some work.

It's just it's reducing in the back muscles. The upper Barry, though, is still working. Children blades narrowing and lifting so the chest is tall. It's just it's through the lower back because the hips are on the block. That we're starting to turn the volume down, go the other way.

And then releasing bend the knees, place the feet on the mat. Pressing through the feet, lift your hips, remove the block to 1 side or the other and lower down. Rest the hands on the abdomen. Take a deep breath in, long, smooth exhale. Roll to your side and coming up.

We'll take your blankets. Onto the mat, stack your blankets, and it depends on the hamstring length, how many you need, and then have also your blocks nearby. So I'm gonna do lots of props You could do more than me. You can do less than me. Pasti motonasana, if you're a little tighter in the legs, you can take your feet, even a little wider than the hips.

But everybody, take your feet wide enough that you can at least put 1 block there in between your shins. And you may find you need to. That's fine. You'll tip them on an angle. We're gonna take a soft posture motion asana.

And so with 2 blocks, blocks are higher. So you might be able to get your forehead there. Reach for the feet. Just let the elbows hang. Letting go. A little bit of internal rotation, a little bit of the inner thighs rolling down, tiny little flex in the feet, but otherwise just resting into the props.

Noticing now the back is just open, not working. A little more mobility. You can take 1 block flat and place your forehead there. Or any height with that block. Allow the back muscles that have worked so hard for you. Allow them to spread. And this is the shape of plow pose also of Halasana.

And so with that, you might choose to stay in Pashimotanasana, or we can take with the blankets and a block a nice halasana. So either staying in Pashimotanasana or stacked your blankets 2 or 3, and then a block for the hips. We'll just help you get into it. When we get in our halasana, it'll be soft too. So arms will be in cactus.

But as you lie down, arms alongside the Barry. Shoulders are on the blanket. Head is off. Neck is about halfway halfway on halfway off. Take a breath in and then exhale into your belly to take the legs up and over. Feet can be together or again apart.

Arms come into that cactus shape and let the spine round. Yes. The legs are straight. Yes. You're lifting a bit from the outer hips. But softening in the abdomen, let the spinal muscles spread. Just like Pashtumotanasana, same shape, just a different orientation to gravity, relax the muscles of the face and jaw.

Feel free to spend more time in Halasana. When it's time for you to come out, reach your arms long again, and roll down segmentally through the spine. Once your hips touch the block, bend your knees, feet to the floor. And then you'll press from your feet and scoot the shoulders towards the head off the blanket. If you're in past you most to tenasana coming up, can join us on your back. You can just lie flat.

You don't need the blankets there. Take a final hug of knees to chest or happy baby. And Halasana friends, you can just stay on the blanket. And the block might touch your thighs a little. It's okay. This can be a shavasana, but if it's not comfortable for you, remove the blankets and come into a shavasana that's right for you.

And rest. Your back deserves a good long rest. Maybe spend 5 or 10 minutes here. And then when you're done, roll to your side and come up. Thank you for your practice