Warrior Four

I’ve been dealing with some aggravating injuries to my lowback, and for awhile I think my yoga practice was hurting rather than helping the situation. My hamstrings are very tight, and throughout my sports days, as I’ve discovered, I was stretching improperly.

Part of the problem was simply in the way I approached the forward fold (what I previously called “toe touches”). My goal was to get my fingertips to the earth in any way possible. I’d bend down, sink into my hips, grab onto my calves, and pull. The stretch would progress from my hamstrings up to my lower back. I’d feel it, and I’d pull. And eventually I’d touch my toes and beyond.

So, what’s wrong with this approach? It turns out that the back doesn’t like being stretched in this manner. There are all sorts of connectors and flexors with fancy names back there that prefer to be gently opened to wrenching. I could get away with this in my youth, but now it’s not so cool.

To improve my flexibility in forward folds, I’ve eliminated the “toe touch” perspective. Instead it’s a matter of lengthing the space between the backs of my knees and my gluteals. To do so, as I swan dive down (exhaling) into the fold, and find my easy limit. Not much stretch, and nothing in the lowback. Then I inhale to a halfway lift (which for me isn’t much different than looking up a bit). I tilt my tailbone upwards as much as possible, a motion that is nearly imperceptible, yet very significant. Then inhaling, I again go into the fold, bending my knees as much as necessary while focusing on the upward tailbone tilt. I’ll play around with the knee bend and amount fold to find a maximum stretch where I can feel a strong stretch in my hammies, and pretty much nothing in my low back except my breath.

I don’t make it as far, but it’s feeling a lot better, and I can really find some opening.