Back Pain Relief: 36-Min Yin Yoga for BJJ

And also bringing the tension to the spine because this is where we're working today is through the back. There we are. Come to a sit. So on your on your hips, placing the feet in front of you, moving into a forward fold and whatever is comfortable.

So plant the feet and hands can be on the ground or give your legs give your legs a big hug. Let them know how much you appreciate them. And just rest the head either on the knees and if your chest isn't to your legs, I want you to bring the feet up so that your chest is on the legs because we want that to be supported. And we will be here for for five minutes, holding this pose for five minutes.

I'll let you know when each minute is up. The really cool thing about holding this for for five minutes is you can take a mental note as each minute goes by and feel and feel the the back start to release. So this is your job. Everything supported.

The feet are on the ground. The chest is on is on the quads. The chest is on the quads or the thighs. If your feet are sliding, find a wall or anything to pose them and close your eyes.

Closing your eyes. Be aware of where you feel this stretch. Do you feel it in the lower back, middle back, upper back? One minute in.

And don't worry about everything being tight. You don't have to grab your your legs, your legs really tight. You just allow it to relax and be a little bit sloppy. That's the beauty of Saturday's class is you can be tired just when you wake up before you go to bed, maybe after a long day of work.

And we allow gravity to do the work and releasing. I want you to rest your head on your legs. I'm not doing as much just because of the mic. You can still hear me talking.

Two minutes in. And you can notice if you feel more fidgety today or if it feels really nice just to just to sit still. And every time I head to the mats, I'm able to take a mental note of how I how I feel fidgety or just sitting still. Take a mental note of that and whatever you feel like is totally fine.

We are at the magic number of three and I find when I hit three minutes, everything really starts to release for me. The lower for me, it's my lower back that starts to release, although I know some people have have felt this in in different areas of the back. So as that happens, as the body begins to respond to the stretch over time, allow the heels to gently to gently fold forward, to gently slide forward. Let yourself go deeper into the stretch.

But again, we only you don't want to go to 100 percent. We want to hit that 60 percent intensity and allowing time to release, release the back. Moving into our last minute. This is something that can be held for longer than five minutes.

Sometimes I'll even hold it for 10 minutes. I'll turn on. Sometimes I just like it quiet. I'll turn on a podcast and I'll hold this pose and the next two.

You can do this for 10 minutes. In fact, it's really good, really good for you because the especially the lower back gets really tired because it's just those few vertebrae along the lower back that support the entire torso. It tends to get really tired. This is a really nice release for that.

Last 30 seconds. Take three, three to four deep breaths. Last breath. Placing the hands beside the hips.

Gently use the hands to post, moving as slowly as possible and as lazily as possible out of out of the pose. We never want to rush out of something that took us five minutes to get into posting the hands beside the hips, using the hands to support myself as I push the hips forward. Really gently and you'll feel a release in the back and just for just for a moment. Posting like just feeling the back from the hips all the way to the top of the shoulders.

And this is this is the opposite of what we just did. We just did a forward fold. Now this is a small, small back bend. So gently pushing the belly button forward just a little bit.

Not a lot. When you're ready, lower yourself onto your back. Feet should be wider than the hips. Drop the knees together.

And take a moment in transition to notice how your back feels. Bringing the knees into the chest. You can gently rock side to side. Make sure your blanket is close by as you bring the knees to the right.

And I want you with the blanket to decide if you like the blanket to be underneath the legs. Now what we'll be moving into is left arm up and pulling up behind you. So as we settle in, see if you like the blanket below the legs. That might feel nice.

Maybe what I like is to bring the blanket between the knees and have some fun with how thick you would like it. The objective here is to have the legs completely, everything completely supported to allow us to move into that fashion. So I like the blanket between the knees, but you can move it underneath. You can move it in between the knees or even or even you can put it one underneath the legs and one in between.

That is also really good. We will spend three minutes here. Decide if you like the left arm, the arm behind you straight or bent. So once you've found where you like your blanket and once you found if you like your left arm straight or bent, then we allow gravity to do the work.

And if the left arm is hanging in the air, maybe grab another blanket or something like that to just support it. That's optional. With my right hand, my front hand, I actually I like to grab the top of the leg because I find that also helps with a stretch on the outside of the hip to join the party. So see if you like that option.

We'll take a few minutes. So close your eyes and just notice, notice where you feel the stretch and consciously make the back of the head really, really heavy. Make the shoulders heavy and moving through the spine. Be aware of how the spinal twist feels.

And just take note of how this feels. And if you find it's hard to settle down, if you find you kind of want to move a bit more fidget, that's OK. But just recognize the benefits, the benefits of this pose where it's a spinal twist. And in jujitsu, I'll do this to people where you'll you'll bring their legs to one side.

Maybe in the leg weave, you bring their legs to one side and pin the shoulders with the other side. And most people are very uncomfortable there because when the spine is twisted, it's difficult to breathe. And even right now, the breathing is just a little bit compromised. So by laying on the ground in this position, position with purpose, it also allows us to be more effective in jujitsu.

Someone has us in a spinal twist. Not only will we have the improved flexibility there, but also we'll be used to breathing there. And we'll be one of those creepy people where someone is trying to torture us. We'll be like, no, it doesn't bother me.

And you're like, what is wrong with you? Psych them out. So it's also the work we're doing here. Make us superheroes.

So when I said three minutes here, I lied. It's actually five. Two more minutes. I'm one of those instructors that says one more push up and then it's 20 push ups later.

Everyone wonders why my students are so fit. It's mostly because I can't count, but I don't think that's just me. I think that's a lot of instructors that do that. They're like, oh, everyone needs a few more of this or everyone needs a few more repetitions.

So we'll give that to them. And in our last minute, see if you would like to just really gently adjust to move deeper into the pose. And for me, I can feel my my back beginning to release. So maybe I'll move my head a little bit.

I'll move my head a little bit. I'll move my head a little bit. I'll move my head a little bit. So for me, I can feel my my back beginning to release.

So maybe I'll move the blanket out from between the legs. Just for the last minute to go deeper. Maybe for you, it's your arm. You'd like to move your arm.

So settle into the pose, maybe in the same way, or maybe you have adjusted so it's a little more intense. For our last minute. Thirty seconds and take three deep breaths. Last breath.

Using maybe even the right hand to push the knees back to center. In a really lazy way, bring the hips back to center and. Knees, feet apart, bring the feet further than the hips and knees together. So before we move to the second side, just notice.

Notice the difference between the left side feels like and the right side feels like. Maybe the left the left back feels different than the right back. Left shoulder, right shoulder. And maybe even the difference in temperature.

If one side feels warmer than the other, the other one feels colder on each side of the body. Bring the knees to the chest. Make sure your blanket is on the other side. Make sure your blanket is on the other side.

Make sure bringing the knees into the chest. Make sure your blanket is on the other side. And gently bring the knees to the left side. Take a moment just to settle in and find where you want your blanket.

Do you want to under your knees? Is it more comfortable to have it between the knees? Is that more comfortable? And for your your right hand, this time your top hand.

Reach it up to the sky and see if you would like that right arm straight. Or see if it feels better with it being bent in a cactus. So once you've organized yourself and and seen what feels good, remember to move into just 60 percent intensity to allow with support with support through the muscles. So that means with the blanket, maybe the blanket is underneath both knees so that the legs aren't hanging in the air.

That's what that support means allowing us to work into the fascia. And for me, I like with my left hand, you can put it wherever you like. I like to just put it on the top leg to move into the outside of the hip. So once you've you're all organized, once you've organized yourself, we'll spend five minutes here.

And I'll let you know when each minute is up to let everything release. So that's our first minute. And I find even after the first minute, I don't feel a big release. It's after the usually for me, after the third minute or so, they start to feel it.

And as everything starts to loosen up, as the fascia releases, the muscles release, just be aware of how that feels. It's really, really cool how that takes time to do and how that doesn't really happen in a vinyasa class. The vinyasa class is so great. It's meant for movement and blood flow and strengthening and also stretching.

But this is just different, different using time, time and gravity to allow the legs, to allow the body to release whatever we're working on. That's our second minute. And our third minute. I'm beginning to feel everything starting to release in a really nice way.

It's kind of intense, too. It's crazy how the fascia surrounding the muscles, that's a saran wrap around it. That's what I call it, has memory to it. And when we are in a certain position for a really long time, the fascia actually takes on that memory.

So if we work at a desk, for example, and the shoulders are rounded forward and the back is kind of rounded forward for an extended period of time, for some of us, even years, the body begins to think that's normal and begins to take on that shape. And it's not. That's not how we're meant to be. We're meant to be balanced.

So obviously it's desk work, but that's why this stretching is so important. That's why this stretching is so important that we're doing right now to bring balance to that, to create a healthy body. And I love the slow yoga because there's pretty much no excuse not to do it. It's like, oh, I'm tired.

Even if I'm really tired, I'll always feel better after. Sometimes even rejuvenated. In our last 30 seconds, take three breaths, maybe four. As lazily as possible, move the blanket to the side and use the left hand to push the knees up to the ceiling, feet on the ground, neutralize the spine, make the spine straight so it feels good.

Walk your feet so they are wider than the hips. Bring the knees in together and take a second to notice, to notice how the back feels, to notice how the legs feel, upper body feels. Finding your blanket. This is our last pose.

I want you to roll it up just a tiny, tiny bit. Roll it up just a tiny bit. I don't want this to be a big one. I don't want this to be intense, crazy intense, but just a little bit.

And your small roll will be under pretty much the midline, just underneath the armpits. So once you have, I call it almost, well it won't be the world's smallest roll, but once you have something that's comfortable, put it basically where the armpits are underneath. And this is a really nice opening for the back. Allow the head to be supported so if your head's hanging and it's really not comfortable, find a way to make it comfortable.

And this should maybe place a blanket under it. And this should not be crazy intense. This is a really nice small opener for the back and I'm always really intense. I'm always like, I need to do more.

I want to do more. We want to sit at 60 percent, so this shouldn't be more. And this is our last, our last, call it a pose. This is our last pose.

It'll carry us right to the end. And decide if you like the hands to be on the hips. Decide if you like the hands in a T shape with the palms up. That could feel really nice.

See if you want to bring the arms up, maybe a small opener underneath, well, underneath the shoulders, the back body there and through the shoulders. And recognizing just the importance of this pose, it seems really simple, but to think of what we're doing with some small support underneath the, pretty much just below the armpits in the back. That small support is allowing the back to gently, to gently arch. And again, so often the back is rounded forward because of life.

We need it to be rounded forward because of life. Looking forward and driving, eating on our, on our computer, on our phone. Jiu-jitsu, jiu-jitsu, the back is almost always rounded forward, unless you're doing something that demands posture, but that's only for a moment. And this is the counter to all of that.

So although it seems like a very simple pose, it is incredibly important. So while we sit in our last four minutes, just recognize the importance of it and how interesting it is that something so simple, lying on the ground, using gravity with a small support under a certain section of the spine, something so simple that that's almost easy to do, can be, can be intense as we hold it over time and the work we do it, and so it's so important. Just recognize that. Three minutes in.

Three minutes in and just be aware of about for you today how long it's taking for, for the body to release. Maybe you felt it right away at one minute, maybe it took two, maybe it took three, maybe five minutes is long enough. I need to stay here for even longer. Okay.

Moving into our last minute. Taking your three to four last breaths. You are welcome to stay here. If this is feeling really good, you're more than welcome to stay here.

Another option is to roll to your side and take the belt out from under the back and the belt. I use a belt too much. Take the blanket out from under your back and just put it under your head for a pillow and recognize how you feel, how your upper back, middle back, lower back feels. And if you want to stay here, go ahead and stay here.

This is one of those times when you fall asleep on the ground in the yoga class and you're like, how did that happen? I'm not even in my bed, but because the nervous system is so relaxed. And for those of you that are working within this, just the 35 minutes, just just barely above half an hour. You need to go about your day as lazily and slowly as possible.

Roll to your side and use your hands to push yourself up. And there we are. Thank you for joining me, everybody, and we will see you next time. Thank you.