Yoga as Healing (medicine)

 For this weeks yoga, I wanted to pick a session that would focus on my lower back pain. This weeks has been extremely busy for me and as a result my lower back and hips have been really tight causing me discomfort. After searching for yogas geared towards helping to alleviate hip and back pain, I found a session titled “Yoga for hips and lower back release” with the instructor being none other than Adriene. I have done numerous sessions with Adrienc at this point and I know the asanas she puts us through will have me feeling loose by the end.

We begin by focusing on the hamstrings as Adriene explained that tension/pain usually arises when the body is “out of whack” and we can correct it through yoga. The body is composed of many different parts that all have to work in unison in order for the body to function properly. Therefore if I have tension in my back, stretching and working on the parts that help the back function would in turn alleviate my back pain. I loved her explanation and felt she made the situation a lot easier to understand to a student who has no health background. 

In this session (space), yoga is treated as a modality to help alleviate pain in your body. While yoga had many faces, I personally feel like the holistic aspect of yoga is the one that appeals to me the most and therefore I was pleasantly surprised by the results of my session. After guiding me through each asana, I could instantly feel the tension in my back being released and could not be happier. I plan on implementing this session into my life whenever I feel tension or pain in my hips/back.

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