Exhale

One thing yoga has taught me is that we must pay attention to the details. The details are what can make a yoga movement feel good or bad. I have seen people in yoga classes change one little thing, and they no longer feel pain they have been dealing with for years. Most of the time, this is a temporary relief as the full healing can only happen over a longer period of practice and time. But if someone can get out of discomfort all by themselves even for just a moment, I feel like yoga is doing its job.

As you go about your daily life, you can change the way you do things just a little tiny bit, and suddenly you feel better, or a task you hate to do just got easier. I would like to share what I have noticed are some common ways people hurt themselves when moving reaching for something, and how to do them a little differently to make them safer.

You know that time when you reached behind the car seat to get something, and your shoulder went “pop?” Or when you leaned over to get a heavy object out from a deep cabinet and your back spasms and you can’t move?  Anytime you exert any kind of effort when your body is at a less than optimal angle or in a twist you risk hurting yourself pretty badly.

Try this instead:  Do any lifting, reaching or moving with something heavy when you are exhaling. The exhale activates the big muscle that wraps around from your spine the midline of your torso like a girdle. This muscle, called the transverse abdominals (T.A.), is the most important stabilizing muscle in your torso and you need it to lift, twist and come up to standing from bending over. It works if you are standing for long periods of time too. As you exhale make yourself taller and press your belly to your spine.