How to Relax Your Low Back with a Breath
Relaxing doesn’t need to be a BIG deal!
If you have a tight, painful low back, here’s a holiday season present for you: Reversed Abdominal Breathing. When first encountering this breath practice as a student, I thought, “Hmm. Interesting!” then filed it away to the back of my brain. Now, 20 years later, I have come to appreciate how profoundly effective it is. It’s also one of the safest, gentlest, EASIEST ways to return healing circulation to the low back. It can even be done lying down.
Watch a baby or dog or cat breath: their relaxed bellies round forward as they breathe in, then naturally flatten back toward the spine on the exhale. That’s called Natural Abdominal Breathing. It allows us to get the most oxygen deep into our lungs. This is the way we should breathe throughout the day. For many of us who have been trained to very unnaturally “suck in the gut”, doing Natural Abdominal Breaths may require practice, but in time you will notice how quickly it allows stress, tension, and even pain to dissipate.
In Reverse Abdominal Breathing, you allow the relaxed expansion on the inhale to happen toward your back while the front of the abdomen remains fairly still. This may feel odd at first, but here’s a hint: As you breathe in, visualize a warm, gentle waterfall, flowing down your back, relaxing the muscles and dissolving tension as it flows. Don’t tense or tighten the front of your belly, simply practice allowing it to remain still as you breathe in. In time, your body will get the hint and those chronically tense low back muscles will begin to soften as you breathe. Tension melts away, and wow, does it feel wonderful.
There is a bit more to it, but practice the method described above, you will be off to a great start. We’ll practice together this week in all of our online and live Qigong classes. Please join us; your back will thank you!
Schedule Notes:
Next FREE live/in-person/online Qigong at Millbrook Library is this Friday, Dec. 1, 10-11. Please join us and get balanced and energized for the holidays! Register at Millbrooklibrary.org.
“Qigong for Winter”: Free, in-person Qigong Workshop at Hotchkiss Library, Sharon Ct., Saturday, Jan. 6, 10-11:30 AM. Register at 860-364-5041. Class is limited in size with priority for Sharon residents.
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