![]() ![]() A lot of us start to round forward from our shoulders, which puts a lot of strain on our low back. ![]() When we bend forward, we want to make sure that we’re not pulling our spine out of alignment. This reduces the risk of injury and trains you to think more intentionally about the way you’re moving your body. Lateral flexion is inherently asymmetrical.įor safety, only ask your spine to move in ONE direction at a time (on or off the mat!). Lateral flexion opens up the side of the body, as the ribs lift up away from the hips. This motion occurs in any of our twisted poses where our chest is pointing a different direction than our hips, and/or we’re turning our head toward our shoulder. Twisting motions happen in the neck (cervical) and low back (lumbar) curves of the spine, which are inherently most mobile. Extension is the “cow” pose, where we open up the chest with a backbend.ī) Twisting: the torso rotates from side to side Flexion is the “cat” position, where we scoop the belly inward. This is the motion that we do in a cat-cow flow, for example. The spine has three ways that it can move, and different yoga poses will use different motions.Ī) Flexion & Extension: a forward-back motion You can think of the spine as a string of pearls, where each one is able to twist or bend separately from its neighbor. The spine is incredibly mobile, since it’s constructed in such a way that each vertebrae can move independently. Know the three ways that the spine can move This helps to keep your vertebrae from twisting or grinding against each other as you move. This “tall” feeling also helps you to create space between each of your vertebrae before you ask them to move. This helps to reset your body’s natural spinal curvature. Your shoulders relaxing down and back, and the shoulderblades start to slide a little bit toward the spine and toward each other. Imagine there’s an invisible string coming right out of the crown of your head, that’s lifting you straight upward. Here are a few tips for developing and maintaining your neutral spinal alignment, and making sure to protect your spine in your yoga practice. This issue can be even greater though for people with CF, as we tend to cough a lot, which accentuates that curve and creates a lot of muscular fatigue. The thoracic spine gets overly round as we spend a lot of time sitting down, shrugging our shoulders, driving, typing at computers, staring down at our smartphones (guilty). It’s really common for people to experience over-curvature of the upper back. That said – sometimes these curves can get TOO big. And some of them curve outward – at the “thoracic spine” of the upper back, and the “sacral spine” which is the very bottom section at the pelvis.Īn inward curve is called “lordosis” and an outward curve is called “kyphosis.” Lordotic and kyphotic curves are both naturally present in the spine. See how it’s not just a straight line, but has natural curves? Some of them curve inward: at the “cervical spine” of the neck, and the “lumbar spine” of the low back. Here you can see a diagram of the spine – viewed from the side. When the vertebrae are stacked in their natural alignment, there are some natural curves to the way the vertebrae all fit together like puzzle pieces. What is “Natural curvature of the spine?”Ī “neutral spine” is simply the spine in it’s natural state, when it’s not bent in any particular direction. It can even give you more stamina during exercise because your skeletal structure is doing more of the heavy work instead of your muscles. Restoring the natural curvature of the spine can release tension and free your breath. ![]() When you have CF, some of the things we do in our daily lives (like coughing a lot, or sitting for long periods of time) can pull the spine out of this natural alignment. With the spine being that important, it’s critical that we protect it on our yoga practice, and in our daily lives. Our spine is a key part of how we both interact with and understand the world. And every single time we touch something with our hands and arms, feet and legs, our spine is carrying those messages to our brain. That spinal cord is intricately connected to our gut, our vital organs. It protects the spinal cord, the major pathway of nerves sending signals to our brain. A string of 33 vertebrae, this bony structure is naturally designed in such a way that it balances stability and mobility. ![]()
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