How To Stretch The Spine In Hatha Yoga Video

Stretching the spine will help align back muscles. Learn how to stretch the spine in Hatha yoga with this video clip.

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Begin in Table Pose
Extend one leg back
Lift opposite arm & reach
Exhale & stretch

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Cindy Mastry has practiced yoga since the age of eight, and also has a background in Jazz and Ballet. Active in the fitness industry for nearly twenty years, she teaches aerobics, kickboxing, and yoga at many fitness centers in the Tampa Bay area. Cindy trained with 84 year-old Master Yogi Monk, Baba Hari Dass at the Mt. Madonna Center in California and owns/operates "Yoga Etc Studio" in St. Petersburg, Florida. Cindy teaches yoga to people of all ages and experience levels and at very competitive rates.

CINDY MASTRY: Namaste. There are many ways to stretch your spine in Hatha yoga. Forward bends stretch the spine, backbends stretch the spine, and I really like the sunbird stretch. It's a great stretch, a great way to lengthen your spine. It's really good if you have any back issues, maybe some low back pain. So you come on hands and knees into your table pose. You want to make sure your shoulders are right over your wrists and your fingers are spread wide, and you want to press through all parts of your hands, so you don't put too much pressure on your wrists. Your knees are hip width distance apart right underneath your hips. As you inhale in, you extend one leg back and make sure your hips are square, so we don't want to shoot our hips over to the side and we don't want to have one up. It doesn't matter how high your leg is, you're just trying to lengthen through the leg. Lifting the opposite arm and reaching, you want the neck to be an extension of your spine, so you keep looking down, making a firm foundation with the hand, the shin, and the foot that's on the ground, drawing the belly in inhale, and then as you exhale lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, lengthen to get length out of the spine, remembering to pull your shoulders out of your ears. So this is called the sunbird stretch and it's a really great way to stretch your spine.

How to Stretch the Spine in Hatha Yoga Video

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