• Dahn Yoga tip: Focus on Yourself

    Without a goal, we have no choice but to endlessly chase after the thoughts of others. We envy those who know more or have more than we do, and we live out our lives completely forgetting our own brains. Such things happen to us often unless we are focused on ourselves. - Dahn Yoga

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    Back Pain Healing Exercise

    By Michela | July 23, 2009

    This article was from this month’s BEST Life Media newsletter:

    We all know someone with lower back pain. Maybe you even have it yourself. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in fact, back pain is the second most common neurological disorder in the United States.

    One of the remedies the NIH recommends to help you recover from lower back pain is exercise, especially strengthening exercises for the back and abdominal muscles. It includes yoga in its recommendations as a way to stretch the muscles, thereby easing pain.

    Simple exercises such as those described and illustrated for back pain in Meridian Exercise for Self Healing by Ilchi Lee can help us take control of the pain in our lives. By performing meridian exercises regularly, our muscles will loosen and allow rich, oxygenated blood to flow into them, nourishing them and permitting energy to circulate throughout the body. On the other hand, when we are too sedentary, energy in our body becomes obstructed, resulting in increased pain and stiffness. Leg Sweep 1

     

    Leg Sweep

    This exercise increases heat energy in the lower abdominal area, which then permeates the entire body. It eases chronic lumbago and establishes an overall feeling of well-being.

    1. Relax your body before you exercise to release tension. Leg Sweep 2
    2. Stand with your feet wide apart. Place your hands behind your waist.
    3. Inhale. Bend your upper body from the hips. With your palms, sweep down the backs of your legs and grasp your ankles.
    4. Gently pull your torso toward your ankles to place your head between your legs.
    5. Maintain this posture and attempt to stretch Leg Sweep 3farther. Breathe comfortably and feel the strengthening in your lower abdomen, waist, and lower back.
    6. Exhale and slowly return to the starting position.
    7. Repeat twice. 

    Topics: Dahn Yoga |

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