Yoga for a Healthy Back: Key Elements & Practice for Back Pain Relief

There is promising news in the field of back pain relief: According to a 2017 study conducted by the Annals of Internal Medicine, about half the back pain sufferers in the study who practiced yoga achieved reduced pain and disability and about half reduced their use of pain medication. 

In this 3-hour online course, noted back pain specialist, yoga teacher, and author of Healing Our Backs with Yoga, Lillah Schwartz shares her decades of knowledge, experience, and techniques that have helped hundreds of students relieve back pain and maintain back health. Known to her students and clients as the “Queen of Alignment,” Lillah is a Certified Yoga Therapist by the International Association of Yoga Therapy (IAYT).

In the lecture portions, Lillah explains the principles of anatomy and physiology in a practical way related to the back, discusses the causes and forces that contribute to back pain, and explores how to help your students (and you!) heal their backs with alignment-based yoga geared to individual needs. The course is designed for yoga teachers and for back pain sufferers with any level of yoga experience.

In addition to the lectures, Lillah offers four 30-minute practice modules with poses that help people with differing back disturbances remain balanced and free from the discomfort of situational or chronic back pain. Each module is unique and complete and follows a particular aspect of yoga for back care. Each module stands on its own, and can be repeated as often as necessary. 

Module 1: Focuses on balancing our posture, how best to use our breath to reduce back pain, and the importance of alignment to create length and space in the spine.

Module 2: How to improve the range of motion of the hip joints in order to relieve stress and strain in the lower back as well as promote clear understanding of our needs.

Module 3: Features guidance about how to apply traction and use safe twisting poses without strain to avoid or release the muscle spasms often involved in acute back pain.

Module 4: Offers poses to strengthen and stabilize the muscles along the spine with insight for their best application.

What You Will Learn

• How to understand the forces that contribute to back pain

• Why alignment is so important to building and maintaining a healthy back

• How to gradually and efficiently build core strength

• How to reduce back pain by using the extension of the limbs to create length and space in the spine

• Facts about fascia as it relates to back pain

• Understanding pain as a subjective experience and formulas for addressing pain

• The 4 things that hold us back from healing

This Premium Course Includes These Bonuses!

• Recordings of All Webinar Sessions: It’s generally acknowledged that many people only retain 10-20 percent of what they learn in a workshop. You will get access to the recordings of both webinar sessions - both MP3 (downloadable) and MP4 (streaming online), enabling you to go back and listen to the workshop as many times as you like.

• Transcripts of Both Sessions: Ever wanted to refer to a certain part of a course? Even the best note takers miss a point every so often. With the transcripts of the sessions, you can go back and refer to particularly important passages or clarify sections you were in doubt about.  

This course qualifies for 3 non-contact hour CEs with Yoga Alliance.