Person who has a straight spine and no curvature (straight lumbar lordosis), the natural support of a spinal arch is missing. As a straight lumbar spine is unable to give support to paraspinal muscles.
Due to this bad posture of the lumbar spine. The person will gradually lose strength from legs. The thigh will take the burden (instead of spinal muscles) and those muscles will become weak, sag and move out forward making a banana like shape. Thigh muscles when move forward, cause lumbar and back pain.
Iyengar yoga has given various modifications through which this straightening can be corrected in many standing, lying down and backward bending asanas and person can become pain-free.
Props are used in adjusting the correct curvature in each & every asana in detail.
Regular practise will permanently and naturally keep such pain at bay. Without ever having to undergo surgery.
Uttan Asana:
For concave spine, must take height under the hand. Without height, practitioner cannot concave the spinal trunk. And the chest will be unable to open forward. Here we are using height for the spine, not only for hands that are not able to touch the floor.
Urdhva Prasarita Padasana:
Three-folded blanket for lumbar spine.
Three folded blanket for shoulder.
Using belt and brick.
Here we are creating the arch and straightening thigh in center.
Using brick inside the knee. The top thigh near the groin will begin opening and middle thigh will move to the center. Maintaining patela in the center.
DO NOT roll your thighs inward otherwise the knee roll inward.
Maintain center of the knee, center of thigh and create lumbar curvature.
These asanas are suggestive and should be attempted ONLY under supervision of an experienced certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher. Unsupervised attemp may lead to injury and unexpected outcome.
Gratitude to Guruji BKS Iyengar, Geeta ji Iyengar, Prashant ji Iyengar and all teachers at RIMYI, Pune for their immense undisputed wisdom in yoga.