back pain in lower spine

Hello Carma

This answer has lots of questions in it! 😉

>> How long have you been practising please?
>> How many times per week?
>> Have you ever tried doing the whole class and NOT the spinal twist to see if your spine hurts afterward? It’s worth the experiment to rule it out by the way.

I would like to know more about how you do this pose.

Please tell me for the first side with left leg on the floor:

>> Where is your heel?
>> Where is your right foot positioned exactly?
>> How closely is your right hand positioned to the spine and bottom behind you?
>> Are you pushing on the floor to hold that spine upright with your right hand or are you leaning on that hand?
>> Take your attention to your hips. Are they even on the floor or do you feel one hip weighted more than the other?
>> Where on the left leg are you holding it with your left hand?
>> If any of the above details are different for the other side, please let me know.

I do not want to make any assumptions about how you are doing this pose. So please be as detailed and specific as you need to be. I will reword questions if I need to… First some clarity about what’s going on for you

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Carma

Thanks for the details. Try setting up similarly but instead of grabbing your towel, slide your foot a tiny bit further forward away from your knee, with your foot still flat on the floor. Perhaps your foot will only move 1/2 an inch or it could move 3 or 4 inches. Just make sure the foot is flat on the floor. Most people who are ‘set up correctly’ but grabbing the towel can set up even better by making this small change. Then your twist should feel differently to you, maybe more controllable and less intense – and because of that more satisfying. Let me know if that works.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂