Yoga Health Secrets

Yoga for lumbago and sciatica

The next posture I would like you to try is deceptively simple. Called the FROG POSE it is performed simply by kneeling on the floor, knees together and feet apart, and then sitting on the floor between your feet. Simple did I say? I can hear you saying it is impossible. Not only is it possible but if you look at figure 53 you will see it in its extreme form when the body is bent backwards with the legs in this position until the head touches the floor. This is called the Kneeling Bridge Posture so if this is feasible how much more easy is the simple Frog Pose. So do practise it and your sciatica will gradually succumb to its nerve tugging, muscle toning persuasion.

I would like to refer you once again to chapter five in which 1 have described the Yogamudra. This exercise has very many benefits and not the least of these is its effect on the spinal column and the muscles on either side of it. For the relief of lumbago you would do well to practise it until you can perform it to perfection and hold it for some time. Remember to do deep Yoga breathing while in this position and straighten up as soon as you begin to feel the slightest strain. In the two complaints with which this chapter is concerned it is of vital importance that you do not strain any nerve or muscle. Once again I reiterate the words ’slowly and gently’.

I cannot mention the Yogamudra twice in this book without telling you of the spiritual values it confers. Although we are primarily concerned in this book with improving the health let us never forget that the practice of Hatha Yoga cannot but have a beneficial effect on the mind and spirit. Yogamudra, one of the basic Yoga asanas, is essentially a cleansing exercise, both of the system and of the mind. Students in the advanced stages of Yoga remain in this position for as long as an hour or more.

I am not asking you to attempt such a feat of endurance but I would like you to experience the effects of just a few quiet moments spent in sitting in this posture, when you can do it, that is. I am aware that for some of you this will take some time. But as you straighten up you will experience a new clarity of vision, a new awareness, and a heigthened sense of power and well-being. You will, as you come to learn more and more Yoga asanas, adopt your own particular favourites and I have heard from many people that Yogamudra is one of the most popular Yoga asanas. Not an easy one but how worthy it is of your time, your patience and your endeavour.

And now to end this chapter I will describe one of the most beautiful and dramatic postures in the entire Yoga range. Strikingly graceful, it is worthy of a place in the most classical of ballets. Called ANJANEYASANA or in English the WING POSTURE it makes the human body into a living poem of static grace and at the same time limbers up the muscles of the lower back, the thighs, and the shoulders. But as it is one of the most beautiful so it is one of the most difficult to perform perfectly, though beginners will be able to perform it in a modified way with little difficulty. I include it in this book because it is far too beautiful to be left out, and also because to sufferers from lumbago and sciatica it is of great and lasting benefit.

Anjaneyasana or the Wing Posture

1. Kneel down with your feet together. Your body should be straight from the knees upwards. Place your right foot on the floor so that the upper leg is at right angles to the lower leg. Stretch your left leg back as far as possible, keeping the knee on the ground. Try to reach a little farther back with your leg each time you practise this asana.

2. Raise your hands above your head with the fingers touch ing, and palms together. Very slowly bend your spine and your head backwards. When performed correctly this asana requires the outstretched leg, the spine and the arms to form a semicircle. Viewed from the side this Yoga posture looks like the flight of some graceful and powerful bird.

Please exercise very great care when bending your body backwards and do not try to force any of your muscles beyond their capacity. With practice they will loosen up and you will not experience any painful cramp in your shoulders and thighs. Beginners to Yoga, particularly those of you who are not used to taking exercise, may well find that your muscles are a little sore the day after you start. Do not exercise these muscles for a day or two but give them a rest as you try something different. So if, after attempting the WING POSTURE your shoulders are a little stiff the next day, then do some other exercise which involves another part of the body.

The study of Hatha Yoga in general will increase your natural patience so that, in time, you will be content to learn and improve slowly, and not expect dramatic results in next to no time. The study of Yoga requires infinite patience but in studying it you will gradually develop the patience you need. One cannot make this statement in connection with any other form of physical culture which proves once again that Hatha Yoga, though its province is primarily the physical body, is very much a mental discipline as well.