The belly

Yesterday in my Deep Yoga teacher training program a big focus was the belly.
There are many of us in the program who have back issues, myself included.
I have Kyphosis. The Mayo Clinic describes Kyphosis like this, Kyphosis usually refers to an exaggerated rounding — sometimes called round back or hunchback. While Kyphosis can occur at any age, it’s most common in older women where the deformity is known as a dowager’s hump.
My posture is not good and I believe I have a weak core. These along with the Kyphosis contribute to my lower back pain.
Mary, who taught us yesterday, met with anyone who wanted to talk about their back issues informally an hour before class started. It was a good conversation and gave her ideas of what to focus on for the formal class.
We learned to have a strong belly while keeping it soft. We learned how to work from our bellies instead of our backs, which is really going to help eliminate back pain.
She helped me and many others to work on standing correctly to give lift to our spine with a healthy sacrum while having an even pelvis and tailbone.
I have a long way to go. But I have an idea of how I should be standing and will work to correct it. It feels funny. So that will be the challenge. Learning this “new” way of standing will take time but will eventually feel natural for me. This will make for a much happier back and spine.
As we were working in groups on a sequencing assignment I picked Virasana on a block as my pose to teach. In the picture above I am in Virasana (Hero’s Pose) on a block.
I mentioned to Mary that I sit in this pose when I meditate at home. I feels best for my back. Because sometimes just sitting for a minute or two can cause a lot of back pain for me. I was pleased to find out that this is the best pose for me as it has me sitting slightly forward while keeping my pelvis and tailbone even.