low back class at lulus

i had such a great evening with the gang at lulu bandha's last night teaching about the low back and pelvis! we did some exploration of the anatomy and injuries of this area and followed with an asana practice intended to encourage people to relate to their bodies in a new way, to utilize the visual anatomy to "see" inside a little more. we began to touch on the fascial system as well, and of course reminded ourselves that no level of anatomical knowledge can make us more wise than the signals and messages of our bodies--to listen to that is to truly touch upon what will help us to heal and keep us safe.

because i didn't blog immediately afterwards, i am going to remember as closely as i can:

supine knees to chest

pelvic tilts with breath, focus on sacrum, find neutral pelvis

active rolling bridge with breath, focus on articulation of spine, option of engaging mulabandha

single knee to chest, engage straight leg to open psoas

knee across body, stretch outer hip

knee toward armpit, stretch short adductors

*pause in corpse to observe

other side

knees to chest, roll to sit--pause with abdominal engagement

squat, tailbone release

uttanasana--roll to stand

tadasana--specific postural awareness (slight mulabandha and ab engagement)

warrior 1 with pelvic neutral/leg focus

warrior 2 with pelvic neutral/leg focus

hip hinge for 1/2 sun sals, moving with pelvic neutral

lunge left

sit back to touch on hams stretch/round spine

cat/cow pelvic focus

other side lunge/hams

cat/cow sacral chakra focus, then manipura focus

extended childs, focus on lats and paraspinals

childs with lateral rotation/reach each side, connect to fascial system and QL as well as lats

childs arms at side, focus on sacral chakra, back body

seated hams stretch with strap, neutral spine

roll forward to hams stretch

roll to back knees to chest

supine twist

windshield wipers

supported savasana, begin with chakra 1-3 awareness, progress to relaxation

**a couple of other things i wanted to touch on, but didn't get a chance to:

prone poses (sphinx, single leg locust to both leg locust to engage the back muscles and glutes/hamstrings)

quadriped alternate arm and leg with focus on engaging abs/strong center