Happy New Year everyone! May we all have a fabulous year, in which we do something every day towards creating the life we want. If back pain sometimes stands in the way, I am here to support you. My aim with yoga therapy is to help you find more confidence and joy in movement. Yoga therapy can enhance your strength and flexibility, improve your posture, optimise your breathing, and provide a time for relaxation and peace of mind. I teach in group- and individual sessions, through my video series and in these simple but hopefully helpful blogs. In this particular blog I address abdominal strength, as well-functioning abdominal muscles are essential to ease back pain and tightness. Now that the holidays are over, are you ready to find core strength and stability?

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December can be a fun and exciting month, but also a very busy and exhausting one, culminating in a few emotionally loaded celebrations. In order to stay centred and energised, it is important to make time for yourself. In this blog I explain how you can do this with simple restorative yoga. When you feel tired and overwhelmed, or you need a short rest before a long night, most effective and easy is to lie for 15 to 20 minutes in one of the rest positions explained below. Resting for 15 to 20 minutes a day in a restorative yoga position counters the effects that stress can have on your body and mind and restores your energy. It also suits this time of year, when the winter invites us to rest more and turn inward.

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Unless your computer screen is on eye level and you are paying attention to sitting straight, you are likely to adopt the easiest position in front of your computer, with a rounded back and forward neck. This “computer posture” is very common in our times and, apart from tightening or overstretching muscles, has a snowballing effect on our health. Below I explain why we should avoid this way of sitting and describe 3 yoga poses to counter computer posture.

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I once asked a friend how she managed to get through a particularly difficult time in her life. She said she focused on looking after herself and eating healthily. It is an important start when life for some reason has ground to a halt and you don’t know immediately which way to turn. As in the cliché, you then have to “put your own safety mask on first”. I am always reminded of her in times I have to be brave, for example when I lose someone dear and I have to think of a strategy to go forward with strength.  Apart from nourishing my body and walking or exercising in nature, I also use my yoga practice to make me feel better. Practising yoga can stimulate the endorphins, our “feel-good hormones”, and promote an inner sense of contentment. When we need a mood shift, uplifting yoga poses can help. Yoga also offers the space to centre oneself, to feel quiet and “re-group”. This blog will take you through poses and breathing exercises that have an uplifting effect. Use the sequence whenever you need some extra support.

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14 August was the first Global Yoga Therapy Day, a day filled with sharing and informative lectures via Facebook. “If you can breathe, you can practice yoga” was the motto of this online event. This means everyone can do yoga, even when unable to walk or kneel or bend in certain ways. More than just making yoga accessible, yoga therapy actively seeks to support an individual’s journey to greater health and wellbeing.

A yoga therapist is a yoga teacher who has been trained to make yoga accessible, beneficial and safe for people with a variety of health challenges. We probably all have health challenges, so when would you choose yoga therapy over yoga? A general yoga class can be beneficial when you are fairly fit, healthy and strong, and when you enjoy the group dynamics and social contact. In some instances, however, yoga therapy is the much better choice. This blog explains why.

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Hot summer days can make us feel tired and bothered: we end up sweaty, with flushed cheeks and heavy legs, exhausted at the end of the day. This is the result of our body working hard to keep its temperature and internal conditions in equilibrium. Our body is trying to keep cool by raising the heart rate, dilating blood vessels and sweating: the dilated blood vessels bring more blood nearer the skin so it can cool down as the sweat evaporates. Help your body by staying as cool as possible and by drinking plenty of water. You can also try these ‘hot days, cool yoga’ tips: a breathing technique that can help you feel cooler and a yoga position that is a miracle cure for heavy legs.

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Looking after our neck is often forgotten, until it hurts. In this time when many of us work at a desk, slouch on a sofa, bend our head over a book or phone, or drive long distances, our posture often puts the neck forward of the shoulders, and the neck muscles at a greater risk. Neck care can help prevent muscle pains and strains, neck tightness, upper back pain, shoulder pain, degeneration of the cervical discs and neurological pain. Having had to manage a forward head myself, and having woken up numerous times with a stiff neck, I know I have to include daily neck care to prevent any chronic condition from developing. This blog discusses four ways in which yoga can help to keep your neck healthy.

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When you feel burdened with work pressure, you are in a constant state of alertness: your mind is focused on your job even after work hours and you wake up during the night worrying about your colleagues or deadlines. You know that you have managed similar and even worse stress at work, but you can’t stop your mind from racing and worrying. This blog discusses the effects of stress and how it can impact your health, productivity and happiness, and why clever companies offer wellness programmes to their employees. I finish by giving you 3 simple practices that you can do right now to combat stress.

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Healing lower back pain requires a broad approach, which includes daily exercises to relax and strengthen muscles, improving one’s posture, dealing with stress, etc. What conventional approaches often overlook is the surprising way of healing lower back pain through abdominal breathing. In yoga therapy, however, relaxed breathing is central to healing lower back pain. In this blog I explain the effect of abdominal breathing and a relaxed diaphragm on the lower back. The importance of a freely moving diaphragm for our wellbeing cannot be stressed enough.

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If you are an office worker, you are likely to spend 4 to 9 hours a day sitting at your desk. The same is true if you work from home, if you are a student, and even when you have retired: we generally sit too much. Prolonged sitting has been linked to poor physical health, back pain and decline in mental well-being. So what can we do? First and foremost, get up once an hour for a short walk. Secondly, try the 7 ways to stretch at your desk that are demonstrated in this blog. Doing these stretches regularly will increase the blood supply to the brain, reduce fatigue, prevent aches and pains and increase work efficiency. All the exercises below should be fine for people with back pain, although it is still important not to do a movement if it hurts. Let’s dive right in!

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