VIDEO by Rodney Yee : Living Yoga - Back Care Yoga for Beginners
Yoga focuses on keeping the spine open and supported, so it is understandable why millions of people turn to yoga for self-care of their back. This is a gentle, easy 30-minute introduction to yoga workout with nice setting and good production. It meant to maximize the movements of the spine and Yee carefully demonstrates the back strengthening yoga postures, sometimes using a chair (sitting in it or standing and propping one foot on it). His form is beautiful, his explanations clear. I would mention more for beginners that the goal is not to get as deeply into each posture as the instructor (one cannot begin to approximate his degree of flexibility at once), but to reach your own comfortable limit.
People often suffer back pain when they are tense due to increased muscle tightness. This short sequence might be very beneficial for those who suffer from back pain because it helps increase level of relaxation as well as lengthen short, tight muscles. It's perfect for beginners who haven't done any kind of Yoga before, it's gentle enough to use if you are injured. The positions are simple enough to understand. I think one of the best parts of this video is that Rodney Yee focuses on both relaxation and strengthening the back and spine, as it supposed to be in any good exercise.
This video has a series of gentle yoga positions (most done with a chair) to stretch and soften your back. At first I questioned the use of the chair and straps and even called it the chair yoga; however I realized it helps to make the practice easier and the twists particularly effective without bending forward too much. I’ve seen so many older people straggle for balance in classes at side poses like triangle. This session is done using a chair so that those who lack flexibility, overweight, or limited in movement because they suffer back or neck pain can do the same yoga positions you find on other tapes or classes but which may have been too difficult due to physical limitations.
I personally picked up lots of expression from this video that might sound meaningless to some but they seem to relay very well what the instructor wants you to feel and try during certain pose:
"Elongate the spine", "Elongate the side waist into the reach of the arms.", "Inhale, releasing the groins", "soften the brain", "open the chest", "let your neck, your eyes, and your throat be easy", "let the sacrum sink deeper into the body", "legs long", "keep the spine long", "soften the throat", "keep the chest broad and open", "both soles of the feet are open", "relax the throat, relax the eyes", "side waist long, chest open", "open feet, open chest"
Rodney Yee enriches the practice with reminders to elongate your spine, open your chest, drop your shoulders, and flex your feet. In addition I would also try to include more often steady, consistent coaching students with simpler prompts to inhale and exhale at the proper times, raise their heads slowly (to avoid rapid changes in blood pressure), or relax their shoulders.
The video is fashionably brief and professionally produced, but to me it was a bit too fast pasted for a starter. Anyway, in my opinion "Back Care Yoga" is a nice, safe, reliable, low key tape; just right for the hesitant beginner and Rodney Yee creates a nice, mellow mood, with soothing background music.