| Has chronic back pain taken control of your life? It can, | | | | and stress. When your back pain is not due to injury or |
| and for those who suffer, it is both mental and physical | | | | illness, but is a result of the link between our emotional |
| misery. As one who has had to deal with lower back | | | | and physical selves, Yoga is a perfect practice to turn |
| pain for a number of years, I promise you it is true. A | | | | to for relief. At the heart of the art of Yoga, are the |
| back injury while I was still a teenager changed all of | | | | poses and positions that can reset the body with |
| the muscular skeletal relationships in my back and hips. | | | | improved balance, flexibility, and posture. Moreover, |
| As a result, when I get out of shape and put on a few | | | | there are poses that help relax and calm the mind as |
| unwanted pounds, the muscles from my neck to my | | | | well as the body. The principles and practice of Yoga |
| knees let me know it. | | | | enhance our awareness of our body messages and |
| Several years past I jogged outdoors, on my gym's | | | | provides us the tools and the means to respond to |
| track and on my treadmill. For those who can do it, I | | | | what our pain is telling us. |
| submit that TV shows on tape and a treadmill session | | | | When tense back muscles act out like an angry child, |
| go together like vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce! | | | | misery is our company. These tense muscles need to |
| Zap out the commercials and what's left provides a | | | | relax and the regular practice of Yoga delivers the |
| forty-eight minute warm up, workout, and cool down. | | | | combinations of stretching, flexibility, and strengthening |
| Perfect! When joint issues slowed me to walking on | | | | that can renew the muscles and relieve your back |
| the treadmill, this was still a great session but finally the | | | | pain. A report in the December 2005 edition of the |
| joints won. Not only walking but also other milder forms | | | | Annals of Internal Medicine indicated that Yoga might |
| of exercise like my beloved golf went by the wayside | | | | be a more effective exercise prescription for the relief |
| and exercise was limited to resistance bands. This | | | | of lower back pain than traditional strength, resistance |
| was a problem until I turned to the Yoga. In the | | | | and aerobic exercise programs. |
| practice of this 5000-year-old art, I found not only an | | | | If back pain and joint issues have derailed your past |
| exercise program but a stress management program | | | | fitness routines, learn about Yoga. The Gentle Yoga |
| as well. | | | | and Chair Yoga sessions are perfect for beginners |
| For so many people today, muscle pain in the neck, | | | | and for those who need to ease back into a fitness |
| shoulders and back is directly linked to the role those | | | | regime. Both your back and your mind will thank you. |
| muscles play in carrying the weight of our emotions | | | | |