Do you have sciatic nerve pain? Does it start in your lower back, radiate down your bum,
maybe even down your leg? You've probably tried just resting and relaxing and that doesn't really
make it better, and then you heard that you need to move to heal, so you went for a run,
or you went to the gym, and that made it worse. If you're stuck in this place where you know doing
nothing doesn't work and exercising doesn't work, you know you need to move to heal but
you're not sure where to start, this video is for you. Hey, my name is Lucas. I'm a yoga teacher,
I'm a teacher trainer. I work with thousands of students every month who have back pain. I
myself have had a major back pain problem, as well as a sciatic nerve problem, and in this
video I'll share with you a very simple, and most importantly safe, 10-minute routine that you can
do at home to strengthen and mobilize this area, to reduce inflammation and improve circulation.
They say movement is medicine and this is true. You need to move to heal. But like most medicine,
you need to start off with a little baby dose and make sure that you're building on success.
The biggest mistake most of us make is too much, too soon. A quick disclaimer here. If you have
a major back pain injury, if you're having trouble getting up and down from the floor,
if you're feeling dizziness, if you've lost control of your bladder, please go see a doctor.
This is for educational purposes only. In this video I'm going to assume that your sciatic nerve
pain originates in your lower back. That's true for about 90 percent of people. You might have
a bulging or a herniated disc, you might have osteoarthritis, you might have, I don't know,
spondylolisthesis, or spinal stenosis. So many different conditions can impinge upon that sciatic
nerve. In all cases we need to start moving as part of the healing process, but again, we'll
start with those baby movements. Our goal here is to increase circulation, reduce inflammation,
and most importantly, get that radiating pain to start to go back up to the source. So, if things
go well, in the next couple of days, next couple of weeks, instead of that pain radiating to here,
it'll start to move its way back up. That's how you know that you're making progress. As we we
move through our practices I will assume that for you, like most people, the movement that
triggers the most pain is spinal flexion, when you hunch over like this. So for most of our
exercises we'll keep our spine in a neutral position, with a slightly arched back. I'll
also assume that you are listening to your body and if something makes your pain condition worse,
either during or after our class, please modify, change, or skip it altogether. In order to heal,
your pain condition needs to either stay the same and very, very soon it needs to start
to reduce. As usual, there's a PDF guide down below, if you'd like to have a visual
reference for the class. All you need really is a yoga mat and a stool. Let's get started.
Crawl Cow pose. Begin on all fours on your mat with your knees under your hips,
your hands under your shoulders, toes tucked under. Allow your spine to be in a gentle arch.
Inhale, drop your heart down, lift your chin up, look up. Exhale, return back to neutral.
Inhale, arch your spine, look up gently. Exhale, return back to neutral.
Inhale, arch your spine, puff your chest, look up. Exhale, return back to neutral.
Inhale, arch your spine like a cow, allow your navel to drop. Exhale, back to neutral.
Inhale, squeeze your shoulder blades together, lift your heart. Exhale, return back to center.
Inhale, arch like a cow, lift. Exhale, back to neutral. Inhale, puff your chest, lift your chin.
Exhale, back to neutral. Inhale, arch your spine gently, look up. Exhale, back to where you began.
Inhale, arch your spine, look up. Exhale, return back to neutral. Final round. Inhale, arch your
spine, look up, and exhale back to neutral. Sit back down on your heels, shake out your hands.
Second set, instead of crawl-cow pose we'll try Cat-Cow pose. If the flexion in the cat variation
of the pose is too much, default back to our previous version. Hands and knees like a child
crawling, toes are tucked under, knees as wide as your hips, your hands are under your shoulders.
Inhale, arch your back, gently look up. Exhale, this time chin towards your chest,
and gently curl like a cat. Inhale, arch your spine, look up.
Exhale, chin towards your chest, now curl like a cat. Inhale, arch your spine, gently look up.
Exhale, curl like a cat. Two more times. Inhale, arch your spine and look up.
Exhale, curl like a cat, look towards your navel. Final round. Inhale, arch your spine and look up.
Exhale, curl like a cat, look towards your navel. Sit back on your heels, shake out your arms.
Pointer Pose. Place a stool in front of you on the floor, hands and knees like a child crawling,
just like before, your toes are tucked under, knees under your hips, hands under your shoulders.
Extend your right arm and place your right arm on top of the stool. Extend your left leg back
behind you with your toes tucked under on the floor. Right arm straight, left arm straight,
gaze in front of you on the floor, and now strengthen your whole front and back body.
Squeeze everything in towards the midline, one, two, three,
four, five. Switch, left arm extends, your hand is pressing into the stool,
right leg extends back behind you, toes are tucked under, press your left arm down,
press your right toes down, hold here, one, gaze in front of you on the floor, two, three,
four, five. Release down, sit back on your heels, and shake it out.
Second set. Hands and knees like a child crawling, toes are tucked under, knees under your hips,
hands under your shoulders, extend your right arm, press your right hand down into the stool in front
of you, left leg back behind you, toes tucked under, straight right arm, straight left leg,
squeeze everything into the center, brace your spine, one, two, three,
four, five. Release down, switch. Left arm extends, right leg extends, toes are tucked
under on your right leg, right leg is straight and strong, pushing down into the floor,
left arm is straight and strong, pressing down into the stool. Hold here, one, two,
three,
four,
five. Release back, sit back on your heels, shake out your arms.
Supported Bicycles. Lie down on your back and roll up a yoga mat, a towel,
or a pillow under your lower back, to maintain a slight arch in your back throughout the practice.
Lift your head off the ground and look straight up towards the ceiling. Don't look at your knees,
look straight up towards the ceiling, pause here. Extend your arms at your sides, lift up on your
fingertips, straight arms, strong arms, bend your knees, your knees are bent at 90 degrees,
pause here, arms are straight, gaze is up towards the ceiling, your head is gently lifted off the
ground, inhale. Now exhale, straighten your right leg to 45 degrees, inhale back to center.
Exhale, straighten your left leg to 45 degrees, inhale back to center.
Exhale, straighten your right leg to 45 degrees, inhale to center. Exhale, left leg to 45 degrees,
back to center. Exhale, right leg extends, back to center. Exhale, left leg extends, back to center.
Exhale, right leg extends, inhale back to center. Exhale, left leg extends, inhale back to center.
Exhale, right, inhale center. Head is still lifted, exhale left,
inhale back to center. Hug your knees and make your way back up to a seated position.
You can shake your hips side to side. Windshield Wipers. Lie down on your back, again with a mat
or a towel rolled up underneath your lumbar spine. Lift your head off the ground just a little bit,
straighten your arms, place your hands in a prayer position, lift your knees off the ground,
place your prayer hands between your knees, knees are bent at 90 degrees,
keep your hands right where they are, your head right where it is, gaze very gently at your knees,
inhale, open your knees wide, exhale back to center. Inhale, open your knees wide, exhale
back to center. Inhale, open your knees wide, exhale back to center. Inhale, open, exhale close.
Inhale open, exhale close. Now very gently roll onto your side, onto your right hand side.
Good. Your feet are on the floor, your knees are bent, prop up on your right forearm,
prop up on your right forearm and lift your side body off the ground. Pause here.
We'll do a side plank on your knees. If you're comfortable, place your left hand behind your
back, so you remind yourself to keep a gentle arch in your lower back. If you're comfortable, lift
your hips up off the ground and pause here. Final step. If you're comfortable and pain-free, reach
your left arm up into the air, turn, twist, look up at your left fingertips, five, four, three,
two, one. Lower all the way back down. Windshield Wipers again. Lift your knees into the air,
extend your arms, hands in a prayer between your knees, gently look towards your knees,
arms stay straight, head stays where it is, inhale, open your legs, exhale,
close, inhale open, exhale close, with control, inhale open, exhale close,
inhale open, exhale close. One more time. Inhale open, exhale close. Roll on to the other side.
On your left side, place your left forearm across the mat, knees are bent, feet are on the floor,
knees are on the floor, press down and lift your hips up off the ground. If you feel okay here,
place your right hand behind your back to remind you to stay in a gentle arched spine. Option one,
stay right here. Option two, reach your arm up to the sky, turn and look up at your hand, five,
four, three, two, one. Slowly lower all the way down and roll onto your belly.
Zombie Crawl. Roll onto your belly, put your mouth and your nose onto the ground, mouth and
nose right on to the ground. Your neck stays long, feet as wide as your hips, tuck your toes under,
hands a little wider than your shoulders, way up high on your fingertips.
When I say one, I'd like you to claw with your fingers, pulling your body forward,
and I'd like you to kick back through your heels, lengthening your body backwards. We're getting
traction on our spine here. All the time keep your nose and your mouth on the floor. Three,
two, one, lengthen forward, kick back like a zombie crawling, five, four, three, two,
one. Cross your forearms, place your forehead on your forearms, take a break. The goal is
to pull forward, kick back simultaneously, allowing your spine to stay in that gentle
arch. We're avoiding spinal flexion, at least for now. Final round, final pose, try again.
Feet as wide as your hips, tuck your toes under, extend your arms out in front of you, up on your
fingertips. When I say one, I'd like you to pull forward and kick back, face stays down on the mat,
your mouth and nose, three, two, one, claw with your fingers, kick with your heels,
stretch your spine out, five, four, three, two, and one. Lower down, roll over onto your back,
feet wider than your hips, feet roll to the outside, hands at your sides, palms face up,
lie down and give yourself one to two minutes here to relax. I hope you found this video helpful. If
you'd like more science-based yoga videos, hit subscribe down below. I do my best to
answer all the questions and I'd love to hear your comments or feedback down below. Lastly,
to find my teaching calendar, please visit yogabody.com. See you in the next video.