This is Part 5 of a Yoga Synergy Spinal Movements sequence that forms part of a series of videos and live courses taught by physiotherapist and Director of Yoga Synergy throughout the world as well as part of an online courses at RMIT University (http://www.rmit.com) and Yoga Synergy (http://anatomy.yogasynergy.com).

Video Transcript:

“Now I do four movements to help lengthen the spine using the hips and the arms. With the fingers interlocked I push the sitting bones down and forward and the armpits up and forward and traction the spine. Raising the heels helps firm around the knees and squeezing in the thighs helps firm knees and spine. Now I flex (forward bend) the spine first tilting the spine forward, flexing from the middle and pushing the shoulders down and forward. Now the front of my abdomen becomes firm and the sides are relaxed. Front firmness causes reciprocal relaxation of the back of the spine. Breathing into the abdomen using the diaphragm, an inhalation muscle, causes reciprocal relaxation of the exhalation muscles. So the back of my spine is relaxing while the front is firming.”

This is a simple explanation. Ideally in reality you should move the spine one vertebra at a time starting from the base of the spine up.

You can see a demonstration of the the entire sequence by clicking HERE

You can see Part 4 of the instructional videos of this sequence by clicking HERE

You can see Part 3 of the instructional videos of the sequence by clicking HERE

You can see Part 2 of the instructional videos of this sequence by clicking HERE

TO FURTHER DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR YOGA AND OR EXERCISE CLICK HERE TO SEE DETAILS OF OUR LIVE AND ONLINE COURSES ON THE PRACTICAL APPLIED ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF YOGA

This video was one of a series filmed by David Samulenok of RMIT University for the course entitled Applied Eastern Anatomy.This is a low resolution version of video, higher resolution versions are available in the online courses.