FYB Feel Your Best - Yoga Teacher Training, Pilates Teacher Training and Stress Management Teacher Training

Mind, Body & Spirit:

Question and Answers

About Yoga, Pilates & Stress Management

By Debra Mundt, RYT500, CPT
FYB (Feel Your Best)^®

Yoga, Pilates & Stress Management

Teacher Certification Training School

Yoga & Pilates: Help Back Pain

Q: Can Yoga or Pilates help a bad back? --A.B.

A: It would be helpful to know what you mean by “bad back”. If your issue is one that has been diagnosed (for example, as a bulging disc, or sciatica, etc.), then Yoga and / or Pilates can be quite beneficial (with the approval of your healthcare provider). If you experience muscle aches and pains, but have not seen a healthcare provider to diagnose your condition, I advise you to do so, in order for your Yoga or Pilates instructor to know how to modify the postures / exercises for you accordingly. That way, you’ll receive the most benefit with the least amount of discomfort.

Both disciplines are fantastic in their own ways to promote spinal health, and injury recovery. It is helpful for you to understand, however, that not just any Yoga or Pilates class will be appropriate for your condition. My suggestion is to stick with a gentle, breath-focused Yoga class, or a basic introductory Pilates class, with instructors who are specially trained in modifications and contraindications. For example, most Registered Yoga Instructors (RYT’s) have at least had several hours of training in these important areas. However, be aware that a “Certified” Yoga Teacher (CYT) does not always mean that the instructor has had more than a few hours of any Yoga training…period! To your benefit, some RYT’s may have graduated from a school which specifically emphasizes the importance of modifications and a gentle approach; feel free to ask for specifics.

In the practice of Yoga, you will stretch tight muscles that may be contributing to your back pain (for example, tight hip flexors—the muscles that draw your thigh toward your torso when walking—can contribute to low back pain). Additionally, you will strengthen weak muscles that may be contributing to your back pain (for example, the abdominals).

Practicing Pilates will do much the same thing, however, its primary focus is on strengthening the core (the abdominals, back muscles, buttocks, and thighs), which will help stabilize the muscles that support the spine…important whether or not you have back issues.

The choice is yours…so my suggestion is to schedule a private session with an instructor who teaches both Yoga and Pilates, so that he or she may guide you to the discipline that suits you best, or perhaps a combination of both (called Yogilates, or Yogalates). Here’s to making that “bad back” a thing of the past!

Did You Know?

Did you know that our words can have immeasurable power over us? Think about it…how many times have you uttered the words, “I have a bad back (or bad knees, a bad shoulder, etc.)”, or “that makes me sick to my stomach”? These phrases are seedthoughts, phrases that have an effect on us both physically and emotionally. In the book “Your Body Believes Every Word You Say”, Barbara Hoberman Levine says, “Phrases like ‘that breaks my heart’ can create an image of a ‘broken heart’ in the subconscious part of the mind which doesn’t exercise discrimination or rationality. The seedthought ‘broken heart’ becomes an imaged pattern of beliefs embedded in the body.” It makes sense, then, that we should choose the words we use carefully, and use words that convey health and healing rather than damage and negative energy.

I recently taught a workshop called “Yoga from the Inside Out”, which had a focus of increasing ones’ self-esteem. In the workshop, we discussed the power of our thoughts, and how, with a little practice, we can turn that negative, unhealthy self-talk into positive, healing self-talk. Affirmations, when repeated with full awareness and concentration, have the power to change us in ways that delve beyond the conscious mind, to deeper levels of consciousness. The next time you’re feeling stress, try this: take Eagle pose, and silently repeat to yourself, “At the center of life’s storms, I stand serene” (this is Ananda Yoga’s paired affirmation for this pose). See if it doesn’t help you to feel instantly calmer and more relaxed. And then perhaps you will find other healing affirmations of your own that can be helpful with healing. Not only will that perhaps lead to greater health in your own body, but it just might create healing in others as well!

Do you (or does someone close to you) have a medical condition, or have an injury that you think Yoga, Pilates or Stress Management might be helpful in treating? Perhaps you have general or specific Yoga, Pilates or Stress Management related questions. I’d love to hear from you! Please send your question to Info@FeelYourBest.com. I regret that I will not be able to personally answer each question submitted, due to time and space constraints.

Debra Mundt, RYT500, CPT, is the founder of FYB (Feel Your Best)^® Yoga, Pilates & Horizons (Stress Management). She is also Director of the FYB Teacher Certification Training School. Debra and the School Faculty members may be reached at 262-241-8796, or by e-mailing Info@FeelYourBest.com.