Yoga with Lauren: Alignment, Posture, and Backcare

Yoga with Lauren: Alignment, Posture, and Backcare Living with back pain? Take wellness into your own hands with yoga designed to heal your spine. Learn more at www.yogaformyback.com.

Lauren Maxwell teaches yoga for scoliosis, alignment, posture, and backcare.

It’s always a good time to check your alignment!This is who has been using alignment yoga to keep his body in good cond...
09/15/2019

It’s always a good time to check your alignment!

This is who has been using alignment yoga to keep his body in good condition for physically-demanding rehearsals, concerts, and a series of international competitions. International means travel, and we all know how hard planes and trains are on the body. Cars, too.

If you want to talk about a personalized routine to undo your own travel or balance the effects of repetitive asymmetrical activities (like playing an instrument!), send me a DM. :)

I changed my relationship with this app in the spring––which is great––though I miss the conversations we have here abou...
09/15/2019

I changed my relationship with this app in the spring––which is great––though I miss the conversations we have here about back pain and spaciousness of mind, body, spirit.

Yoga is a practice of self realization, and self realization is not something that has ever happened successfully for me on an app. That’s just the truth.

So how can I hold space for you and serve you in real life without always talking about those services on an app? Is that even possible for a small business? Is it doable in advanced capitalism, which relies so heavily on us being bound to addictive devices, which profits on our insecurities? Can I provide something valuable to you while also protecting my own brain space which is better app-free? How can I serve people in more than one zip code without being tethered to a screen?

I’m not sure what the answers are, or if I’ll ever figure them out. And I’m sure different things will be useful in different seasons.

What I do know is that I’m still here, happy to help you, and honored to support your journey towards living pain-free.

I believe wholeheartedly that we don’t have to assume that we are victims of our pain––that there are very often ways to eliminate, reduce, or manage it using movement and breath. The movement and breath has to be specific and thoughtful and intentional, and that’s where I come in––in person or on Skype.

How are you feeling these days about your back pain? Or about yoga? Or about self realization and discovering a sense of freedom? Or about doing so on an app?

I am so glad you’re here, and I’m all ears. Sending love!

Backbending is one of my favorite ways to access joyous, expansive buoyancy. Sometimes if my spirit is heavy, backbends ...
09/15/2019

Backbending is one of my favorite ways to access joyous, expansive buoyancy. Sometimes if my spirit is heavy, backbends can carry it right back up to something vibrant and alive.

I don’t pop into deep wheel poses and things like that without thought. Instead, I take time to prepare different parts of the body that will make my experience of the pose deeper and more meaningful. It’s the only way, I find, to access the true properties of a pose—the ones you might read about and wonder, hmm, I’m not sure that makes sense. In my experience, those things are there, waiting to be explored. In my experience, that’s the place where yoga can start to change your life.

Swipe if you thought for even a second that Herbert wasn’t nearby.

@ Downtown Greenville

Does your back hurt after a long day? Or maybe back pain creeps in before your day even starts? Or maybe it hits after s...
04/02/2019

Does your back hurt after a long day? Or maybe back pain creeps in before your day even starts? Or maybe it hits after sitting at your computer or hauling groceries?

If so, this free e-book was written especially for you.

Learn how spinal realignment through yoga works, and how it might help you find more ease, less anxiety, and even better sleep.

It also includes a ritual you can use to decompress your spine whenever and wherever tension takes over.

My wish for you is a happier, healthier spine and a happier, healthier life.

Sign up for your free download at the link in bio!

Opening the heart has come to mean so many things.In my experience it is powerful to combine physical heart opening with...
03/12/2019

Opening the heart has come to mean so many things.

In my experience it is powerful to combine physical heart opening with subtle/emotional/energetic work relating to anahata chakra, the heart space.

Breathwork with the chest lifted is also incredibly helpful.

What follows can be a greater sense of unconditional self-love and acceptance, an ability to express vulnerability in the world, and improved breathing, among other things.

From a practical standpoint, lengthening the pecs is excellent, because we shorten them all day long. It improves posture as the shoulders settle into place on top of the rib cage and invite the head and neck to stack more efficiently.

Would you be interested in a heart-opening practice, recorded or written, that you could download for free? It would combine asana (no ropes required!), mudra, and meditation. For related pranayama focused on safety and protection, check out The Embody Podcast link in my bio.

Take care!

I’ll never forget the day that I first took an intermediate backbending class (all backbending prep, backbending, and co...
03/06/2019

I’ll never forget the day that I first took an intermediate backbending class (all backbending prep, backbending, and countering) and left with a completely happy spine.

I was always under the watchful eye of my teachers in similar classes, but even after my back pain disappeared and the shape of my spine changed, deep backbends could make me squeamish.

They felt congested, especially along my asymmetries.

Until one day, my back was ready - strong and malleable.

I ran around telling everyone like a kid on Christmas morning.

No crunching in backbends! No discomfort! What a fun change that allowed me to feel the joyful expansiveness backbends can bring.

What was the secret? Working with my teachers to create space between the vertebrae, and new patterns of strength in the back. I also learned to more deeply support the spine with the low abdominals.

I’m working again on this week, strengthening the back as I go.

—
“Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice.” —Thich Nhat Hanh

03/04/2019

I’m suddenly more inspired to do strengthening work, thanks to the first stirrings of spring.

Anyone else?

In the slow, quiet winter, it didn’t come as naturally, and other work was appropriate. Now I‘m increasingly ready each day to move and build heat and strength.

Here I’m strengthening my core on a long muscle length, using the reach of my arms to help lengthen the spine, stabilize the body, and counter the work.

Though you can’t tell, I am also derotating my curve with each lift, so the body learns a new pattern of strength. I learned this from Alison West Yoga.

Asymmetries create imbalanced strength; one side of the back is more awake and muscular and takes over the work, while the other side stays sleepier and dormant.

By derotating the curve as I strengthen, I can teach the body to work in a more balanced way. Balance brings quietness and alignment to the entire system.

Speaking of the power of subtlety (see yesterday’s post), this is a perfect example of how one can apply subtle but powerful shifts during strengthening work for major impact.

💪 ⚡️

03/04/2019

I’m suddenly more inspired to do strengthening work, thanks to the first stirrings of spring.

Anyone else?

In the slow, quiet winter, it wasn’t coming as naturally, and other work was appropriate, but now I‘m increasingly ready each day to move, building heat and strength.

Here I’m strengthening my core on a long muscle length, using the teach of my arms to help lengthen my spine, stabilize the body, and counter the work.

Though you can’t tell, I am also derotating my curve with each lift, so the body learns a new pattern of strength.

Asymmetries create imbalanced strength; one side of the back is more awake and muscular and works harder than the other sleepy side.

By derotating as I strengthen, I can teach the body to work in a more balanced way. This balance brings quietness and alignment to the entire system.

Speaking of the power of subtlety (see yesterday’s post), this is a perfect example of how one can apply subtlety to heating and strengthening work for major impact.

Thanks to my teachers Yoga Union & Yoga Union Backcare and Scoliosis Center for helping me learn and apply the power of subtlety in my own body.

💪 ⚡️ 💪 ⚡️

I’ve been thinking about subtlety.Our culture leaves little room for subtlety or its power.In my experience, subtle work...
03/03/2019

I’ve been thinking about subtlety.

Our culture leaves little room for subtlety or its power.

In my experience, subtle work is what can shift the energetic and emotional body.

Subtlety is what can move bones and reshape musculature to change scoliosis, relieve herniation, and support other back issues.

Subtlety can release the nervous system and usher us into a new way of being.

Subtlety can open our channels, letting prana, life force, intuition, and creativity flow through more freely.

Adrenaline and sweat may have their appeal, but what if we can do something even better for ourselves? Strengthen in a deeper way?

The subtle body may be hard to sense at first, because we’re inundated with noise, distractions, and blue screens.

It’s always there, though, willing to serve us.

PS Herbert does not do subtlety.

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