While yoga often conjures images of twenty-somethings jumping into pretzel shapes or standing on their heads for days, it can be much simpler and more accessible — but still very effective.
In her new book, The Yoga Fix: Functional Movement for a Pain-Free Body (DK Red, Jan. 21), Erin Motz offers actionable moves to combat the aches and pains of midlife and help readers perform mundane activities—and beloved hobbies—more easily.
“You don't need to be flexible enough to take off your limbs,” Motz, who has more than 150,000 YouTube subscribers on her “Bad Yogi” channel, wrote. “You need a healthy range of motion that allows you to squat, bend, hinge, reach up, rotate, push and pull.”
Here, we share some exercises.
Help your sciatica
Child's position
Let your torso fall between your knees, and gently extend your arms forward while keeping your butt down. Let your upper body become heavy. Hold for 1 minute
Z-sitting
Start with your knees on the floor, making 90-degree angles on the same side of your body. Hold for 30-45 seconds. Then, in a controlled motion with heels on the floor, bring the knees to the floor on the other side; Hold again. Repeat 4 times.
Untie your shoulder
T-shaped table rotation
Start on your hands and knees with your back straight and your head in line with your neck. Drive with your sternum, not your elbow, and twist as far as you can comfortably reach. Repeat 10 times on each side.
Reclining twists
Lie on the floor and place your knees over your hips, then let them fall to the side. Keep your head and chest facing up and open your opposite arm. Hold for 30 seconds and switch sides.
He raises the locust's arm
From a prone position, reach your arms above your head in a “Y” shape, keeping your lower body on the floor. Exhale and lift your torso, reaching your thumbs up while your legs and feet remain on the floor. Inhale and return to start. Repeat 10 times.
Strengthen your core to increase stability and efficiency of movement
diaphragmatic
Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Let your belly rise as you inhale, and imagine filling your lungs and sending the breath in all directions. You want to feel the breath filling you from your lower abdomen to your ribs and even around your back. As you exhale, your abdomen falls and the ribs return to a neutral position. Repeat several times
Dead bugs
Start in a tabletop position on your back with your knees aligned over your pelvis and your hands at your sides. Inhale and extend your right arm and left leg away from you. Exhale and return them to the starting position. Repeat on the other side. Do 10 times for each side.
Sphinx to plank
Begin in a sphinx position so that your elbows are under your shoulders, your chest and the crown of your head gently reach upward, and your eyes are looking straight ahead. As you exhale, pull your belly and hips away from the floor until you are on your knees, as in a modified plank. Then slowly raise your knees up until you are in a forearm plank position. Retrace your steps by dropping the knees first, then the hips, then the abdomen, and back to the sphinx. Repeat 8 times.
Wave
Hold the plank for 30 to 60 seconds, keeping your spine neutral and your hips in line with your shoulders.
Adapted and adapted from the book The Yoga Fix: Functional Movement for a Pain-Free Body by Erin Motz. Images copyright © 2024 David Cummings. Reproduced with permission from DK Books.
