What is Restorative Yoga?

Restorative yoga uses props to help support the body while you are in yoga asanas. The pose I'm doing in the photo is reclined supported Baddha Konasana (also known as cobbler's pose). By using a bolster (the firm red pillow I'm lying on) and two rolled blankets the pose becomes blissfully comfy.

In a restorative yoga class poses are held longer -- about 3 to 5 minutes in the classes I teach. Sometimes I hold these poses much longer at home, especially when there's a fire going in the fireplace and some soft music on.

Understanding your sacrum!

The bones of the lower back include this very important bone -- the sacrum. It is a triangular bone at the bottom of the spine, which is tucked between your two hip bones. You can check out this brief overview of the sacrum on Wikipedia.

So why is it important to better understand my sacrum, you may ask yourself, and how might this understanding impact my yoga practice? Well one good reason is that many of us suffer from lower back pain, and in some cases that pain is caused by an "out of whack" sacroiliac joint, the point where the sacrum and the pelvis join. This very nice article in Yoga Journal by Judith Lasater helps explain both what can cause sacroiliac pain and how your yoga practice can also help heal the problem.

Restorative yoga this weekend

This Sunday (December 3rd) I'll be teaching a 2 hour restorative class from 4:30 to 6:30 at Body in Balance in lovely Madison WI. Please feel free to email me with any questions -- it's a very relaxing class, half gentle Hatha yoga and half restorative yoga, mostly inspired by Judith Lasater's work. Hope to see you there!