Ask the Yogi Bobby Clennell

Vira I for Spondylolisthesis and Help with Halasana

What advice can you give someone with spondylolisthesis (L5–S1) who sometimes experiences pain when coming into Virabhadrasana I? For example, how much pelvic tilt is allowed in the final pose? —Vicky Seff, owner of Floating Lotus Yoga in North Bellmore, NY

Put Virabhadrasana I on a back burner while you strengthen your back muscles, (gently) make space between the intervertebral discs, and re-educate the way you use your lumbar region.

Here’s a suggested sequence. There is no need to practice every pose listed, but do practice them in the order in which they are given. Unless stipulated otherwise, hold the poses for 30 seconds to a minute.

If the lumbar spine muscles are tight, tense or painful, begin with chair Savasana (figure A) with a bolster under your calves and a sandbag placed across your abdomen. Turn the chair around so the seat slants toward you. Don’t place the weight on the diaphragm or breathing will be affected. Allow your lumbar spine to spread from the center to the sides. Stay in the pose for 10 minutes.

2. Ardha Uttanasana over a tall stool (figure B) propped to hip height. Extend arms to the stool or horse. When the lumbar spine is really delicate, this is a safe and supportive forward bend. As the abdominals are supported, the sacrum will spread. Stay in the pose for five minutes.

Alternatively, practice Ardha Uttanasana (figure C) with a hip-height wall rope just below your hip-bones. Place your outer wrists to the top of a chair adjusted for your height, palms facing each other, toes turned in. Stay in the pose for five minutes.

C.

These opposing movements extend the lumbar, decrease compression of the disc on the nerves, and

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B.

reduce pain.

3. Adho Mukha Svanasana on ropes (figure D). Facing the wall, place a hip-height wall rope around your pelvis. Then turning right, away from the wall, step your left leg over the rope. Keep your heels as close to the floor as you can. Reach your hands forward. The rope extends the lumbar spine toward the wall, while the hands draw the spine forward. These opposing movements extend the lumbar, decrease compression of the disc on the nerves, and reduce pain. Turn toes in. Alternatively, it may be easier to simply place a rope around your pelvis, just below the hip bones (figure E), but this variation is not nearly as effective in opening up the lower back. Stay in the pose for five minutes.

4. Pavanmuktasana. Lie on your back. Place a folded blanket or bolster across the lower abdomen. Bend both knees over your chest. Stay in the pose for 10 minutes.

5. Ardha Pavanmuktasana. Bend one knee at a time over your chest (figure F).

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E.

Virabhadrasana I is not generally recommended for those experiencing low back pain. The lateral standing poses are more manageable as you explore the limitations you are dealing with.

6. Supta Padangusthasana (figure G). If the lower back is pulled up from the floor, place a block under the lower-leg foot and press that shin bone down. To keep both sides of the trunk an equal length, roll your right outer hip forward. You can also loop a belt around the top of the raised-leg thigh and across the ball of the lower-leg foot. Pull the belt taut.

You may also take your arms over your head and hook your thumbs.

7. Utthita Padangusthasana I (figure H). Place your foot on an appropriate height.

8. Utthita Marichyasana III (figure I). Stand facing a chair with your right hip to the wall.

Place your right foot up on the chair (add blocks for extra height). Press your right thigh to the wall. Always lift the spine, especially at the lumbar region: Press your left thigh back.

The spinal muscles lift when the left heel is raised. Turn to the wall.

9. Bharadvajasana (figure J). In chair Bharadvajasana, the trunk lifts more readily than in seated Bharadvajasana. Keep your knees level and squeeze a bolster between them.

Avoid twisting when the back is sinking. Lift the chest, then lift again! Press the dorsal spine (not the lumbar spine) forward. Move the left back ribs away from the spine, and revolve to the right.

Alternatively, practice Bharadvajasana astride the chair (figure K). Now the lumbar spine muscles can more easily spread from the center to the sides, which helps relieve low back pain.

The lumbar spine supports most of the weight of the body. The standing poses improve overall posture and strengthen your legs, making for less strain on the lumbar. Here are just a few of them, followed by the rest of the suggested sequence:

1. Stating the obvious. Regular practitioners will know how to work in Tadasana. But just to remind you: Stand erect with your feet hip distance apart. To lift the pelvic floor and abdominal organs and to provide yourself with a better understanding of the lumbar spine, turn your toes in. Come to your heels. Roll your inner thighs back. Lift your inner thighs.

Press down through the center of the fronts of your heels and move your tailbone in. Low back problems are exacerbated (and may even be caused) by dropped arches. Lift your inner ankle bones to the height of the outer ankle bones. Extend up through the crown of your head.

2. Much spinal traction is achieved in the simplest of poses: Urdhva Hastasana in

Tadasana. Without throwing your thighs or pelvis forward, extend your arms above your head.

Urdhva Baddhanguliyasana in Tadasana (figure L). Interlace your hands, and similarly, extend your arms up.

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H.

I.

J.

L. K.

3. Utthita Trikonasana against a wall (figure M). The support of a wall allows you to explore and lengthen the lumbar spine. To give your spine plenty of space, take a wider stance and place your hand on a block. Move your right groin toward your left pelvic head and extend your trunk to the right. Coil your right buttock away from the wall. Externally rotate the heads of both femur bones. Keep your kneecaps firm.

4. Parsvakonasana (figure N). Some people get relief in Trikonasana, others in

Parsvakonasana. To deal with low back pain or discomfort, start your standing poses with whichever of these two poses gives you the most benefit.

5. Parivrtta Trikonasana to the wall (figure O) or using a chair (figure P)

6. For experienced practitioners only: straight-leg rope Sirsasana

7. Baddha Konasana

8. Supta Baddha Konasana

M.

N.

9. Ardha Supta Konasana (figure Q)

10. Prone Savasana (figure R). Three blankets—one each under torso, pelvis, and head.

Turn your thighs and toes in.

Virabhadrasana I is not generally recommended for those experiencing low back pain. The lateral standing poses are more manageable as you explore the limitations you are dealing with. That said, the purpose of the remedial sequence is to return you to your regular practice, and this pose teaches us much about the lumbar spine:

O.

When you are ready, come into the pose with your hands on your hips. You have turned to the right and your legs are straight (figure S). Align the midline of your torso and pelvis with the center of your right thigh: Roll your left outer calf, thigh, and hipbone forward.

To align the pubic bone in the front with the sacrum at the back, draw the pubic bone in and up. Lift your trunk away from the pelvis so that you get an even openness on the front body (not a deep backbend at the back body).

P.

Bend at your right hip to bring your right thigh parallel to the floor and your right knee directly above your right ankle. Simultaneously, pull up through the inside of your pelvis.

Now raise your arms (figure T). Hook your thumbs and, straightening the elbows, use the dynamic lifting action to help maintain length in your sides and traction through the spine.

Q.

To center your sacrum, press down through your left outer heel and roll your inner left thigh back. Spread your sacral muscles from the center of the sacrum across to your left hip, and again, move your left hipbone forward.

You should now have enough leverage and support to bring the spine, from the inner tailbone to the neck, into an upright position. The most important thing for those with spondylolisthesis to know is that when the pubic bone drops forward, the lumbar spine also falls forward causing the vertebral discs to compress.

R.

How much pelvic tilt? Without pushing the lumbar spine back (no one wants to flatten their back), move the pelvic floor forward. As you practice this and other poses—such as Supta Virasana, Bhekasana (start one leg at a time)—the fronts of your thighs and groins will lengthen, allowing you a wider range of motion.

I often have a problem coming into Halasana. I sometimes experience a pulling sensation along the right side of my spine (Paraspinals of T12-L4). I’ve found that I need to lift the hips high (bolster + a folded blanket) so that the hips are much higher than my shoulders, just to roll into the asana. Is there anything else that you would recommend? —Vicky S.

Continue rolling up into the pose with a bolster and blanket. To strengthen your spinal and abdominal muscles, continue working with the remedial poses listed above.

Ardha Halasana (figure U). When practiced with a strong upward lift, Ardha Halasana strengthens the muscles on either side of the spine, thereby supporting vulnerable discs. Place your toes on the chair, and push them out against the sides of the chair rest. Press your outer, upper arms down and, with your hands pressed into the back as close to the shoulder blades as you can get them, pull your anterior spine up from the front groins. Open the backs of your knees to the ceiling. When you are ready, lower your feet incrementally and in stages to the floor.

Coming out of the pose, follow this sequence:

After Ardha Halasana, Karnapidasana (Figure V) with a chair is a recovery pose. Hook your toes onto the front of the chair seat. Drop your knees toward your temples. Alternatively, come into Ardha Supta Konasana (figure Q).

2. Another soft way to recover after Ardha Halasana is Pavanmuktasana with two horizontal bolsters (figure W)—one under the head and shoulders, the other under the buttocks.

3. Finish in Prone Savasana (figure R) or chair Savasana with bolster and sandbag (figure A).

Many thanks to my models—teachers all—from the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York.

“Anything physical is always changing; therefore, its reality is not constant, not eternal. Nature is in this sense like an actor who has only different roles.” —B.K.S. Iyengar

Bobby Clennell (CIYT Intermediate Senior II) is a core faculty member of the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York. She is the author and illustrator of three books: The Woman’s Yoga Book, Watch Me Do Yoga, and Yoga for Breast Care. For more information: www.bobbyclennell.com.

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