Back It Up

I've been practicing Ashtanga Yoga for about five years. In the past six months, I've developed excruciating lower back pain as I transition from Up Dog to Down Dog. What am I doing wrong?
— Lissa Merritt

By Julie Lawrence

When you practice a vinyasa, it's important to focus on your alignment during the transitions. The movement from Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog Pose) to Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose) takes you from a backbend to a forward bend. During the transition, it's important that you don't stay in the backbend. Your pain may be the result of keeping your lumbar concave instead of supporting it as you move into Adho Mukha Svanasana.

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana is a backbend. Ideally the bending action is distributed evenly along your entire spine. If you're quite flexible in the lumbar, you may instead tend to concentrate the bending action there rather than distributing it along the length of the spine. To increase awareness, flexibility, and strength in your upper back, practice poses like Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose) or Paschima Namaskarasana (Prayer Position Behind the Back). In addition, tight hip flexors can also increase compression in your lower back. Poses such as lunges and Supta Virasana (Reclining Hero Pose) create more length and flexibility in the groins, which allows the pelvis to stay in a neutral position during Up Dog.

As you move from Urdhva Mukha Svanasana to Adho Mukha Svanasana, rotate your thighs internally and lengthen your tailbone. Gently lift (don't grip) your abdominals back toward your spine and slightly up toward your heart to support and bring space to the lower back. Keeping your focus on your abdominals, use the tops of your femurs to draw you back into Adho Mukha Svanasana.

These actions create a healthy alignment in your back when you're in the backbend; be sure to maintain that same awareness as you transition into the forward bend known as Downward-Facing Dog Pose.

Julie Lawrence, director of the Julie Lawrence Yoga Center (www.jlyc.com) in Portland, Oregon, is a certified Iyengar Yoga instructor.