While yoga often conjures images of lithe 20-somethings jumping into pretzel shapes or holding headstands for days, it can be far simpler and more accessible — but still quite effective.
In her new book, “Yoga Fix: Functional Movement for a Pain-Free Body” (DK Red, Jan. 21) Erin Motz offers up doable moves to combat the aches and pains of middle age and help readers perform regular activities — and beloved hobbies — with greater ease.
“You don’t need to be flexible enough to dislocate your limbs,” writes Motz, who has over 150,000 subscribers on YouTube to her “Bad Yogi” channel. “You need to have a healthy range of motion that lets you squat, bend, hinge, reach overhead, rotate, push and pull.”
Here, she shares some exercises.
Help your sciatica
Child’s pose
Let your torso fall between your knees, stretching arms gently forward while keeping your butt down. Let your upper body get heavy. Hold for 1 minute
Z-sits
Start with both knees resting on the floor, making 90-degree angles on the same side of the body. Hold for 30-45 seconds. Then, in a controlled motion with heels resting on the floor, bring both knees to the floor on the other side; hold again. Repeat 4 times.
Untangle your shoulder knots
T-spine tabletop rotations
Start on your hands and knees with your back straight and your head in line with your neck. Leading with the sternum, not the elbow, twist up as far as you can comfortably go. Repeat 10 times on each side.
Supine twists
Lie down and bring your knees over your hips, then let them fall to the side. Keep head and chest facing up and open your opposite arm. Hold for 30 seconds and switch sides.
Locust arm raises
From a prone position, reach arms overhead in a “Y” shape, keeping your lower body on the ground. Exhale and lift the torso, reaching your thumbs upward while legs and feet remain on the ground. Inhale and return to start. Repeat 10 times.
Strengthen your core to increase stability and movement efficiency
Diaphragmatic breath
Lie down on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Let your belly rise on the inhale, and visualize filling your lungs and sending the breath in all directions. You want to feel the breath fill you from the bottom of your belly up to your ribs and even around the back. As you exhale, your belly falls and the ribs come back into a neutral position. Repeat several times
Dead bugs
Begin in a tabletop position on your back with your knees aligned over your pelvis and hands at your sides. Inhale and extend your right arm and left leg away from you. Exhale and bring them back to your starting position. Repeat on the other side. Do 10 times per side.
Sphinx to plank rollups
Start in a sphinx position with your elbows under your shoulders, your chest and crown of the head gently reaching up, and your eyes looking straight ahead. As you exhale, pull your belly and hips away from the floor so you’re on your knees, as in a modified plank. Then draw your knees up slowly until you’re in a forearm plank. Retrace your steps by dropping the knees first, then the hips, then the belly, and return to sphinx. Repeat 8 times.
Plank
Hold a plank for 30 to 60 seconds, keeping your spine neutral and hips in line with shoulders.
Excerpted and adapted from “The Yoga Fix: Functional Movement for a Pain-Free Body” by Erin Motz. Image Copyright © 2024 by David Cummings. Reproduced by permission of DK Books.
