This is part 2 of the 2024 Movement Advent, Twelve Days of Vertebrae, that I ran on Instagram. Over the 12 days we look at each segment of the spine: cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral with movements and breathing strategies to improve how your spine functions and feels.
As always you can try singing a bit before and repeating the same vocalization after you’ve done each day’s movement to notice what has shifted.
Part 2 has days 7-9 Lumbar Vertebrae and Days 10-12 Sacral Vertebrae. You can find Days 1-3 Cervical Vertebrae and Days 4-6 Thoracic Vertebrae in Part 1.
To see the movement videos on Instagram for each day, click the images.
Day 7: Balling Around the Low Back
❄️ Grab a coregeous/pilates ball or rolled up yoga mat and come to lie on your left side.
❄️ Lie over the ball with it tucked into the soft space between your lower ribs and top of the pelvis.
❄️For five breaths, just lie on the ball feeling the pressure it places on your body – it should feel good. If it hurts, deflate the ball a bit.
❄️Next, at the top of your inhale, engage your deep core. As you exhale release the core and allow the ball to push into your side waist more. Do that for 5 cycles of breath.
❄️Next, over 5 cycles of breathing, tilt and tuck the pelvis so you roll a bit on the ball and it covers a bit of the low back and then the front wait.
❄️ Flip over onto your right side and repeat everything!
Day 8: Pillow Breathing
❄️ Sit on your heels, or on a chair if heels is uncomfortable and tuck a throw pillow into your belly.
❄️ Fold your body over the pillow, bringing your forearms to the floor.
❄️Notice how the pillow blocks your front body from having much expansion as you inhale.
❄️Bring your attention to your lowest ribs, the area just below there, where your kidneys are, and the top of your pelvis. As you breathe in, see if you can feel expansion into those parts of the body.
❄️Do 5-10 cycles of breath here then get up and walk around and see how your low back feels.
Day 9: Rock Back for the Low Back
❄️ Come down onto all fours and reach one leg out to the side, sole of the foot headed toward the floor.
❄️ Keep your spine neutral and slowly rock back, moving your hips towards the wall behind you.
❄️As you move forward and back, make sure you are breathing, don’t hold your breath!
❄️Once you’ve done 5x on that side, try it again with tucking your pelvis slightly as you come back and tilting your pelvis as you come forward.
❄️After 5x that way, switch legs and repeat the whole process.
Day 10: Posterior Pelvic Floor Release
❄️ Grab a yoga tune up ball or softer ball and sit with it on the inside of your sitz bones, between there and your tailbone.
❄️ Be sure to sit on a hard surface.
❄️You might need to move around a bit to find just the right spot – you’ll know when you find it!
❄️Make sure the level of pressure and sensation feels tolerable, if it isn’t move to another spot or switch out for a softer ball.
❄️Stay for 2 minutes, breathing – seeing if you can feel release on inhale all the way down into the pelvic floor and on exhale allow the ball to push in a little farther against the pelvic floor muscles.
Day 11: Internal rotation exploration
❄️ Grab a block and a strap that can be made into a loop that is as wide as your hips.
❄️Lie on your side, place the block between your knees and loop the strap around your shins.
❄️Raise the lower portion of your top leg into the strap until you reach full tension on the strap.
❄️ Hold for 5 seconds and breathe. Repeat 5-10x.
❄️ Flip onto your other side and repeat. Notice what feels different between the two sides.
Day 12: Block Raise and Lower
❄️ Grab a block and come down onto hands and knees.
❄️Place the block under your left knee.
❄️ Start by doing a few gentle cat cow/ tilt and tuck of the pelvis.
❄️ Press straight down into the block with that knee, until you are able to raise your other knee straight off of the floor. This is a lot of work on the left side hip and glute.
❄️ Slowly lower and raise the right knee 5-10x.
❄️ then, place the block under your other knee and try it 5-10x on that side. Notice if one side feels easier than the other!
