7-Day Series: Become Pain-Free In Your Back

The number one complaint most people have is lower back pain. Many people complain about lower back problems. Bulging discs create lower back problems and then pain in other areas of the body. The question that I have been asking for 20 years is "Why is this happening?" "Why do people have pain in their bodies?" And what I have come to learn is that people have pain in their bodies because their muscles are not working correctly. When muscles do not function correctly, compensation takes place. And other muscles are recruited to do the work the other muscles are supposed to be doing. When this happens, problems occur. Muscles get over-stressed and lose their ability to function correctly. What we are going to be doing over the next seven days is systematically teach how to access those muscles and simple exercises or movement. Muscle engagement exercises only take three to four minutes a day. And! From using these exercises to activate and fire up those muscles that should be working. Over time notice: #1. You are going to become pain-free! Yay! #2. You are going to become stronger! Those muscles that were not working well are going to start doing their job. Now begin with Day 1!

 One of the major muscles that's responsible for doing a majority of work protecting the upper body are the transverse abdominals. The transverse abodimals, or TVA help stabilize the trunk of the body as well as the spine. Additionally, this muscle is vital to any trunk rotation. Or in yoga, we call them twists. It is fair to say that we twist in almost every movement we do. The TVA is the deepest layer of abdominals. In this video, we will teach an exercise that many people know, but seldom do correctly, or enough. This is a very specific technique to practice this pose. Once you learn it, I want you to start doing this every day. Only hold these poses for 6 seconds. Count one-one-thousand. Two-one-thousand. Three-one-thousand. Four-one-thousand.Five-one-thousand. Six-one-thousand. And then repeat for a total of six times. The magic number is Six seconds. Six times. That is day one! Simple right?! All we are doing is activating all the muscles that support our spine, support our back, support our torso, and ultimately support us in life. When you get up after practicing this muscle activation technique, take notice of how you feel. Do you feel more stable? If you do, then we did our job! The pictures below are of the transverse abs.

We hope that you are already starting to feel more stable after doing the exercise to activate the transverse abdominals. If you feel inspired, go back and repeat the exercise from Day 1, and then continue with Day 2. If not, no worries. Practice each day until you get the hang of it.  Don't take shortcuts. Do the exercises correctly, as explained in the videos. If you do the work, you will reap the rewards of having a more energetic, stable, and resilient body. As we were talking about, the transverse abs are responsible for the spinal rotation and the stability of the upper body, the trunk, and the spine. For day 2 is an introduction to the next layer of abdominals, which is called the obliques. The obliques, as with the transverse abs, are responsible for spinal rotation. Think about how many times you reach down to pick something off the ground. You seldom ever just bend over. You will often bed over and reach more to one side. Alternatively, when you pick up the bags of groceries from the car, you twist your body, grab them, and carry them back to the kitchen. Our motion is seldom ever linear. Therefore, the muscles that take the most stress in our body are often the rotational muscles. (We bet you did not know that before. ) Our body and all of its muscles need to function well together. We are as strong as our weakest link. It is critical and vital to keep those muscles, the transverse abs, and obliques strengthened and activated. We keep them healthy by ensuring that they are functioning correctly. We get them to function correctly by activating them. There are two sets of oblique muscles. The external obliques. The intermal obliques. This (very!) simple exercise will activate them and make sure they are fired up! But before we this exercise, please do a very simple test. Check how far you can rotate your trunk and spine? Do both sides. Do NOT use the hands or arms to rotate the spine. Just use muscular strength. Only notice how far the upper torso was able to twist. Once we complete the exercise, we will repeat the same test afterward to see if anything has changed. Now watch the video for the demonstration. Once you have finished the exercise, repeat the test. Take note that when a muscle is working correctly, the range of motion improves. Stability improves. Strength returns. See you tomorrow for day 3! Below are the internal oblique muscles and where the are in the body. 

Welcome to day three of seven days to becoming pain-free in your body! If you feel inspired, go back and repeat the exercise from Day 1 + 2, and then continue with Day 3.  If not, no worries. Practice each day until you get the hang of it. There is no rush, and steady + consistent wins the race. Do not take shortcuts. Do the exercises correctly, as explained in the videos. If you do the work, you will reap the rewards of having a more energetic, stable, and resilient body.  In the introduction video, we talked about why we have pain. One of the reasons is because frequently specific muscles are not working effectively in the body. Often, when a person bends over, their backs will seize up.  Why? Why do people's backs go out so quickly, especially when they bend over to do something as simple as picking up something from the floor? Why? If we think about the biomechanics of when we fold forward, what needs to happen is all these muscles in the front body need to shorten. If they are not shortening correctly, other muscles will get recruited to do their job. Furthermore, if the muscles getting recruited are stressed or not working either, the back will seize up.  The longest muscle that is responsible for trunk flexion is called the psoas minor. The psoas minor runs from the pubis up into the lumbar spine (specifically T12 and L1.  Watch the video now.  In this specific exercise, the essential thing to anteriorly tilt the pelvis inward.  After finishing, stand up. What does your body feel like? Has anything changed? Is the core more stable? Strong?  Perhaps there is more movement? Fold forward or bend forward to pick something up. Is it much easier?  If the answer is yes, it is because those front muscles are starting to contract properly.  See you tomorrow for day 4! See below for the Psoas Minor!

Welcome! We are on day four of how to get rid of pain in your body.  If you feel inspired, go back and repeat the exercise from Day 1 + 2 + 3, and then continue with Day 4. If not, no worries. Practice each day until you get the hang of it. There is no rush, and steady + consistent wins the race. Do not take shortcuts. Do the exercises correctly, as explained in the videos. If you do the work, you will reap the rewards of having a more energetic, stable, and resilient body. Today we are going into hip flexion. The biggest hip flexor is called the psoas major. (In yesterday's lesson, we covered the psoas minor, which is related to trunk flexion.) The psoas major is one of the most critical muscles in the body. It is the only muscle that attaches to the spine and legs. (the lumber spine to T12, and the lesser trochanter.) At the top of the pyramid of important hip flexors, the psoas major is definitely at the top. As such, when your psoas is not functioning correctly, many problems can happen in the body. Persoanlly, I would wager a huge bet that the majority of back problems come from a psoas that is not contracting correctly. We are going to teach you a very simple technique. It is a simple, exercises to activate the psoas major. Watch the video for more instructions. Remember the magic number! 6 seconds 6 times I can not tell you how many times I have worked on people to help them get rid of their back pain through activation of the psoas major. When this muscle starts to do its job, other muscles (probably in spasm or are overworked) can chill out. The back pain actually disappears, often by the time they get off the table. We look forward to seeing you on day five! Please remember to leave some comments below on how you feel after you have completed these exercises. 

Welcome! We are on day five of how to get rid of pain in your body. So far, the specific muscles we have targeted are: Transverse Abdominals Internal and External Obliques Psoas Minor Psoas Major If inspiration comes, repeat the exercises before hitting day 5. Practice the exercises from memory, if possible. AND if not, no worries. Practice each day until you get the hang of it. Do not take shortcuts. Do the exercises correctly, as explained in the videos. If you do the work, you will reap the rewards of having a more energetic, stable, and resilient body. These exercises are straightforward. And more! They do not take much time. Only hold them for six seconds. What could be more simple then holding something for six seconds? And then doing it six times. I hope that you are starting to feel that your body can support itself. I think one of the worst things to feel or to experience is to have a body that does not support you and the movements that you are making in your life. For today, we are diving into the glutes. You have three divisions of glutes: glute maximus glute medius gluteus minimus The one muscle activation technique that we are going to teach will work all of the glutes. However, our primary attention will be on glute max. The glutes are essential for many reasons. They are responsible for abduction. That is when you bring your legs out to the side. (When you squeeze your legs together, that is called adduction.) They are responsible for hip extension, like being able to stand up from sitting in a chair. Alternatively, when you are walking and jogging. Many runners and people complain of like cramping in their hamstrings or their calf muscles. Often the reason for that is because the glutes are not functioning correctly. The body recruits the muscles such as the hamstrings or calf muscles, to move the entire leg. Ouch! Many muscles of the spine wrap into the sacrum and merge into the glute fibers. So when we work the glutes, we are also working many lower back muscles. Before doing these exercises, stand up for a moment. Take notice of how you feel. After doing this exercise, stand up again and take notice. Watch the video for instructions. And! That is how you activate your glutes! See you tomorrow for day six! For more information on the glutes and where they are, watch the video below.

Welcome! We are on day six of how to get rid of pain in your body. I hope you are starting to see results.  I have been teaching these techniques for years on my students and have received tremendous results.  So far, the specific muscles we have targeted are: Transverse Abdominals Internal and External Obliques Psoas Minor Psoas Major The Glutes Sometimes when you are starting, these exercises can pose some challenges.  Some parts of your body have been dormant for a long time. And now, you are asking them to wake up.  Most people do not like to be moving out of bed in the morning. They are relaxed in their beds, not wanting to move. Your muscles are in a similar state. Only in this case, they need a good kick in the butt to get them back to doing their job.  These exercises are straightforward. And more! They do not take much time.  From now on, keep in mind what is essential - that you just do something every day. Just do one exercise.  AND if you can, do two. And if you have some time to three.  Taking 10 - 15 minutes a day will change the course trajectory of your life. I promise you. If you do them, your body will (literally) thank me in 10 years.  The more these muscle activation techniques become a part of your everyday life, the more you will feel more robust and stable. And have more energy at the end of the day. Who wants to live life being in pain? Do the work! Today, we dive into one of my favorite muscles.  The Longissimus. The longissimus is a muscle that runs parallel to the spine pretty much, and it is responsible for spinal stability.  This posture called superman pose.  While doing this posture, fully embody Superman (or Wonderwoman. )  Visualize yourself getting stronger and feeling empowered.  Our rule of holding any pose is 6-seconds for 6-times.  Watch the video for more instructions.  Once finished, come and sit up for a moment.  For myself, every time I do this posture, I feel like I'm sitting much taller. I hope the same is for you.  See you tomorrow for day seven!

Welcome! We are on day seven of how to get rid of pain in your body. We have arrived!  I am so proud of you for sticking with this. NO ONE in the world can help heal your body as you can.  Recap! So far, the specific muscles we have targeted are: Transverse Abdominals Internal and External Obliques Psoas Minor Psoas Major The Glutes Longissimus We are ending with one of the most life-changing exercises.  Why didn't we do this on the first day?  This particular posture is a LITTLE more challenging.  But now you have been practicing the other six exercises; this one will be much easier for you.  The muscle we are addressing today is called the multifidus.  You most likely have never even heard of the multifidus before. However, believe me, when I say, it is a critical muscle. The multifidus is a deep spinal extensor muscle.  It runs deep in the spine. It starts in the sacrum (close to the tail bone) and goes up to the base of the neck.  Obviously, this is a really important muscle to engage in.  Many people complain about pain in their neck or of pain in their shoulders. Often, the source of that pain can be traced back to the multifidus not functioning correctly. The then body recruits other muscles to do its job.  Watch the video to learn the exercise. Please remember to keep doing these exercises. They work. You just got to do them.  Do they say no pain, no gain?  I say with a little effort from you, no more pain.  Stay well in health! namaste 

Yogi Aaron has launched his podcast, Stop Stretching.  AVAILABLE ON: Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/3NXpNFF Spotify - https://sptfy.com/Stop-Stretching AND available anywhere else you get your podcasts. "There was a time when I believed that I would no longer be able to do the things I love because of my pain - but I was wrong! So I am here to tell you that LIFE does NOT have to be this way cause pain does not have to be a part of your life! One of the great things about practicing Applied Yoga Anatomy and Muscle Activation is that not only will you begin to live a life that is pain-free, but it takes very little time in your daily life to do these simple little practices. So listen up as we flip the script on flexibility and stretching and explore how this revolutionary approach will change your life! Subscribe to my STOP Stretching! podcast series NOW so you can get all 8 episodes delivered to you!" Listen on Spotify!