Healing Sciatica

Healing Sciatica
Through Ashaya Yoga™
Todd Norian
Healing sciatica (inflammation of the sciatic
nerve) is possible. This article will explore
an approach through the alignment-based
method of Ashaya Yoga™. The techniques are
simple and effective. Most sciatic pain arises
from standing, sitting, or walking with poor
alignment, specifically in positions in which the
thighbones are forward and externally rotated.
When the femurs are forward of their optimal
placement, the muscles of the lower back
contract and can pull the lumbar spine into
a flattened position. Tight hamstrings further
exacerbate the flat back condition. When the
natural curve of the lower back is lost, the
spinal discs squeeze posteriorly and can press
on nerve roots. The thighs likewise govern the
lower back. A thighs-forward posture tends to
make the lower belly and pelvic floor droop
and lose tone. In addition, the shoulders tend
to slouch and the throat slides forward and
becomes loose (which can gradually create
loose “jowls”). The head forward position will
eventually flatten the cervical curve. For this
reason, many people with a flat lower back also
have a flat neck, which leaves them susceptible
to herniated discs in both locations, which
in turn leads to a host of problems that are
ultimately avoidable.
In order to heal fully, maintain the state of
health, and prevent future injury, it is necessary
to apply and regularly practice the Four
Essentials of Ashaya Yoga™: Open, Engage,
Align, and Expand.
The First Essential, Open, is the act of
softening and remembering your connection
to the healing power of the universe. Bring
your awareness to your heart, take a deep
breath and invite the light of the universe to fill
you from within. This will open you to a bigger
energy and allow you to let go of self-limiting
concepts such as fear, anxiety, and selfdoubt. Perhaps you will recognize that deep
down in your heart you are already whole and
complete. In addition to creating an emotional
response of relaxation and presence, this
creates a physiological response that inflates
the Pranamayakosha (breath body, or subtle
body) in the back, front, and sides of the torso
up through the neck and head, lengthens the
side ribs, softens the skin, and stimulates the
parasympathetic nervous system.
theyogaconference.com
A second component of the First Essential is
preparing and establishing your foundation
with precision and care. The foundation of a
pose is comprised of those areas in contact
with the floor in a given stance or posture. As
with any architectural structure, the stability of
the structure depends upon the integrity of the
foundation. For healing sciatica, ensure that
your feet are parallel and hip width apart. Feet
parallel is achieved by aligning the imaginary
lines connecting the front center of each ankle
with the second toe like railroad tracks running
parallel to one another. If the feet turn out,
which is common, the thighbones will push
forward and the lower back will flatten. This
position is the recipe for sciatica.
The second Essential, Engage, you learn
how to fully activate your muscles. This is done
energetically as well as physically through
isometrics and drawing the muscles from the
foundation and periphery into the core of the
pose. Using isometrics, you draw your feet,
legs, and arms towards the midline without
moving your feet. The midline is defined as the
central plane or axis between the feet, hands,
or arms, or the middle place between the front
and back legs in a posture or stance such as
Virabhadrasana 1. It is also characterized by
simultaneously hugging left to right and right
to left. When you develop the ability to utilize
this technique effectively, you can engage
your muscles evenly on all sides and from all
directions. This strengthens and tones the
905.404.9642
body. It also creates support and stability for
the joints, which is absolutely necessary for
prevention of further injury and maintaining
good alignment. In addition, this technique
heats up the body and allows for a balanced
flow of the body’s fluids, such as blood and
lymph, while also increasing the flow of prana.
Like the first essential, Engage also stimulates
the parasympathetic nervous system due to
the brain’s interpretation of the hugging action
as indicative of security and safety, much
like when someone you love hugs you in just
the right way. Part of the reason why I see
students return again and again to states of
pain is that they have not yet learned to engage
optimally. The metaphor for Engage is vitally
important since it addresses the application of
life energy both on and off the mat. It is easy
to avoid genuine engagement or conversely
over engage when faced with a particular life
experience or challenge. Yoga teaches us the
art and mastery of living; that is, how to engage
appropriately in any given situation.
The Third Essential is Align. This is a broad
term for how to align every major joint and part
of the body. Within this, there is a hierarchy
of alignment, the most important of which is
Pelvic Integration. This is what affects sciatica
the most. Pelvic Integration comes from the
dynamic balance of two actions: 1. Internally
rotating the thighs, moving them back (which
creates an anterior tilt of the pelvis), and
widening them apart without collapsing the
knees inward, and 2. Scooping the tailbone
down and forward. Thighs back creates a
lumbar curve while tailbone in creates length
in the lumbar spine. Both curve and length
are needed, in that order and in a balanced
way, for a healthy back. At the same time, the
particular application for one person will be
quite different for another given the unique
shape and character of each individual’s spine.
For instance, someone with an exaggerated
curve in the lower back (or sway back) will need
to work on scooping the tail bone more and
utilize Thoracic Integration (see below).
The sciatic nerve comes from the lower back
region of L4 to S3 and travels down the
posterior pelvis and leg, under the piriformis
muscle (for 17% of the population, the
sciatic nerve runs through the middle of the
piriformis), and down to the foot. It is the
next Toronto event is April 9-12, 2015
To heal any part of the body,
it is ultimately necessary to look at
the whole since every part of the body
is in relationship to every other part.
thickest and longest single nerve in the body
and is about the width of your thumb. This
nerve can become compressed, irritated,
and inflamed through many lower back
dysfunctions including herniated discs and
Piriformis Syndrome, the tightening of the
piriformis muscle (which emerges from the
anterior sacrum and attaches to the greater
trochanter). The piriformis can tighten and
in fact spasm when the lower back curve
becomes overly diminished.
The Fourth Essential is Expand. Once you
open to the universal, have released stress,
hugged into the midline to strengthen and
tone your muscles, and aligned the bones in
a complementary way to locate the dynamic
balance in the middle, it’s time to stretch.
Doing the first three Essentials before
stretching prepares you to stretch safely with
support. Most injuries come from stretching
without maintaining muscle tone or stretching
while misaligning and then weight bearing.
Expansion has to do with stretching away
from the core of the pose in all directions, first
rooting down into the earth and then rising up
and away from the earth. The directionality
of Expand is important because in order to
rise up, you must first root down. Grounding
yourself before you expand will ensure
freedom with boundaries and will enable you
to maintain stability even as you grow. The
metaphor for stretching in this way is indeed
in alignment with nature’s way. All plants grow
by rooting down first. Only then does the stem
rise up toward the light of the sun. In Ashaya
Yoga™, we align and stretch according to the
principles of nature.
Simple Exercise:
theyogaconference.com
Let’s get back to healing sciatica. In Tadasana,
I typically begin with a four inch yoga block
placed between the upper inner thighs so
there is something to squeeze. The inner
thigh muscles are often very weak and are
sometimes difficult to engage. Stand with
the feet hip-width apart and parallel (second
metatarsals and front center of ankle parallel
to each other like two railroad tracks). Open
to a bigger energy, and then hug your feet and
legs in toward the midline. Take your thighs
back (keeping the knees slightly bent so as to
avoid initiating the movement from your knees)
and root down into the big toe ball mounds in
order to engage the back of the calves. This
will prevent hyper extending the knees, which
pushes the thighs forward tightening the psoas
muscle, which then irritates the piriformis,
which can press on the sciatic nerve. The
greater trochanter should be aligned vertically
above the ankle. Keeping the thighs back,
scoop the tailbone down and forward. Your
lower belly should tone when you scoop your
tailbone.
A common mistake in alignment is to scoop
the tailbone and push the thighs forward such
that the greater trochanter moves forward of
the ankle. When you scoop, you must keep
your thighs back. Most people with sciatica
don’t really understand this, yet the key to
healing is to find the balance between thighs
back and tailbone in while maintaining the
position of the greater trochanter over the
ankle. Healing always takes place in the
middle where the polarities find their natural
dynamic balance.
The next most important alignment technique
is Thoracic Integration. This is achieved by
905.404.9642
pulling your front ribs down and back while
you inflate the sides of the waistlines back
and up. There is an art to performing both
Pelvic Integration and Thoracic Integration
simultaneously, and it requires some practice
as well as a set of experienced eyes to help
you achieve the right balance. When Pelvic
Integration and Thoracic Integration are
done together, your core engages. I call this
Core Integration. A great way to feel core
integration is to stand in Tadasana. Apply all
four Essentials. Then draw the xiphoid process
and tip of the tailbone toward each other. The
xiphoid process is a tip of cartilage at the base
of the sternum pointing downward and shaped
like an arrowhead. The tailbone scoops down
and forward and the tip of the tailbone draws
up the front slightly toward the xiphoid creating
a powerful contraction of core energy. Shaped
similarly like arrows, these two keys, xiphoid
process and tailbone, unlock access to your
core which further stabilizes the lower back
area which helps to keep sciatic in check.
There are additional techniques to optimize
all four curves of the spine, as well as
alignment for the rest of the body, including
Shoulder Integration, Head Integration, Knee
Integration, Shin Integration, etc. To heal any
part of the body, it is ultimately necessary to
look at the whole since every part of the body
is in relationship to every other part.
For more information, visit www.ashayayoga.
com. Check out my Ashaya Yoga™ In-Depth
Study/ 200-Hour Teacher Training and my
Ashaya Yoga™ Advanced 300-Hour Teacher
Training Programs.
next Toronto event is April 9-12, 2015