My mom has been dealing with sciatic nerve pain, a few of my students have asked me about it.

I found this BEAUTIFUL article on it, please read it here.

I played with passively opening the hips in my class tonight with these poses:

1. Start lying on your mat knees bent. Extend your right leg up, place right ankle on to left thigh, FLEX YOUR RIGHT FOOT TO PROTECT YOUR KNEE, gently press the thigh out with your right hand. Draw the legs in towards your chest for thread the needle, allow the legs to fall to the left, right foot plants on to the mat. Press your right thigh open.

2. Start in a lunge. Back knee down, toes uncurled. Heel toe your front foot to the outside edge of your mat. Turn out the foot, come to the outside edge of your foot. Press your thigh open with your hand.

2. Ardha Matsyendrasana

The most common yoga injury is twisting the musculoskeletal system farther than the organs can support. Twist from the inside out!! My class focus today was twists. To safely twist, you must inhale and create SPACE in your spine, and then engage your core as you exhale and twist from your inner body/organs. More info in my blog #twists #squeezeandsoak #marichyasana #yoga #yogateacher #yogaismymedicine

A photo posted by Shannen Roberts (@shannenrobertsyoga) on Mar 26, 2014 at 11:46pm PDT

3. Standing form of thread the needle

My mom has been having a hard time with sciatic nerve pain, so I taught a class on sciatica tonight in her honor ❤️❤️❤️ Sciatica can be a pain, weakness, burning, tingling, or numbing that usually starts in the bum and ends up shooting down the leg. Releasing the hamstrings and passively opening the hips are key to finding relief. This is my favorite pose to gently stretch the piriformis muscle which can put pressure on the sciatic nerve if tight (I've gotten sciatica a few times -_-). It can be done with or without the support of a wall. Make sure to keep your top foot flexed to protect your knees!!! xox #sciatica #piriformis #form #lovemymom #hope #relief #yogainstructor #selftherapy

A photo posted by Shannen Roberts (@shannenrobertsyoga) on Jun 2, 2014 at 10:42pm PDT