Yoga Therapy for Your Low Back
Learn the skills and knowledge you need for wellbeing, prevention, and recovery from low back pain and stiffness.
Low back pain affects millions: 70% of the population suffers from low back pain at some time in their lives! It is the leading cause of years lived with disability. Low back pain is also an expensive problem—individuals spend many thousands of dollars on it and healthcare systems spend billions.
90% of chronic low back pain is non-specific. Treatment with medication and surgery delivers poor outcomes.
Chronic low back pain arises from a combination of many factors. To keep your back healthy, avoid back pain, or recover from it, you need to address as many of those factors as you can. And that requires a holistic approach.
You need to cultivate awareness, alignment, strength, stability, release, mobilization, stretching, breathing and more. You must also incorporate those improved movement patterns in daily life and nurture a positive mind-body connection.
A healthy back is key to posture, movement, and vitality. With the right holistic approach, you can have a strong, flexible, and relaxed back, lifelong.
This course will teach you how to do this for yourself. In joining this course, you are taking a powerful step toward taking improving the wellbeing of your low back and recovering from pain or injury.
This comprehensive online course bundle with Dr. Ganesh Mohan guides you in the key knowledge and skills you need: Awareness, Alignment, Strength, Stability, Release, Stretching, Thoughts & Feelings, Daily Life & Personal Practice. Presented in simple language with extensive practice examples, it is designed to be scientific, accessible, and effective.
This bundle also includes Yoga Therapy guidelines for common low back diagnoses, such as Non-specific back pain, Lumbar intervertebral disc herniation, Facet joint problems, Hyperlordosis, Spondylolisthesis, Flat back, Soft tissue injury and Spinal stenosis.
This course is suitable for all ages and fitness levels; it includes simple practice options that anyone can try.
The Smart Choice
The Mayo Clinic estimates that the annual cost to the US economy from low back pain is $100-200 billion. A 2005 study in Sweden estimated the direct cost of chronic low back pain to be Euro 3100 per patient annually and indirect costs at Euro 17600 per patient annually.
The prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, stated in 2016: “Low back pain is the leading chronic health problem forcing older workers to retire prematurely, and forcing more people out of the workplace than heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, neoplasm, respiratory disease, and asthma combined. Older people who retire early because of low back pain have substantially less total wealth and income- producing assets—about 87% less than those who remain in full-time employment.”
Despite patients and healthcare systems spending so much money globally, back pain continues to increase, costs continue to increase, and the burden of suffering is not being eased effectively.
The smart choice is to invest just a little money and some time and effort on self-care. Learn to use your back better. No drug, surgery, physical manipulation technique, or massage can substitute that.
For Yoga Teachers and Yoga Therapists
Low back pain is among the most common problems your students or clients will present with. There is a vast need for a holistic approach to help them. And as we have noted, it is a problem on which a lot of money is spent.
To help your students and clients with back pain, guide them to decrease pain, move better, increase confidence and more, you need the right knowledge and practices. There is no trick or special exercise that can take the place of a solid, authentic, well-rounded approach to yoga therapy for the back.
This course will equip you with the know-how and confidence to approach your clients with back issues. It is an essential part of your yoga therapy toolkit.
This program is also part of the Svastha Yoga Therapy certification.
Curriculum
Yoga for Your Low Back - Skills
THEORY | PRACTICE | SELF-CARE
Awareness
- Guide to awareness of the low back
- Lumbar spine landmarks, movements, connection to pelvis
- Practice - feeling and exploring the low back
Alignment - Neutral Spine
- Guide to Neutral Spine
- Introduction to neutral spine and loading
- Neutral spine - diagram, columns, muscles
- Neutral spine - lying on the back
- Neutral spine - kneeling, all fours
- Neutral spine - sitting, chair
- Neutral spine - bridge
- Neutral spine - chair, forward bend
- Neutral spine - twist, side bend
- Low back safety in forward bends
Strengthening the low back
- Guide to strengthening the low back
- Palpating the back muscles
- Connecting to back muscles with massager (tennis ball)
- Supine, bridge
- Prone, cobra, locust
- Seated on a chair
- Standing, chair pose, forward bend
- Kneeling
- Hands and knees
- Asymmetric variations
- Progressive loading and arm positions
- Side lifts, Trunk curls
Stabilizing the low back
- Guide to stabilizing the low back
- Why and how of low back stability
- Stability vs. movement and core muscles
- Palpating the abdominals - resting
- Palpating the abdominals - active
- Breath and low back stability
- Ujjayi and low back stability
- Stabilize in all fours
- Stabilize in bridge
- Stabilize in standing
Mobilizing the low back
- Guide to mobilizing the low back
- Mobilization in all fours
- Mobilization in supine bridge
- Mobilization in kneeling
- Mobilization in sitting
Releasing the low back
- Guide to releasing the low back
- Release with self massage
- Release with support
Stretching the low back
- Guide to stretching the low back
- Stretching in standing
- Stretching in all fours
- Stretching in sitting
- Stretching - other positions
- Traction
- Extension range of movement
Thoughts & Feelings
- Positive thoughts and feelings to the low back
Personal Practice & Daily Life
- Quick Guide to Personal Practice
- Use the skills in daily life
- Connect with your back - hands & knees
- Connect with your back - lying
- Connect with your back – seated
Yoga for Your Low Back - Disorders
THERAPEUTIC GUIDELINES FOR COMMON LOW BACK PROBLEMS
Non-specific back pain
- The problem
- Holistic approach
- Movement skills pathway
Specific Diagnoses
- Intervertebral disc herniation
- Facet joint problems
- Hyperlordosis
- Spondylolisthesis
- Soft tissue injury
- Spinal stenosis
Course preview
Click here to read the Program Guide for Course 1:
Yoga for Your Low Back - Skills - Program Guide.pdf
Click here to read the Program Guide for Course 2:
Yoga for Your Low Back - Disorders - Program Guide.pdf
Sample course videos:
Chapter 3: Alignment - Neutral spine | Lesson 7: Neutral spine - bridge
Chapter 5: Stabilizing the Low Back | Lesson 6: Breath and low back stability
Chapter 8: Stretching | Lesson 3: Stretching on all fours
Teachers
Dr. Ganesh Mohan learned yoga from childhood in the tradition of Sri Krishnamacharya through his parents, A. G. Mohan and Indra Mohan. He trained in ancient studies including Sanskrit, Vedic chanting, and Ayurveda and then went on to become a modern medical doctor. He integrates a full spectrum of holistic well-being methods in his work: movement, breathing, meditation and mindfulness, lifestyle, diet, relationships, life guidance and more. He has had extensive experience with thousands of students and patients. He also directs the Svastha Yoga & Ayurveda trainings, including the Svastha Yoga Therapy Program across the globe. He is the co-author of numerous books published internationally, such as Yoga Therapy, Krishnamacharya, and Yoga Reminder. With his father, he is the translator of the important Sanskrit yoga texts, Yoga Yajnavalkya and Hatha Yoga Pradipika.
Certificate
The last lesson of the courses includes assessment through multiple choice quiz. Once you complete the assessment, you will receive your certificate of completion for each of the courses (7.5 hours and 1 hour of training for the skills and disorder courses respectively).
Course FAQ's
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Can I access the materials in the course immediately on signing up?
Yes! This bundle contains over 8.5 hours of recorded content plus guides and notes for reference. You can view these materials immediately and continue to access them for the duration of your enrollment.
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Does the course have a live component?
Live sessions with Dr. Mohan will be offered from time to time to answer questions, and to foster community interaction and engagement. The dates and times will be announced by email to registered participants. This is in addition to the recorded content already available in the course.
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How long can I access the course?
You have access to the course for one year from the date of your enrollment.
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How difficult are the exercises in the course?
There are numerous exercise options in the course in standing, seated, all fours, and lying positions. The principles start from safety and pain-free movement. You can select the exercises that are most accessible to you.
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Is the course mainly lecture or practice?
This course takes a building block approach - it contains dozens of short practices, with theory to provide the knowledge and principles. The practices are organized by skill. You can make your own longer practices by combining these building blocks.
What our members are saying
Working towards inner peace!
Getting insights from long term teachers and practitioners as the Mohan family is invaluable. There is a lot of clarity and simplicity in the explanations of how our mind works and the role of desire. I loved all the practices they taught in this course to move towards inner peace, soooo useful! I really appreciate all the teachings received.
JULIA M
Beyond Desire
Very fulfilling in content and structure of knowledge provided as well as the deep experiences made accessible in the practice parts. Thank you so much!!!
MELANIE T
Very indepth
Deepening your knowledge with the Mohans gives you a clear and profound insight of what yoga is about. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
NANDA VAN P
Embodiment, ancient and modern approaches
HEIKE M
Very eye-opening on patterns you thought is clear anyway
Loved the practices together with the sources in the texts, very Spot on. Very clear and simple! Thank you
MIRA R
Well presented
It was very well explained. Excellent.. great charts to make it more easy to retain the concepts.
HARSHA G
Excellent!
I am very grateful for the online courses; this is a great opportunity! The course was excellent, as it balanced between theory and practice.
ANNA K
Thank you so much
I learned so much out of this course, thanks to you!
TRUSS K
Perfect pace, perfect presentation
Can not be better. Learned a lot even though I already knew the basics: the Imbalance of one person is his own balance, we should not focused only on production of Agni but balance it! Immediately understood why my practice of Pranayama was not fully effective, and when I added to to it Sitali paranayama, I started to feel better. Now I will look also at the diet.
DILLARO S
A generous and very informative course
Thank you for a very rich course. I want to highlight in particular the precisions and nuances introduced by Dr. Ganesh Mohan, as well as the deep of knowledge shared by AG Mohan. It seems to me much more than a 5.5 hours program... much to reflect on :)
NICO F
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