Protect your back from injury by shining your light into the distance.
The Lighthouse stands tall on the point of land shining its powerful light out to sea protecting the ships from the dangerous rocks nearby. Bob’s yoga teacher tells him that he needs to use the Lighthouse Technique to protect his back and improve his forward folds.
Bob is working on Paschimottanasana one of many forward fold poses. In this pose you have both legs together straight out in front of you as you fold forward and lower your torso towards your legs.
Bob is attempting to get his torso closer to his legs by rounding his back and bringing his head forward and down. Bob’s lighthouse is in danger of falling down.
What is the Lighthouse Technique
Your torso is the lighthouse standing tall on that rocky point of land. The bottom of your ribs is where the powerful light is located and it is sending a beam of light far out over the ocean to warn the ships of the dangerous rocks nearby.
Bob’s job is to keep that light shining into the distance as long as possible as he folds forward and lowers his torso down towards his legs and the floor.
How to do the Lighthouse Technique
Protect your back from injury by shining your light into the distance.
It is easy to implement the Lighthouse Technique. When you are folding forward think of leading with the bottom of your breast bone rather than your head or your chin. You move your torso forward while keeping your head and neck in a neutral position.
To fold forward using the Lighthouse Technique you start the movement from the top of your hips. You move the top of your hips forward towards your toes.
Next you move the bottom of your rib cage forward. Then you bring your arms forward keeping your shoulder blades down your back away from your ears.
Finally you keep your head and neck in a neutral position on top of your torso as you fold forward.
When you have finished folding forward your back will be slightly rounded like a parentheses “(”. It will not be rounded like the letter “C”.
Why use the Lighthouse Technique
You use the Lighthouse Technique to protect your lower back when you fold forward in a yoga pose. This technique makes sure that you keep your back straighter which prevents you from over stretching the muscles in your lower back.
When you use the Lighthouse Technique you start with your hips rather than your head. Starting the movement in your hips will help to increase your hip flexibility.
Because you are not leading with your head you are protecting the muscles of your neck and upper back from being over stretched as well.
But I do not move as far into the pose
When you first start using the Lighthouse Technique you will notice that your head does not come as close to your legs as it did before. This is because you are working on keeping your back straighter and developing flexibility in your hips.
Over time you will discover that you are getting closer to your legs than you were before as your hips get more flexible.
Summary
Bob has been using the Lighthouse Technique for a while now and he is shining his light beyond his feet rather than down at his knees.
The lighthouse shines its light out to sea to warn ships of the dangers nearby. The Lighthouse Technique will protect you from the dangers nearby as well. Using the Lighthouse Technique you protect your lower back, upper back and neck muscles from getting over stretched and injured.
Not only does the Lighthouse Technique protect your back it also improves flexibility in your hips.
Next Steps
Ask your yoga teacher to help you get the Lighthouse Technique implemented correctly and protect your back from injury.
Additional Reading
To learn more about protecting yourself from injury read about Goldilocks and the 3 bears find the edge.
In the article How to keep yoga from being a pain in the back you learn more about protecting your back from injury.
There are more things you can do to protect yourself from injury. Why a Yoga Defensive Driving course is required for a safe practice tells you about a couple of them.
