Exercises and stretches for the back: the Japanese Ayayoga method

Practicing yoga, physical exercise and stretching helps to strengthen the muscles that surround the spine, align it and tone the abdomen, which prevents back pain.

Some yoga postures are especially recommended to avoid back pain. However, the Japanese Aya, director of the yoga studio syaraaya, has created his own yoga method –ayayoga– that combines yoga with stretching, and this combination is gaining popularity in Japan as a method to avoid back ailments.

The method – collected in the book Take care of your back with Ayayoga (Kitsune books) which is already a bestseller in Japan – is based on the practice of a selection of yoga exercises that, according to Aya:

They activate muscles that we do not usually use and that, however, serve as support for our back. They are soft and do not demand roughness. strengthen the back through the conscious and controlled use of muscles. Are very simple to perform, so they can be practiced by anyone.

3 basic ayayoga exercises to take care of the back

Aya has condensed the movements that effectively work the back into two basic exercises (plus one a little more complicated) to activate this underused area. According to the creator of the ayayoga method, if they are practiced daily for 3 minutes a day, results are achieved in just 2 weeks.

With ayayoga, you will notice the results in the whole body even though you will mainly be working the muscles of the shoulder blades. You will not find complicated movements and, turning the palms of the hands, you will enhance its effect. If you practice this routine every day, you will gain flexibility and freedom of movement.