Do you have lower back pain when practicing yoga (or in your day-to-day)? If so, point to where it hurts. If you’re indicating the spots identified on the sculpture (Pradier’s Odalisque), your lower back pain is sacro-iliac pain.

Where is the sacrum and what are the S-I joints? Yoga teachers reference this area of the body all the time, but it’s something of a black hole for many practitioners. Think about it: you can’t even see that part of your body without a couple of strategically angled mirrors. All the same, it’s the seat of your spine and is literally your anatomical center.

In this workshop you will:

• Demystify the sacrum and S-I joints by learning about the anatomy of this region of the body.
• Learn to control the movements of your sacrum—in ways that will benefit your yoga practice and your subway riding!
• Learn approaches to/modifications of yoga poses that you can use to curb S-I joint pain in your yoga practice.
• Discover (or learn a new way to access) uddiyana bandha.

This workshop will also serve teachers who want to add to their teaching repertoire. Warning: This work may change the way you cue backbends.