Back pain happens to almost everyone at some point. I started wondering how much I could prevent it by doing a series of yoga poses, strengthening exercises and anything else I could figure out that might work. Though my own studies, research, discovery, work and living in a human body, I see that you can in fact alleviate and prevent back pain. The bottom line is, you have to make the time and do the exercises. There is no way around that and if there were a simpler way to do it, I would have found it. It takes me 15/20 mins a day, 3 times a week and 2 days a week I go for an hour or so. I mix up the kinds of exercises I do, and know strength is a big part of living in a pain free body. Personally, I like to take 2 good walks a week for at least an hour for my cardio/aerobic exercise and then spend at least 1 day a week doing a full hour of yoga with strength training mixed in. The other days, I mix it up, some days I do the minimum of a few stretches and some strength and some days I walk for 20/30 mins and then do some stretching with a little bit of strength. I also foam roll and use a series of different size balls for self massage. I believe all these things are what help my whole body feel good.
The point of all of this, is that I do the work, even on days I would rather just sit around. I push myself to do the things that are not my favorite. One of my greatest motivators is living in a body that has little to no aches & pains.
As a yoga teacher I continue to study and learn how to help myself and all my students and private yoga clients.