How To Practice The Von Latta Technique

The Forward Bend exercise (fig. 20) is equally simple. We bend backwards at the waist then flex lower back muscles, relax them, then flex them again. This is done by a bouncing motion of the upper torso. I also do this exercise before a mirror while exploring the flexing muscles with my fingertips.

I routinely do half sit ups. These are better than full sit ups because they keep the muscles of the lower back, as well as the stomach muscles, in a constant state of flex. The half sit up is easily accomplished by elevating the legs and placing them on a chair or couch. You then do your sit ups but only sit halfway up and don't lie completely back against the floor at the end of the half sit up. By neither going al lthe way up, nor all the way down you work your stomach muscles in a very beneficial and strengthening way (fig. 21). The half sit up flattens your stomach while helping to reduce the size of the muscles around the hips. If you are also trying to improve your physical appearance, this is important.

Until now, there have only been a few exercises dealing specifically with the lower back. These exercises do not deal with self adjustment or offer mastery over the condition that causes the pain. Hatha Yoga offers a number of very effective back exercises. To strengthen the lower back muscles through Hatha Yoga exercises or other effective back exercises will probably help in your efforts to lessen those lower back problems with which we will be dealing. Let me stress, though, that yoga or other exercises are not necessary to perfect the Von Latta Technique and reap its incredible benefits.

This is not a book on Hatha Yoga. I will, however, include two very effective yoga exercises. One, The Cobra, stretches the back muscles in one direction while the other, The Plow, works the muscles in the opposite direction. You receive the benefits of balance, of working your muscles in both directions. Not ignoring or favoring one direction or motion over another. Such exercises will help you stay physically supple, youthful and vibrant. Your general, over-all health may well be much improved by these exercises.

In these exercises the object is not repetition but rather doing an increasingly improved exercise and maintaining it for an increased amount of time. While in the Cobra, the muscles are flexed in the opposite direction of the Plow. The perfect Cobra is depicted in Fig. 22. The concept of the perfect Cobra is best understood when you imagine yourself a cobra...your neck stretched to its full length. The winding of the neck, to represent the hooded neck of the cobra, is imaginary but you'll be surprised by how you seem to feel your neck sort of spread into a cobra hood.