Michelle Andrie

For many of us, the journey out of low-back pain is a long, painful, difficult, and expensive one. It can be incredibly frustrating because most people seeking a solution to their low-back pain spend much time and money in the traditional medical world without receiving substantial relief.

I too spent years seeking help from the doctors and physical therapists with whom I worked at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Texas. I took their advice and tried the pills, injections, and exercises; only stopping when they suggested surgery because I knew that surgery had only a 50% success rate – and of the 50% that found relief with surgery, it was only temporary. Their low-back pain came back over time.

While I was attempting to find a cure in the traditional medical community, I searched out every yoga remedy, got popped and twisted by chiropractors, poked with needles by acupuncturists, had my mind probed in psychotherapy, took many supplements, became a raw foodie and bared my soul to spiritual teachers.

And still, my low-back pain persisted.

I was a Yoga Therapist working in a hospital helping others face their challenges and I couldn’t help myself.

I felt hopeless.

All I wanted to do was get back to swimming, hiking, practicing yoga, playing with my daughter, enjoying my friends, cooking dinner, redoing my old farmhouse, gardening, and working with my yoga therapy clients – without low-back pain.

Can you relate?

Do you want to get out of low-back pain and get back to doing all of the things you love to do?

Well, I have good news for you!!

As I write this, I am completely free from low-back pain and have been for nearly two decades. If I can get out of low-back pain after fifteen years of suffering, you can too!

My Low-Back Pain Story

I remember hitting the lowest point in my long journey with chronic low-back pain. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling the familiar stabbing back pain and lay there attempting to catch my breath. I knew if I moved, the pain would only get worse because this had happened to me so many times before.

I started crying, then sobbing uncontrollably. I didn’t want to live with this kind of pain anymore. My partner heard my cries and got out of bed to help me to my yoga mat which lived at the end of our bed because these late-night low-back pain episodes happened regularly.

I lay on my mat, tears running down my face, thinking… My BACK is in too much pain. It had seized up for the millionth time a few days prior for no good reason at all. I could barely move and care for myself; let alone the house, my partner, or my kid. And now this stabbing pain was keeping me from even resting?

I couldn’t even get out of bed by myself. That was the worst feeling. I felt like a burden, a complete FAILURE.

Why me??

I had been suffering from low-back pain for about thirteen years at that point. I thought that I was doing everything right – I was a yoga therapist for goodness sake!! As I shared, I had already seen every specialist and was doing everything I could think of to just get some relief. Yet my low-back pain persisted. Not one of the countless doctors or healers whom I’d seen was able to give me lasting solutions.

My life was passing me by. I was living with chronic pain every single day which became so debilitating several times a year that I couldn’t even get out of bed by myself. I couldn’t take living like this anymore.

At that moment on the floor, I decided to give up any hope of finding a solution and accept my fate. I truly believed that I was destined to live with low-back pain for the rest of my life.

But then a very small miracle occurred. My hand brushed the golf ball my dog had been playing with earlier that evening. I grabbed it and placed it under my right butt cheek. And just like that, I felt a bit of relief. I lay there rolling on my butt cheek for several minutes – long enough that I could begin to move on my own. Amazingly, I was then able to get up and put myself back to bed.

I lay there puzzling over this miracle. What had happened?

Even a hint of some kind of improvement galvanized me. I had to know more! So I took myself on a journey to learn about it. That moment of relief led me to study a little-known part of the body that connects the body and the mind and contracts or releases muscles, the fascia!

Ultimately, these studies led me to many teachers; all of whom helped me to better understand my body, my energy flow, my emotions, and my mindset. My long journey culminated in an amazing discovery: this one magical system, the fascia, that I knew nothing about, but quickly realized was the key to healing my low-back pain.

During this journey, I put together a natural healing method that gave me lasting low-back pain relief. I still remember waking up one morning after a good night's sleep and realizing that I hadn’t felt pain in my lower back in days.

It truly was a miracle!

Remember… my life experience included feeling low-back pain EVERY SINGLE DAY… for years. Slowly I found that I was able to move, bend over, pick up things, walk, sit, and cook dinner – ALL WITHOUT low-back PAIN!!

I had finally found the solution I’d been searching for! And it wasn’t even that hard! Better yet, it didn’t involve drugs, surgery, endless visits to the chiropractor, massage, or relying on anyone else to “fix” me. The discoveries I made from that initial late-night “A-ha moment” were so exciting that I began to practice them on my low-back clients.

Hi, My name is Michelle Andrie, a Yoga Therapist of thirty-three years, a Myofascial Release Therapist, and an expert in the energy body. In the nineteen years since my discovery, I’ve helped thousands of clients live with persistent low-back pain.

And now I’ve been led to write this book. I wanted to put my practices into one simple, accessible guide. So many people whom I’ve treated are now finally enjoying life again… and I want to spread this knowledge to as many people as possible.

I was able to heal my back NATURALLY without doctor visits and once again resume a happy life full of activities like swimming in the ocean. Most importantly, I now savor the gift of feeling safe, strong, and capable in my own body. This is what I hope to do for my readers.