Hi S,
What a bummer that you’re having pain when practicing, but glad that you’re paying attention to it. Yoga after all, is all about listening to your body and tuning into it. And if you’ve got a body, yoga is for you 🙂
Happy to give you some thoughts here, I’m a certified yoga teacher and have my 200 hour training. First off let me say that it’s hard to speculate about what may or may not be happening without seeing your body. I’ll follow that up with a disclaimer that if you’re really experiencing pain that you should see a doctor. Yoga teachers can sometimes advise, but keep in mind there is no replacement for a medical specialist.
So a couple thoughts would be to use props and listen to your body. The whole class is meant to prepare you to lie comfortably on your back in savasana, and since it’s your body and your practice, you get to decide what comfortably is. Suggestions would be to put a blanket (or towel or pillow) under your lower back/sacrum to support it. Or bend your knees so they point straight up into the air. If you have blocks (or something like it, a hefty book) put them up under your thighs to take a little pressure off the hips.
Another thing that the pain could be tied to it is core strength and hip position. Check in with your core through out class, keep it strong and use it to support you in every pose. Shoot, check in with your core all the time, at your desk, when standing, posture is so important when it comes to our lower back. And look into some core strengthening exercises if you need a little help. As far as hip positioning, and this will potentially be harder to explain with words, but make sure not to flare your tailbone out which contracts the lower back, ie: in chair pose, your tailbone should be reaching down to the ground lengthening the lower back, (not pushing the booty out like you’re twerking). Does that make sense? Focus on that throughout class: the space in your lower back. You might be surprised what a little attention and intention does for it.
Also, if you have any other questions about yoga, happy to chat! steph@loveshack.yoga
steph