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The important thing to developing a fresh perspective on yoga backbends just isn’t to consider them as bending your back, but as extending your spine. Practice with an intention to maintain some length along your spinal column and space between the vertebrae.
Here’s a sequence that may aid you overcome backbend avoidance. This practice helps you open your heart, stretch muscles along the front of your body, activate the muscles of your core, and construct strength to create a more joyful backbend practice.
(Photo: Courtesy of Ingrid Yang)
Marjaryasana/Bitilasana (Cat/Cow)
When moving your spine in any end-range motion—comparable to when you possibly can’t take your backbend any deeper—it’s all the time an excellent idea to warm up first. Cat-Cow is a position that permits you to move your spine while incorporating breath and movement.
(Photo: Courtesy of Ingrid Yang)
Anjaneyasana (Low Lunge)
An integral a part of entering into deep backbends comparable to Wheel is developing flexibility within the muscles along the front of your hips. Low Lunge stretches the hip flexors (especially the iliopsoas complex) and prepares you to maneuver deeper into backbends without straining your back.
(Photo: Courtesy of Ingrid Yang)
High Lunge
Practicing this Lunge along with your back knee up permits you to engage your gluteal and quadricep strength, which helps provide stability in deeper backbends. You possibly can hold a strap in each hands and pull wide to open your shoulders as well. This helps increase the shoulder mobility that a pose comparable to Wheel requires.
(Photo: Courtesy of Ingrid Yang)
Goddess Pose
Goddess Pose stretches the hip adductors while strengthening the quadriceps and glutes. It also stretches the muscles along the front of your chest. This makes it a perfect posture to arrange you for Urdhva Dhanurasana!
(Photo: Courtesy of Ingrid Yang)
Matsyasana (Fish Pose)
When we predict of backbends, we regularly think solely of the lower back. Nevertheless, the thoracic spine, which has 12 vertebrae, does some heavy lifting as well. Fish Pose focuses on extension within the thoracic spine, and will also be done in a supported restorative version for more extension and fewer strain.
(Photo: Courtesy of Ingrid Yang)
Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose)
Bridge Pose is one in all those posture that helps you understand that a backbend is basically a back extension. While your head and shoulders stay stationary, your hips lift, naturally lengthening your back. This can also be one other great demonstration of how leg strength, specifically within the hamstrings and glutes, improves stability and the range of motion that permits you to extend your spine.
(Photo: Courtesy of Ingrid Yang)
Urdhva Dhanurasana (Wheel Pose)
Wheel Pose, also often called Upward-Facing Bow, is the quintessential shape after we take into consideration backbends. Nevertheless, it’s important to keep in mind that there are many variations of Wheel. If you’ve got tender wrists, ask a partner to lend their ankles so that you can hold on to. Also, it takes time to construct shoulder, chest, and hip flexibility, in addition to the leg strength you have to push up into this pose. Take your time, remember it’s a practice, and don’t forget to breathe!
(Photo: Courtesy of Ingrid Yang)
Spinal Twists
After backbending, it is useful to maneuver into gentle twists, giving the intervertebral discs some relief. Gentle twisting can also be an important strategy to chill out spinal muscles after the work they’ve done holding us up in backbends.
(Photo: Courtesy of Ingrid Yang)
Savasana (Corpse Pose)
Coming into Savasana to bring your spine right into a neutral position. It just isn’t unusual to feel some mild achiness in your spinal muscles after backbending, especially in the event you are recent to the practice. Placing a rolled blanket under your knees is an important strategy to take any strain off your back and to chill out the muscles within the lumbar region.
See also: Avoiding Yoga Backbends? Here Are 6 Ways to Overcome Your Hesitation
About Our Contributors
Ingrid Yang is an internal medicine physician, yoga therapist, and creator of Adaptive Yoga and Hatha Yoga Asanas. Dr. Yang has been teaching yoga for greater than 20 years and leads trainings and retreats all around the world, with a special deal with kinesthetic physiology and healing through breathwork, meditation and mind-body connection. Discover more at www.ingridyang.com or on Instagram. Read more about her here.
Model Ayana Patel is a dancer, yogi, and a pre-med student at University of Washington, Seattle. A lifelong advocate for celebrating the unique abilities and inclusion of all people, she is the creator of the book Pacey the Peacock: A Story Celebrating Differences and the Importance of Inclusion.