This is one of my own personal favorites, not easy to get into and out of but you really feel it working to increase the range of motion you have in the upper back (extension) and shoulders (flexion). Great for helping you finding comfort in yoga postures that require those sorts of openings such as Kapotasana, Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Facing Wheel) and Pincha Mayurasana (forearm balance).
In this instructional video Deepika shares some of her favorite ways of warming and opening the body for backbending.
Popular all around the world Simon Borg-Olivier has definitely had an influence on many yoga teachers. It was a great pleasure to be able to catch up with him in Goa and finally get to chat with the man himself. Also see a demonstration focusing on fluidity and spinal mobilization.
You see, around 75% of the adult population has experienced lower back pain – and I’m not talking about those who practice yoga. It’s a “thing” and not a yoga “thing.” It comes up in yoga a lot, though. Mostly around backbends though honestly, the way we forward bend can often be more to blame. But lets just stick with backbends for now. Because that’s usually where we get scared our body either completely seizes up or totally collapses.
Luckily, there doesn’t have to be an either/or. We have lots of gray to research and learn. But before we get started, lets get something clear: We are NOT going all the way. Now that THAT silly business is out of the way.
Backbends require the front of the body to be in several key areas. In this video I show you the areas that students often experience restriction and provide some exercises to help facilitate a more comfortable and rewarding backbend journey.
As we get older our spines bend less, mostly because of the effects of gravity on the spinal discs, which begin to dehydrate and become compressed after 30, reducing the spaces between the facet joints in the vertebrae and limiting movement. Gravity and an upright human posture also causes some the spinal muscles found in children to be converted to more rigid and stable ligaments in adults. Child-gymnasts and young yogis are capable of much more extreme backbending than adults,…