I join Laruga Glaser to discuss the details of Urdhva Dhanurasana. She give an example of a nice shoulder opener too. This is one of the new style where I with the teacher getting extra info for you.
This video with Heather Elton is all about backbending. First of all there is a vinyasa sequence that you can follow to gradually work deeper into your backbends. This is followed by some opening work using props to demonstrate techniques for finding more space and comfort for those that find backbending a challenge.
In this instructional video Deepika shares some of her favorite ways of warming and opening the body for backbending.
It really is important with backbending to open the shoulders and hips and have a strong core. In this workshop Sofia demonstrates some useful exercises to do just that, with a specific focus on getting ready for Kapotasana. Kapotasana is a very deep backbend and an advanced posture, as in fact are some of the exercises that Sofia uses to warm up, so please be kind to yourself and honest with where you are with your own practice before you…
In this instructional video David Robson talks you through preparing for a doing a dropback, and then doing the dropback itself. As we are on the beach we show you how to use a change in height to make it easier.
It is always great fun and informative to film with David Robson. In this video we look at the sequence used in Ashtanga for the backbending section of the finishing sequence. We take a look at Urdhva Dhanurasana, assisted dropbacks and a little fun way of building strength.
Laruga Glaser is such an inspiration for many students and so there was great excitement when we decided to do this themed interview centered around backbending. I talk to Laruga about her own backbending journey and I think you will be surprised to hear that although we may assume they come so easy for her, they are not always her favorite postures.
Many yoga practitioners instinctually know to engage their inner thigh muscles (adductors) in backbends to prevent their knees from falling out to the sides. Let’s examine how we can utilise this action to ignite our core, expand our backward arch and experience simultaneously more stability and spaciousness in backbends. The adductor muscles of the inner thigh are part of our axial core.
Most modern adults tend to have very stiff middle backs (usually from about the tenth thoracic vertebra (T10) to the fourth lumbar vertebra (L4). This region (T10-L4) is stuck in a slight forward bend (spinal flexion) in many modern adults. These people usually do most of their bending backwards (spinal extension) from the very lowest part of the mobile spine at junction between the fifth lumbar vertebra and the first sacral vertebra (L5-S1). L5-S1 is usually located about 2 centimetres below the top of your hips (iliac crests).
Peg Mulqueen draws on advice from her mentors David Garrigues and David Robson to device her three step program to work towards kapotasana.