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.
I remember as a kid, helping my slightly OCD mom ready our bedsheets to be folded. We would each grab two corners and pull our ends taut, in our efforts to eliminate all the wrinkles and crinkles we could before we began. I kind of think of backbends a little like this lately … as I reach in opposite directions, smoothing out my own bumps and bends, creating the clean length and lines my OCD mom could be proud of. But sometimes it’s confusing. After all, most of us learned to drop back and stand up in a backbend by bending our knees forward to counter our weight as we go back.
The inspiration for this month’s article comes from a question posed in an email. The question, from Catherine, asks specifically about keeping the feet straight in drop-backs. For those of you not sure what a drop-back is… it’s when you stand at the front of your mat and drop into a backbend. It’s mostly the Ashtangis who do this and when they do it’s very typical to find people turning their feet out as they go back and/or as they come back up from the backbend.