Beautiful Backbends

When I first started my own yoga journey backbends were seldom in my practice. I could do some of the basic poses, but would never do them properly, dumping too much pressure on my lower back. My shoulders were too tight and my back muscles were almost non existent to support a beautiful and energizing bend. But then after I started searching about how to properly do a backbend I started to feel freedom in my movements. I would sync up my breath to the flow of my body, engaging my core and lifting up my chest. All of these things made me slowly start to find a love for backbending. And it’s still one of my favourite things to do in my practice. I never thought I would be able to do any kind of deep backbend, and yet here I am.

Backbending might be a staple to yoga, but it’s benefits are so vast that really every human being should be doing them. Especially those who are sitting at a desk all day.

In yoga, backbends are also known as heart openers. In a practical sense, they open up your chest and draw your shoulders down your back, allowing your heart to protrude outwards. In a spiritual sense, Backbends tell us how much we are willing to be vulnerable to open up our hearts into our chests. The act of opening up our hearts is an incredibly vulnerable one that stands out in many student’s practices. Some students experience heavy emotions as they deepen into their Backbends while other students can barely even lift open their chests. Heart openers require dedication, concentration and a very real ability to trust in your own body’s intuition and surrender into the moment. Not so coincidentally, they are associated with the heart chakra: Anahata, meaning unstruck or unbeaten. It connects us to calm and serenity. Peace and love. But in order to get there, we must first break open the chains that keep our chests and hearts protected. We need to be open to vulnerability.

deepspiritualawakening.com

Backbends are a beautiful and challenging part of the yoga process. They encourage us to maintain good posture by pulling our shoulders back and opening up our chests. They contract our back muscles while stretching and lengthening our front bodies. They allow us to activate muscles and breathe into areas of our bodies that we’ve barely been able to feel. If done properly, deep Backbends can add perspective and balance to our lives and yoga practices.

yoga anatomy by leslie kaminoff

Any type of backbend requires strength and flexibility throughout the entire body. A common misconception about backbending is that the work to achieve it is all in the back. In reality, depending on what kind of backbend you are doing, you will need flexibility in your entire body. Usually backbending also opens the shoulders while stretching the quadriceps, although there are also some Backbends that also require flexibility in the hamstrings, like dancers pose.

I know that my practice became so much more valuable to me when I started to deepen my Backbends. Sitting at a desk for the majority of my workday makes my back muscles feel stiff and tired. After I do a backbending practice my body feels wonderful. I feel so open, as if that weight on my shoulders from a tiring day has been lifted. If you do not currently practice Backbends, I strongly encourage you to do so.

Here are a few starter backbending poses you can use to help you open your heart

Cobra Pose

Begin by lying down on your stomach and place your hands by your shoulders, keeping the elbows brushing up against the torso. Inhale to press into your hands and peel your shoulders off of the mat and drawing down the back. Lift your head so that your gaze is pointing upwards. Keep the elbows bend and the core engaged.

 

 

 

Upward Facing Dog Pose

Begin as in cobra pose, but this time lift your hips and thighs off of the floor, straightening your arms. Wrap your triceps here and lift your head.

 

 

 

Camel Pose

Begin in a kneeling position, knees in line with hips. Engage the core and draw the shoulders down the back. Inhale to gently bend your back and if possible reach your hands to your ankles or on a block, feet tucked.

 

 

Locust Pose

 

Begin lying down on your stomach, arms alongside your torso, facing upwards. Engage your core and draw your shoulders down your back. Inhale to lift your shoulders and chest off of the mat while simultaneously lifting the legs off of the ,at by engaging and lifting the quads.

 

 

 

Bow Pose

 

Begin lying down on your stomach, arms alongside your torso. Inhale to bend legs and reach arms towards them. Engage the core and draw the shoulders down the back and on the next inhale, lift the chest, shoulders and quads off of the mat, gazing upwards

 

 

 

Bridge Pose

 

 

Begin by lying down flat on the mat and bend the knees so that the soles of the feet are planted into the mat inline with the hips. Engage the core and inhale to lift the hips off of the mat, keeping the chest open and the shoulders drawing down the back.

 

 

 

Wheel Pose

Begin the same way as in bridge pose but place the palms of the hands alongside the head, in line with the shoulders with the fingers pointing towards the toes. Inhale to slowly lift the hips and arms to have the head gently resting on the mat. If comfortable, start straightening your arms to lift your head off of the mat, keeping the core engaged. Be sure to rotate the triceps inward and keep the knees rotating inward to avoid them splaying out to the sides.