Bend Before You Break

Let’s be honest here: there are some yoga poses that we love and there are others that we avoid. With few exceptions, backbends tend to elicit a passionate response - it’s a love/hate relationship. People either pepper their practice with deeper and deeper ones or they skip them whenever possible, dreading the inevitable discomfort. Backbends are a group of poses that open the heart chakra, build courage and stamina, and give us the sort of energy that propels us to reach out toward others - so, what’s not to love?

 
Smiling yoga teacher balancing at the beach
 

Many people dislike and find discomfort when practicing backbends. It's not often that most of us find ourselves in a backbend and actually, we spend most of the day forward bending, hunched over doing any or all of the following:

  • Eating

  • Reading

  • Sitting at a desk

  • Doing the dishes

  • Driving in the car

  • Watching TV

  • Gardening

The thing is is that you're more likely to choose poses that honor your limits if you keep in mind the point of the practice, which in the case of backbending is opening the front of the body. You probably already do this instinctively after long periods of time spent hunched forward. You know the stretch: arms reaching up and out, chest puffing forward, maybe even accompanied by a yawn or a growl. This informal backbend opens the muscles of the front body that tend to get tighten and short while you are pitched forward, and it offers the overstretched and fatigued back muscles relief by shortening them and bringing in a fresh supply of oxygenated blood. It feels great to open this way, doesn't it?

Chances are very good that if you are miserable in backbends, it's not that you don't value the benefits; it's more likely that you have never truly experienced them. Maybe you are stiff along the front body or have weak back muscles, or perhaps you instinctively know to protect a vulnerable heart from openings you are not ready for. If you have yet to find joy in opening the front body, it's time to develop a different approach to your practice.

What can be helpful when practicing backbends is to stay within your limits and feel your way into the pose instead of forcing your way into it without the aim to achieve anything in particular, just instinctively go for the relief and exhilaration of the extension of your spine. If you can remind yourself that this revitalization is possible with even the simplest of poses, you just might gravitate willingly and eagerly toward the practice of backbends.

If you pay close attention, the breath will tell you what you need and when you've gone too far. The breath is constant, but at the same time, it's ever-changing. It reflects the state of the body and mind in the most honest and direct way. Over effort, strain, pain, anxiety, striving, frustration—all of these emotional states are revealed by the breath, and you can know your own mind better, and learn to work within your limits, if you learn how to interpret the sensation and sound of your breath.

Contrary to what you might think, backs were made to backbend. There are many miles of nerves from the spine that send impulses to your organs and every part of your body. Healing your spine can improve the quality of your life and it a part of that healing journey may indeed include backbends. A lifetime of slouching, however, means that it may take some time to find the spinal flexibility that you were born with. There are many ways to backbend, and it's important to take it slowly, especially at first.

A healthy backbending practice requires support, breath and patience. And if you’re looking for a little more motivation to incorporate more backbends into your practice here are some top benefits:

  • Stimulates and rejuvenate both mind and body

  • Strengthens digestive and elimination organs

  • Improves circulation

  • Opens the lungs

  • Increases flexibility of the spine and shoulders

  • Energizing; beneficial for overcoming lethargy

  • Opens up the heart center and builds physical and emotional strength combating depression giving energy and courage

  • Relieves rounded shoulders opens the chest by strengthening the shoulders

  • Releases tension in the upper body, opens the lungs and can be therapeutic for the low back

  • Demands strength and will power

  • Opens the thoracic cavity; frees the chest, rib cage, back, and abdominal muscles, to help allow for improved breathing

  • Develops strong arms, shoulders and back muscles

  • Strengthens and tones arms, back, abdomen, buttocks, and thighs

 
 
Erica Blitz