Cannot breathe in the back bend…help!

That is a very good question that Gabriel raised. Where are you struggling? At what point in the posture do you abandon a relaxed and easy yoga breath. I have similar problems in the poses due to what some physical therapists like to call negative range of motion. You have all the flexibility in the world but strength is sacrificed. I have found that one of the hardest things to do is to develop strength in the postures because I can literally move right past the strength development part and go deep because my body can. The key to good breathing in Half moon is foundation. Tight glutes, quadriceps strongly engaged, your pelvis pushes forward. These are all basic instructions for the class, but the result is to create a solid foundation. Once your base is solid your torso can be supported and lifted. If you are collapsed through the thoracic cavity, breathing will be difficult at best and nonexistent at its worst. You Need to be strong and engaged in the base and relaxed yet lifted in the upper body. Also a strong breath foundation is vital to success in back bends. Everyone wants to know what the foundation or priority of each pose is, so as not to sacrifice this foundation for depth. The foundation of all of your bio mechanical foundations is an easy relaxed breath. when your breath “gets away” from you due to strenuous activity your nervous system becomes agitated. It is next to impossible to relax when your nervous system thinks you are in a crisis situation. Sometimes when I hit this wall in a posture I find it is because I missed a step or overlooked some portion of the entry. Finding blind spots in our body awareness is the ongoing discovery of our practice. I always think of a line from the movie “Labyrinth” when I discuss this topic. There is a wise old man with a “Stupid” talking hat who says: “…the way forward is sometimes the way back.” Hope this helps!

Anthony Lewis

Hi Stefania

There aren’t many who can actually keep their arms right back with their ears in a full backbend.

Would you be willing to try something for me?

Next time you do your Half Moon backbend, do what you can to completely relax your arms and neck and shoulders before and after you place your head back. Keep your arms relaxed in your backbend. For now, if your arms have to stay with a micro bend to allow your shoulders etc to stay relaxed then so be it. Make relaxing your shoulders your primary objective.

My guess is that, no you don’t have to stop yourself from going back so far. Quite the contrary, I think you will find that you are able to free yourself up to go back a bit further. I think that the tension in your shoulders is holding you back. And the tension created is creating that paradoxical breathing.

So with this little experiment, notice how much easier it will be to slow and even deepen your breath. You will still be able to bring your arms back in your backbend, just don’t be concerned about straightening them just yet.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂