The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › General Hot Yoga Discussion › Hot Yoga *faq* › Deepening Backbending
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › General Hot Yoga Discussion › Hot Yoga *faq* › Deepening Backbending
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Hello!
I am a 42 year old female and I have been practicing Bikram yoga for nearly 2 years, approximately 5 days a week. I am naturally very strong, but not very flexible. My main goal in life now is to be able to do a (hopefully) full backbend ;-). I have noticed that my lower back is really flexible but my middle, upper back and chest is extremely tight. I have been seeing slow improvements since changing my focus to the backbend (I was just recently able to do a bridge!), but I was wondering if there was something I could do to increase the flexibility in those areas. Can I still perfect a backbend at my age?
I would appreciate any input or guidance I can get!
Namaste,
JackieHi Jackie
I think it’s possible to improve your backbends! I do know too, that often there are missed details or techniques that are not optimised in most people’s practices that if employed would make their practices much better. In other words, I must not assume that you are performing your poses perfectly as one of the answers to your question!
This means that there could be a gem that would help you in every single pose that would unlock even more magic from the yoga.
There are other reasons that include the way you hold your body outside of class. If you could describe your posture for example that could give me a clue as to what’s going on.
Perhaps you are somebody who needs massages (yes, please 😉 ) or has a stressful job. I have a feeling we will have to drill down into some poses or some habits to unravel the mystery.
Another idea is that with your flexible lower back taking the ‘focus’ with the increased flexibility that the other areas are not getting a look in. So, with some insight into what you’re doing in certain poses, we may find some ways for you to set up your body for spreading the yoga joy up your spine.
One of the best things I could recommend would be using a size 3 ball to lie on (placing it at strategic positions) to open up the spine and relax the muscles. It’s one of my fave things to do when I am relaxing reading a book in bed. I also teach how to use this at my teacher training programs. It’s an awesome thing to do. If you’re interested I will describe what to do. It’s self-massage and extremely effective.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Thanks Gabrielle so much for getting back to me so quickly!
You hit the nail on the head. I know I am not doing everything should to perfect my postures… I’m not exactly sure where I am missing the mark but I can FEEL there is something not quite right in some (most) of them. I listen to the dialogue and follow it, but still feel like something is off. I have to admit that the way I hold my body day to day is terrible. I feel like I am alway hunching over and pulling my shoulder in towards each other. I’ve been making a conscious effort to “stand up straight!” (my Mom would have loved this!) but still find myself all hunched over.
Here is a good example of my backbending issues… during the backbend in HalfMoon, I can bend my lower back so that I can almost see the edge of the wall meeting the floor behind me, but I can’t get my arms to go back further than about 30 degrees. That’s why I’m thinking it has to be an upper back/chest flexibility issue. I’m definitely going to try the ball and especially the massage! If you have any more ideas about how I can open my upper body more I would be so grateful. I’ve been doing a LOT of camel poses (20 per day) and opening my chest by doing a simple stretching pose by placing my hands on opposite sides of a doorframe and letting my body gently fall between my arms and into the open doorway. It has helped but not enough.
Thanks again for the response!
Namaste,
JackieYou’re welcome Jackie
I will get to some more detail over the next few days. I can give you some more hints about the ball. In the meantime, I will send you over to the page with some free technique videos. The one at the very bottom of the page called “A Transformational Technique For Your Body, For Your Life” is an excellent place to start.
The other vijos are very good too and address breathing, posture, foot use and core strength.
See you soon
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Jackie! I think this is a common problem for people, at least those of us who spend most of the day hunched over a computer. Gabrielle has given you some great ideas to try. I wanted to add my two cents from a posture clinic I did in the spring with a well known yogi and King of back bends. We worked on the backbend in half moon and in camel. For half moon he confirmed how easy it is to bend from the lower back and how hard it is to bend the upper back (it naturally bends the other way). So here is what we sweated over for a while:
Stand in preparation for half moon with arms over head as usual. We were told that no matter what, we could not bend from the lower back, period. So he repeated endlessly, press the palms together stretch UP and bring the arms back….press the palms together stretch UP and bring the arms back. This went on for a while, I couldn’t believe how much I was sweating just doing this. But the point was as we were bringing our arms back only, (head too of course), we were focusing all the bend in the thoracic spine, not the lumbar area. And it was critical to press the palms together and stretch the arms and spine up (to elongate it and create space) before bringing the arms back further and further. Finally, he said to include the lower back, and we all went way back (we were faced away from the mirror so that once we were in the backbend, we could see ourselves in the mirror).
We did a regular class after this posture clinic, and for the FIRST TIME EVER, after 2 and a half years of practice, I could see my own matt in the backbend. I came out of the posture with a big grin on my face!
I felt kind of stupid, because the dialogue clearly says to keep the arms back and try to touch the wall behind you, but it wasn’t until this posture clinic that I truly understood the importance of that detail, how critical it is to keep stretching your arms up and back (and eventually toward the floor as you get that far….reach for what you can see) because doing so is lengthening the spine. Otherwise, you just crunch into the lower back, which is easier to do but will never get you that full back bend you are looking for.
anyway, I hope this helps a little, as part of the other interventions you’ve already been given.
-Kristin
Hello Jackie
So here I am slapping my own wrist for taking too long to get back to you with this crucial bit of information. :cheese:
One of the big, big problems with backbends where the arms are extended up above the body is that there is way toooooo much tension in the shoulder, head and neck area. If you have seen the video about ‘elbows’ and ‘pockets’ (hehe) then you may already have a sense of how much tension you have likely been carrying in that area. Indeed you mention your own habits with posture above, so thank you for that.
The problem with the dialog is that it constantly tells you to ‘squeeze the head with the arms’. When this is taken literally, as it usually is, then what happens is this: The proper positioning of the shoulders, and the proper use of neck, shoulder and upper back muscles is COMPLETELY sacrificed in order to get those arms straight (and squeezed).
Jackie, what I would like you to do is check into your own body and see if you are continually trying to straighten your arms. If that is the case, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are doing the wrong thing! What MUST go hand in hand with straight arms is shoulders down and back away from the ears and neck long. If your chin is even slightly dropping in toward the chest, or the shoulders rising or arms coming forward, even pointed fingers not in a straight line with the arms and pointing forward and other actions I observe where the body collapses forward… then you need to set up with another step.
Your arms are over your head (in all parts of the side and backbends of Half Moon). When you come up out of your side bend most will just straighten the arms (‘recommit strong arms’) stretch up and then go back. Instead, inhale back up to the centre, now instead of straightening the arms, BEND them for a moment as you lengthen the neck and relax the shoulders. NOW you will drop the head backward and feel the stretch on the front of the throat. Your arms can still have that slight bend. You should feel a freedom and ease and perhaps more than you ever have in this position.
Now you can lengthen the arms and straighten them TO THE EXTENT that you can continue to keep your shoulders down. Squeeze bottom, hips forward, inhale arms up and feel the how your whole body lengthens. You will even feel how, with legs locked your lower back will loosen a little which will physiologically allow your back to bend with more freedom.
As you go back, remember to look where you are going (as you already do, as indicated above) and when you feel yourself getting locked with nowhere else to go, try microbending those arms for a moment and then lengthen them again in the right direction. It’s an almost imperceptible movement. It’s not a visible ratchet.
I am sure you will find some great improvement with this technique because it works with the body (rather than just the words of a single class that has become known as ‘the dialog’). This technique obeys the body’s own reflexes and works with its desire to open.
Come back and tell me how you go 😉
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
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