Backbend Yoga Poses:
Free your emotions, open your heart to the beauty of life. Bravely face all the challenges it poses to us. From a psychological and emotional point of view, we could summarize in these three points as main benefits of backbend yoga poses. Truly, it’s not difficult to understand why.
Back bending, such as Ustrasana, Camel pose, exposes the front part of our body to the outside world, without any defense. It is an unprecedented position for the contemporary man and woman, whom often experiences many hours of desk work. Oftentimes, hunched over or with poor posture, leading to other bodily ailments.
One of the reasons we are rigid is due to time spent sitting with poor posture, leading to alignment issues. Furthermore, leading to ailments such as pain. The fact is, our back (spine) is incredibly important to all of our movements. It’s important for structure, mobility, flexibility and the ability to move the body in all planes.
What Does a Weak Back Lead To?
The lower back is in fact, part of the “core” of the body. Having a weak back can lead to less stability. Specifically, less stability of the spine. Thus, leading to back pain.
Do a search on Google on “Weak back Muscles”. Guarantee you’ll find low back pain associated with weak back muscles or a week core. Not only can backbends help to strengthen your back, but contribute to strength in the hips, thighs, chest and shoulders. Backbends lengthen the spine, increase mobility, support, and in turn help correct bad posture. At the end of the equation, can lead to relief of pain, tension and tightness.
For each of us, working with the back requires a lot of attention and in a particular way, everyone must work recognizing their limits and peculiarities. Thereafter practicing backbends, don’t neglect opposing muscles. As we open up the front of body, we need to counteract this (with the same quality), with forward-bends.
Additional Benefits Of Backbends:
- Improved breathing;
- Prana life force (awakens kundalini energy);
- Betters mood;
- Improves blood circulation;
- Relieves fatigue.
Sphynx pose – (Salamba Bhujangasana):
Steps:
- Kneel on the mat with your hands in prayer in front of your chest. Place your hands on the ground;
- Point your feet and straighten your legs to bring yourself into the downward dog position;
- Then, bring your knees, chest and chin to the ground. Sliding forward, rest your belly and forehead;
- Spread your legs slightly apart and stretch your arms out in front of you. Begin walking backwards with your hands until your forearms are resting on the ground.
- By leveraging the forearms, open the chest wide, bring the coccyx back towards the pubis, and if you have no cervical problems, turn your gaze upwards.
- Stay in this position for five long, deep breaths. Then slowly bring your forehead back to the ground.
Cobra Pose – (Bhujangasana):
Steps:
- Kneel on the mat with your hands in prayer in front of your chest.
- Then, place your hands on the ground, point your toes and extending your legs and back into the downward dog position.
- Then, bring your knees, chest and chin to the ground, sliding forward, rest your belly and forehead on the mat.
- Push your legs hard on the ground, slide with the pubis forward, perform a slight retroversion of the pelvis, keeping the pubis strong on the ground, elbows bent at the hips.
- Open your chest by letting your shoulder blades slide down and inhaling. Now, expand the front of your torso upward.
- If you can, extend your arms progressively, but keep your pubis always resting on the ground and lift your gaze to the sky like a snake stretching vertically.
- Stay in the position for five breaths.
Upward facing dog – (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana):
Steps:
- Lie on your mat with your stomach on the ground, your legs extended and together and your instep flat on the floor.
- Place your palms on the mat with your fingers open, at shoulder height, keeping your arms bent.
- Relax your muscles in this starting phase. You can look forward or rest your forehead on the ground.
- Then, pushing from your hands, lift your chest up and arch your spine taking care not to push too hard if you feel pain.
- Open your chest, contract your glutes and keep your legs active. Try to keep your shoulder blades relaxed and lower your shoulders. This opening will allow you to fill your lungs more than usual and breathe better.
- Now try to fully extend your arms, the pelvis comes off the floor, the abdomen and chest are stretched, look ahead. Do not force if you feel pain or discomfort in the spine.
- In the final posture, the body is fully active, the spine very arched and the legs slightly raised from the floor. Maintaining your posture will go a long way in strengthening your shoulders and arms.
- Stay in the posture for a while, continuing to breathe regularly, before slowly returning to the starting position.
Camel pose – (Ustrasana):
Steps:
- On your knees, bring your hands behind your back with your thumbs touching.
- As you inhale, push your chest out and exhale, letting your head, shoulders and torso slide back.
- Slowly bring your hands to your heels and hold the position for a few breaths. To dissolve, raise the torso slowly, sit on the heels bringing the forehead to the ground and relax.
Final Thoughts!
There are many backbend yoga asanas to try. These are some of the more “standard” ones often used in yoga routines, not to say they are the easiest, however. The point is to feel better over time after completing certain yoga poses.
We hope you understand a little more about backbend poses and can carry out some of these asanas in the near future.
