I love a good backbendy practice, don’t you? I actually just taught a backbending workshop here on my retreat in Peru, and had the best time watching all of my students have breakthroughs in brand new shapes.
Here’s the thing, I know backbends can be intimidating af. In fact, they can sound downright unappealing to many people…probably because they had a bad experience with backbends that resulted in crunchy low back pain. Yuck! We don’t want that.
I can understand the hesitation that comes with entering into backbends. They’re intense! Backbending shapes are truly a full body experience, which is why the big ones traditionally come at the end of an hour long class- because you need that whole time to get warm enough to venture into the backbending zone.
The good news is that there are backbends of all levels that you can play with. Check out my post outlining a variety of backbends from beginners to advanced practitioners to have a go. If you’re brand new to yoga, and you’re worried that you’re just not flexible enough to start, don’t worry…I’ve got you covered with this post of tips for a beginner’s guide to yoga.
Trust me, it’s never too late to start. So, let’s dive in!
How To Do A Backbend From Standing
Backbends are poses where the frontline of the body is opening, and the backline of the body is strengthening. Typically the heart is lifted up, over the head these shapes. Backbends open your shoulders, chest, abdominals, hip flexors and quads. And backbends also strengthen your core, glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings.
There are many ways you can enter into a backbend in yoga. As with any form of yoga, the most important thing to remember in your backbend practice is to listen to your body as you play around with the different versions that are calling for you.
Entering into a backbend from standing is one of the most challenging ways to practice backbends in yoga. It’s vital that you’re fully warmed up first before attempting to enter into a backbend from standing, or even from kneeling.
This post will outline how to enter into a backbend from kneeling and standing. If you’re new to entering into a backbend from an upright position, please start with the kneeling option first to ensure your utmost safety.
How To Do A Backbend From Kneeling
Step 1
Start kneeling on your knees like you’re setting up for Camel Pose. Your knees are directly under your hips, and your shoulders are stacked above your knees. Add a little scoop of the tailbone underneath you to turn on your low belly, and try to maintain that low belly activation even as the belly starts to open in the backbend.
Step 2
From kneeling, lift your arms overhead and lift your gaze to look at your hands. Take a full breath in here to get long, and as you exhale start to press your hips forward by squeezing your glutes as much as you lift your chest and arms up and back. You can stay right here if this is enough. Make sure you can breathe.
Step 3
If you’d like to go further, allow the hands to drift all the way behind you until they settle on blocks, the ground, or your heels. You are arriving in full Kapotasana in this way. Make sure you’re still lifting up and out of the low belly to avoid dumping and crunching into the low back.
How To Do A Backbend From Standing
Now that you’ve tried doing a backbend from the kneeling position, you might feel ready to start from standing. It’s important to know that if the kneeling backbend felt intense like your edge, then that is where you should stay for a while until you strengthen and open more.
When you enter into a backbend from standing, you are going to recruit the entire body to support the intense opening of the front body- so please make sure you’re warm and ready before you dive in.
Step 1
Start in Mountain Pose (Tadasana) with feet at hip width distance, tail pulled underneath you to turn on the low belly, and hands by the sides with the shoulders down the back. Press deeply into your feet, plugging in especially to your big toes so that the inner arches of your feet lift up. Find a strong foundation in your feet and legs by hugging your inner thighs in an up, like you’re squeezing a block between your legs.
Step 2
Maintain all of that activation in your legs, and start to squeeze your glutes. Inhale to lift your arms up and overhead with your palms facing on another. Allow your eyes to travel upwards to your hands, lifting your chin away from your chest. As you lift your arms, press the hips forward with the glutes squeezed behind you. You want to press the hips forward as much as you lift the chest and arms up and back, so you have an even opening of the lower and upper back. You can stay here.
Step 3
If you’d like to go deeper, then work the shape with the breath. Inhales remind lifting of the chest skyward, exhales press the hips forward and reach the arms up and back. Make sure your eyes are still following your hands, and you’re still pressing firmly into your feet for stability. Eventually, your hands can travel all the way back behind you to land in Wheel Pose with control. Make sure there’s buoyancy in your joints to catch the landing, rather than landing with locked arms and legs.
The most important element of yoga is that you’re BREATHING wherever you are. Remember, without breath we’re just doing gymnastics. Breath comes first. If you’ve lost your breath because the backbend is so deep, that’s a sign you’ve gone too far. Peel back to the step before, and land in a shape where you can breathe.
Feel free to try your backbend in your next yoga photoshoot to create beautiful images. For more yoga photo ideas, check out this post.
You’re doing great! I’m so proud of you.
xx,
K