Backbend Pose

Who: 

You 

What posture? 

Backward bend 

Where is the primary focus? 

Open up the entire front of your body and compress the backside of your spine.

Feet and heels press down.

Bring your arms back. 

Relax your head back. 

Lift your chest up. 

Contract thighs and glutes and move them forward.

Where does the posture provide maximum benefits?

Entire back, arm strength, hip opening, leg strength.

When and where could I feel the stretch? 

You will first feel your lower back compressing, eventually, you can feel a stretch through your shoulders, the front of your body, and your hips as you push them forward. 

Why should I do this posture? 

It's part of moving your spine in 4 directions. This is the third direction, and it’s the way we don’t often move. 

How can I improve? 

Focus on lifting your chest up, bringing your arms back, and moving your hips forward. Moving your chest up is just as important as back.  

We lean forward for so much of our lives, this posture helps counteract that. It can sometimes be scary to lean back, as it feels unnatural. Lots of people consider too much movement of your spine as the cause of back pain, but we have found that this posture helps alleviate back pain even though it often doesn’t feel great in the moment. 

Instead of concentrating on how far back you go, think back and up. Your arms and hips are critical to really move your spine since if you move those two endpoints the middle will move as well. Your eyes are also super important as where you look your body will go. The more you can bring your eyes back the more your whole spine will go back.