Two Joints of the Shoulder

The shoulder is actually two joints in one: the gleno-humeral joint (the ball and socket joint where the upper arm connects to your shoulder blade) and the scapulo-thoracic joint (a functional joint where the shoulder blade slides around on the back ribs).  In order to lift your arm up more than about 30 degrees to the side, you have to actually have to move your shoulderblade on your back.  (Go ahead: try to lift your arm overhead without moving your shoulder blade – not going to happen).

When we do this motion, the shoulder blades have to protract – that is, they move away from each other and wrap forward on your ribcage (check out the pic).  They also they upwardly rotate, which means that the inner border of your shoulder blade actually moves down as the outer edges move up.

“Draw your shoulders down.”

When we’re in yoga class and lifting our arms, we often hear the phrase, “Draw your shoulder blades together” or “draw your shoulder blades down.”  These actions are counter-intuitive to the actual bio-mechanics of the shoulder blade on the back.  While a small degree of these actions can create stability, too much will restrict your freedom of movement.

When teachers say, “bring your shoulders down,” they are actually trying to get you to relax your upper trapezius.  The traps are the muscles at the base of your neck that love to overact and make your shoulders look all crunchy like.  While relaxing your traps is a good idea here, we need to remember that part of the shoulder blade must actually be going UP in order to get your arms overhead.  Trying to drag the whole shoulder blade down can create constriction and lessen our freedom of movement.

To get freedom in the shoulders as you lift your arms:

• allow your scapulae to move freely on your back body
• externally rotate your upper arms as you bring them overhead to create more space between the bones of your shoulder
• visualize the inner borders of your shoulder blades moving down as the outer borders move up
• relax the muscles at the base of your neck (they’re not needed here) – rather than trying to drag the shoulder blades down your back – to create space around your neck

Still tight?

Some of the muscle that can restrict us when we lift our arms up:

• Latissimus Dorsi
• Triceps
• Posterior Deltoid

Try some dedicated, long stretches for these muscles to open them up.  Then explore again and see if one of these has been the culprit.

Happy exploring!

The desire to transmute the body into a worthy vessel was inspired in part by the alchemical explorations of turning lead into gold.  “The siddha is a spiritual alchemist who works on and transmutes impure matter, the human body-mind, into pure gold, the immortal spiritual essence.”  – Georg Feurstein, “The Yoga Tradition, Chapter 18: Yoga as Spiritual Alchemy: The Philosophy and Practice of Hatha Yoga.”

Learn more about the history of alchemy with this fun podcast from the gals of “Stuff you missed in history class.”  An interesting detour into one of the influences of our modern day yoga.

Headstand and Shoulderstand – labelled the King and Queen of Asana by Iyengar for their therapeutic properties – got a bad rap in the NYTimes article.  And no wonder.  These are high demand poses, asking practitioners to support the entire weight of their body with their mobile shoulder girdles.  Unfortunately, some practitioners foray into them before they’ve developed the strength and flexibility to sufficiently support their body weight, which means that they are slinging weight instead into their cervical spine.

How to Protect yourself in Headstand

Tip 1: First of all, practice Sirsasana A, not B.  Sirsasana A is performed with the forearms on the floor and the hands interlaced behind the head.  Sirsasana  – also called tripod headstand, or teddy bear – is done with head on the floor and the hands flat, elbows at a 90 degree angle.  The problem here is clear: in Sirsasana A, you have the opportunity to use your the muscles of your arms and back to take weight off of your neck, while in Sirsasana B, there is no choice but for your cervical spine to bear weight.

I know, I know.  Some of you have heard that Sirsasana B is “easier.”  It’s not easier, it’s more accessible.   There is a critical difference between the two. It’s more accessible because it doesn’t require your shoulders to be as open and you have an easier time balancing.  However, it’s far more treacherous for your neck since your head is weight-bearing.

Tip 2: Support yourself on your forearms, not your head.   Although yogis extol the virtue of stimulating the crown chakra by having the head on the floor, I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s probably wiser to start by protecting your neck.   Keep your head light, and root like heck through your forearms – especially during your transitions.  Worry about the subtle body after you take care of your spine.

Tip 3: Never jump or hop into headstand.  Be patient.  There’s no gold pot of liberation once you get up there, so practice until your body can smoothly and safely sustain the transition.  Therein lies the actual reward.

Tip 4: Neck feel cramped?  Some of us have lovely long necks.  If this is you, there won’t be any amount that you can press through your forearms to get the weight off your head because your proportions will make this impossible.  Instead, place blankets under your forearms evenly so that your arms are artificially longer.   Presto.  Instantly reliever for neck compression.  Now press down your forearms with gusto and get the weight off your neck.

Tip 5: Keep your neck in its natural curve.  Take care when you’re on your head (even though you’re not putting a lot of weight there), to ensure that you are not rolling forward or back on you head, but that you can lengthen through all four sides of the neck evenly.  Maintaining the natural curve of your cervical spine will protect the delicate vertebrae of your cervical spine, which are not designed to be weight bearing.

How to Protect Yourself in Shoulderstand

1. Use blankets.  For the love of God.  Please.  I know you want to “get into the pose already” and going and getting props is a drag (especially when the teacher doesn’t suggest them), but trust me.  For the long terms health of your neck, there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain by folding some blankets and putting them under your shoulders so that you’ve got some space for your neck.  Here’s why:  when we’re in shoulderstand, the weight should actually be on the triceps, elbows, shoulders and (slightly) the back of the head – not the upper thoracic spine or the neck.  Most of us can’t sufficiently lift through our upper backs (nor do we have the opening in our shoulders in extension) to get our vertebrae off the floor without props.  So instead, we wind up putting all of our body weight on our upper spine, rounding through the upper back, and bringing the neck into extreme flexion.   While this may not bother you now, over time this can cause an over lengthening of the ligaments in the back of the neck that protect the natural cervical curve.  Read more about this in Roger Cole’s Yoga Journal article.  

Dr. Jeremy Brook add, “As a chiropractor, the problem I have with shoulderstand relates to most people’s habitual patterns, injuries and structural imbalances. Many people sit at a desk for hours, collapse on their sofa and sleep on their stomachs. While this example is extreme, most modern bodies are far different from those of the ancient yogi who practiced asana hours each day, meditated, read sacred texts and slept on a hard straw bed. Thus, a modern practitioner may possess the same spirit, but in a body with a far different, and likely compromised, neck. ”

2. Do a modified pose if you don’t have blankets.  Grab a block and come into a restorative shoulderstand with your hips on a blocks, legs up, and your upper back essential in bridge pose.  Same benefits, much less risk on the cervical spine.

3. If you’re a teacher, then Teach the Pose.  Let’s get rid of the habit of tossing shoulderstand in as an “if you want to,” or “if it’s in your practice” last minute offering.  Take some time, get out the props, teach it conservatively, and let’s reclaim the therapeutic potential of this Queen of Asana.  Maybe then it can really become the “the greatest boons conferred on humanity by our ancient sages” (Iyengar, Light on Yoga).  

“Last Wed I feel like I taught the WORST yoga class of my life: it was so vanilla, last minute sequencing on my feet (which sometimes I’m good at, but this time I lost the muse), and I felt like I kept saying the same damn thing over and over- just uninspired. I think I need a workshop or something to inspire me again, but saving my pennies. I guess I was wondering if you’ve ever felt that way and/or how you deal with it. I need some stimulation!”

Girl, we have all been there.  Who hasn’t taught the occasional class that feels repetitive or uninspired?

I’ve always found that the solution lies in my own practice.  Usually when I teach a cringe worthy class (at least that’s the way it feels), the root of the problem is my own lack of connection; I don’t feel like I have anything to share authentically from myself.  Investing time to practice and prepare holds the antidote – and doesn’t require spending money on a workshop.  Everyone gets jazzed differently through their yoga teaching:  some people find their soul connection through theming, others through sequencing, others through music.

If your muse doesn’t show up, here’s some tips to help hunt her down.

• Give yourself an hour to just play physically – not even to do a “yoga practice” per se, but sure, start there and see where it takes you. Then take whatever you discover as an inspirations to share in your class
• Take 20 minutes to journal on the message you want to share with the world. What lessons have been hard for you? What is a tool that you use when you come up against this challenge? Is there a way that you can share this tool through a physical yoga practice?
• Open up your favorite inspirational books. Theme a class around your favorite quote.
• Prepare a sequence to a kick ass, fun peak pose.  Be creative about how you get there.
• Give yourself an hour to create an awesome music mix (of stuff that you like), then create a dynamic class to go with it.
• Get back to what YOU need from your yoga practice, then share that gift with your students. Forget all the rote blah blah – speak truthfully from exactly where you are and see where that takes you.
• And if exactly where you are is in the duldrums, then investigate what tools you can use to move beyond that (not just in yoga, but in life) and share those tools in the practice (like playfulness, or community, or non-judgment). Then everybody wins.
• And…if all else fails…plan some accessible partner work. That makes almost any class fun. The community energy will feed itself.

The response to this: Well, duh.

Of course it can cause injuries.

Hatha Yoga (which includes power, flow, Anusara, “hatha”, and every other physical form of yoga) is a physical, bio-mechanical practice.  Ask any yoga teacher and – if they’re over 30 and being honest – you’re likely to find some sort of medical history.  To share my personal trophies, I’ve torn my hamstring in Prasarita Padottanasana, damaged the meniscus in my knee from too many lotus attempts, and dislocated a rib facet falling out of handstand.  And these days, with the emphasis on “getting” handstand in the middle of the room to be a “real yogi” or pushing through thirty chaturangas in a class to “test your edge”, it’s no wonder that we are limping to the physio and crying to our RMT’s.  But before you gasp in shock and tremble because yoga is supposed to be a cure all, listen up.  Injury and stress is the nature of any repetitive physical endeavor done passionately over time.  I’ve also tweaked my hamstring playing touch football on the beach, damaged my wrist skiing, and hurt my back in Cross Fit.  Golf causes injuries.  Martial Arts causes injuries.  I may be going out on a limb, but I bet you can develop repetitive stress injuries in swimming too.

Anyone who expects yoga to be a panacea for all ills isn’t paying attention.  The author of the article, William Broad, describes his experience: “While doing the extended-side-angle pose, a posture hailed as a cure for many diseases, my back gave way. With it went my belief, naïve in retrospect, that yoga was a source only of healing and never harm.”  William, thank you for the wake up call.  We should all set our naivete aside.  Living on this plane of existence with muscles, bones, tendons, and blood, we are subject to the forces of time and aging.  We move in a world of form and limitation.  Expecting yoga to transcend the nature of this Universe is like expecting dinner to cook itself or time to move backwards.

Does this mean you shouldn’t do yoga?

Absolutely not.

Yoga is revelatory for self-connection.  Yoga wakes you up and asks you to breathe.  Yoga cultivates strength, suppleness, and fluidity. Yoga asks you to commit to your deepest and most passionate self and cultivate a deep inquiry into your life and your place in this world.  Yoga is a tool for helping you to become more fully yourself.   And – when done mindfully and with kick ass alignment – yoga heals.  So yes, do your freakin’ yoga.

But here are some tips:

• Set aside your naivete that yoga will fix everything.  Physically, it won’t.
• Listen to your body.  For reals this time.
• Practice the style of yoga that you need, not just that you like.  If you need more strength and less flexibility, get your ass out of yin.
• Please, focus on your alignment.  Do less, and do it better.
• Complement your yoga practice with other sensible physical fare.  You’re not invalidating your yoga by doing your physio exercises, taking a jog, or going to the gym.
• When you do these other physical activities, leave your Ipod at home.  Really pay attention to what you’re doing, and these activities can be yoga too.
• Go to yoga class to work on your mind, not just your body.  Take the pressure off your yoga practice to be your workout, and you’ll find that you can actually move move deeply, find more ease, and (crazily enough) your practice will actually advance faster.

Yoga is one of the best things that has happened in my life.  If you’re reading this, my bet is that it’s transformed you, too.  But let’s remember what our yoga is really about: self-revelation, compassion, and a deep connection with the world.   Yoga is a tool for co-creating with the Universe; for nourishing our bodies, minds, and hearts and exploring the wonder of our own expression while we live on this marvelous world.

Do your yoga.

Just do your yoga smart.

Meditation stronger than drugs for pain relief

Meditation can have pain relieving effects greater than morphine, claims new study.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent for the Telegraph, 10:00PM BST 05 Apr 2011

Researchers have found that just one hour of meditation training can reduce immediate pain by nearly half and have a long lasting effect.

Photo courtesy of Yoga Journal

But let’s face it, getting into this variation of Half Moon (Ardha Chandrasana) can test your balance, flexibility, and coordination as you reach back and grab your lifted leg.  Never fear, here are some tips that help make this elusive pose more accessible.

Component Parts

First, to approach the pose, we must understand its component parts.  Let’s start with Ardha Chandrasana:

External Rotation of Standing Leg

The key to Half Moon is the strong external rotation of the bottom leg.  (Think about it for a moment: the bottom leg.  Often we get confused and think it’s the lifted leg in rotation, but actually the lifted leg is neutral.)  The strong external rotation of the lower leg is counterbalanced by the drawing in of the lower shin and anchoring of the inner edge of the bottom foot.  Together, these two actions create a diagonal spiral effect that keeps your standing leg stable.   Against the external rotation of the standing thigh, the pelvis can open to the side plane.  If you lose the anchor of external rotation, the standing knee will collapse in, the booty will swing with abandon to the back plane, the the containment of the pose will be lost.

Great poses to teach this external rotation in a non-balancing position: Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II), Triangle (Trikonasana),  Gate (Parighasana), Side Angle (Parsvakonasana).

Hamstrings/ Adductors

The standing leg hamstring must be open, as well as some of the adductors.  Imagine triangle pose on its side, so the back leg is now in the air, and you have Half Moon with a balance added.  Good standing poses for opening the hamstrings: Uttanasana, Triangle (Trikonasana), Wide-legged forward fold (Prasarita Padottanasana), Hanumanasana and Ardha Hanumanasana (splits), Pyramid (Parsvottanasana), and Standing Hand to Foot Pose (Utthita Hasta Padangustasana).

In traditional Half Moon, the torso stays steady in all three plane so that it is like Tadasana, but with the arms wide.  If the neck is comfortable, the gaze anchors to the top hand.

Getting into Ardha Chandrasana

To move into Ardha Chandrasana effectively, you must impress upon your students the imprint of the external rotation of the standing leg so that you can steady the knee appropriately.  Without this rotation, the inner knee will collapse in and the foundation will usually become unsteady.  The knee will torque and the lift that we need out of the standing leg will deflate.  Rooting through the inner edge of the bottom foot while strongly externally rotating the standing leg thigh will create a powerful dual action to steady the lateral lines of the leg.

For this reason, coming to the pose from another externally rotated pose is ideal.  Trikonasana is an obvious choice, but Parsvakonasana (Side Angle) is also effective.  Once you have transferred your weight to the standing leg, pause, and bend the standing leg knee.  With the knee bent, you can clearly discern the efficacy of your external rotation.   Strongly wrap the standing leg buttock under you until the sitting bone actually feels like it’s sliding towards your lifted leg.  When this action is effectively performed, your standing leg knee will again track over the center of your ankle.

Now, maintaining that rotation and lateral engagement, begin to straighten your leg by rooting strongly through the standing leg heel.  Because you’ve entered the pose from Trikonasana or Parsvakonasana, the torso is likely already facing the side.  Maintain the rotation of the bottom leg as you open the pelvis further.  (Rather than turning your chest, first turn your pelvis.)  Where the pelvis leads, the body follows.

In traditional Ardha Chandrasana, the body is essentially in Tadasana with the arms wide, except the bottom leg is strongly externally rotating.

Ardha Chandrachapasana

When we elevate the pose to Ardha Chandrachapasana, we add two elements: the bending of the top leg and a backbend.

Adding a thigh stretch to the upper leg requires balance, coordination, and open hip flexors.  Prepare for the action of this variations in non-balancing poses such as Anjaneyasana (low lunge), Crescent (high lunge), and variations with a thigh stretch.  I recommend doing a low lunge with a thigh stretch where the student reaches back with the ipsilateral hand for the leg, in order to imprint of holding the foot with the same side hand in ACC.  Awkward pigeon with a thigh stretch is also an interesting warm up, as the hip are mimicking some of the actions of ACC: the front leg is externally rotating while the back thigh’s hip flexors are stretching.

Backbending requires thoracic extension, which can be efficiently added to poses like lunges and thigh stretches, and warmed up separately in poses such as Bhujangasana (cobra), sphinx, and Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Dog).

Putting it Together

To enter the pose from Ardha Chandrasana, the obvious transition is to simply bend the top knee and reach for the top of the foot.  However, this is frequently inaccessible to many students.  Another way in is to bend both knees and actually draw your top knee into your chest.  For most, this makes it easier to find the top foot.  From this contracted position, actively hug towards the core of the body until you are stable.  Then, unfurl the pose by pressing your back knee towards the back of the mat.  The back thigh stays parallel to the floor; watch the tendency to float the knee towards the ceiling, which diminishes the stretch of the front of the thigh.

Like Ardha Chandrasana, the external rotation of the bottom leg is essential.  That rotation is the “brake” that allows the body to then uncurl into a backbend.  Without the hip drawing under, there is little leverage for the body to move back.  With the bottom leg still bent, reaffirm the external rotation of the leg by drawing the hip firmly under and lengthening your tailbone towards the lifted knee.  Now keep that strong action as you begin to draw the shoulder heads and the throat back and open the chest.  The foot and the hand form a reinforcing energetic loop; press the foot strongly into the top hand to further open the heart.  When the body is steady, take the gaze to the ceiling.

Releasing the pose

Coming out of the pose is just important an opportunity as coming into the pose.  Bring your gaze to the floor to create a visual anchor.  Re-establish the steadiness of the bottom leg.  Energetically maintain the bend of the top leg as you release it from your hand and bring the spine back to Tadasana.  Re-connect to the external rotation of the bottom leg as you step back to Trikonasana or Parsvakonasana.

Playtime

Experiment with this pose at the wall.  Place your standing foot parallel to the wall and about 18 inches away (everyone’s distance will be a little different, you’ll adjust if you need to.)   Come into Ardha Chandrasana.  Then bend the top leg and place the top of the foot on the wall behind you.  With this third point of contact, the body will have a chance to settle more so that you can work the actions without worrying so much about balance.  Also, you can explore the actions here without actually holding on the foot.

If possible, reach back to hold onto the top foot. Otherwise, wrap your standing leg hip under, press the top foot into the wall, and begin to explore the opening of the backbend with the top arm simply lifted towards the sky. The connection of the foot to the wall will begin to imprint the actions of the pose into the body.

Why Data Smog May Be Making You Depressed

by Dr. Andrew Weil

We  live in the Information Age. But I’ve never heard — nor would any sane person suggest — that we live in the Useful Information Age. The modern downpour of data is largely worthless distraction, and the sheer amount is drowning us. Of all of the ways in which the contemporary environment is mismatched with our genes and harms our emotional health, I believe the revolution in information delivery is the one most responsible for epidemic depression. Research so far is sparse but indicative: a 2005 Swedish study, for example, found associations between heavy communications technology use and “prolonged stress,” sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms in young adults.

This torrent — and its psychological toll — might have some redeeming value if it proved useful to us. Clearly, some small percentage is useful, but the vast majority is not. Before the Internet, data had to undergo a Darwinian selection process before it reached the masses. Paper, ink and distribution cost money and time. That usually meant someone exerted quality control to ensure that whatever was communicated was worth buying. With distribution and consumption now virtually free, that constraint is gone. Francis Heylighen, a cyberneticist at the Free University of Brussels, wrote that the resulting explosion of “irrelevant, unclear, and simply erroneous data fragments” might best be termed “data smog.”

When the amount of low-quality information coming at people exceeds certain real but difficult-to-quantify limits, they suffer. They are likely to ignore or forget information they need and to be less in control of their lives as a result. Neuroscientist Torkel Klingberg’s excellent 2008 book, The Overflowing Brain: Information Overload and the Limits of Working Memory, cites research showing that “there is a fixed capacity for human beings to receive information, and that this limit lies at around seven items,” a number routinely exceeded in the modern workplace, leading to forgetfulness, distractability and disorganization. In the long term, bad-information overload increases stress, with many negative consequences for physical and emotional health.

If the information we get is usually so valueless, why are we almost universally compelled to seek it? Psychologist B.F. Skinner’s experiments revealed that when animals get the reinforcement of a food pellet in response to pressing a bar, a variable schedule — in which the pellet comes after a varying number of presses — is the most powerful. That’s how slot machines pay off, and humans will work relentlessly to get money from them. The web and email hand out rewards just this way. You get a useful video or important news from a friend, just often enough and variably enough, to compulsively seek more.

In my latest book I discuss my own struggle with depression, and some of the therapies I found essential to recover from it. Perhaps most valuable were my firm resolve and resolute actions to limit my exposure to data smog, including:

• Deleting, without remorse, all games from my computer and mobile devices.
• Refusing to aimlessly surf the web. I always have a specific object in mind, and resolve to seek only that.
• Handling e-mail almost exclusively on my desktop computer, almost never on my cell phone or notepad.  When I leave my office for the day, usually in the afternoon, I leave the computer and e-mail behind until morning.

I am much happier for having made these changes, which have freed me to pursue more restorative activities, especially spending time in natural settings. My mind is clearer, my attention span longer and my real (as opposed to virtual) friendships closer.

There is no “right” set of rules for rising above data smog, but it is absolutely vital for your emotional well-being to find one that works for you and stick to it. Don’t be afraid to leave the digital world behind, even for extended periods. Trust me — it will be there when you return, and each separation will leave you better prepared to use it wisely.

Photo courtesy of YYoga

Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow, also known as “Wheel”) is one of the most delicious and expansive of yoga asana, inviting a full opening of the “Eastern,” or front, side of the body.  As in all yoga asana, the stability (sthira) of the back body is essential for supporting the full expansion and sweetness (sukha) of the front body.  Also, Urdhva Dhanurasana calls for a profound opening in the hips and shoulders in order to access the fullest expression of the spine.  Since the body has to put all these parts together effectively, accessing the full expression of this pose can sometimes be elusive.

However, with some preparation and variation, the benefits of this pose can be readily be made available to a wide range of students.

Component Parts

Hips

Finding the full range of motion in the lower body for Urdhva Dhanurasana is more than a matter of spinal flexibility.  For most of us, we can find about 45 degrees of mobility through the spine, and an additional 15 degrees of extension between the hips and the thighs.  What this means is that in order to access the full “bow-ness” of Upward Bow, we must be conscious to open the hips as well as the back.

The muscles to target here are the psoas, iliacus, and rectus femoris (one of the quads).  By effectively opening these muscles, over time the full hip extension of Urdhva Dhanurasana becomes accessible.  While opening the quads can be targeted through thigh stretches (think low lunge, bending the back knee, and drawing the heel towards the buttock), the ilio-psoas needs to be stretched by a differential between the angle of the back thigh and the pelvis.  Crescent and Upright Low lunge are great candidates.  When stretching the psoas, the back leg will often turn out in a clever attempt to avoid the stretch.  Focus on softening the upper inner thigh of the back leg towards the back plane of the body until the thigh is neutral in the socket.  Once space and alignment is created, the anchoring of the tailbone down will create the posterior action needed to begin stretching this important muscle.

Because the psoas attaches all the way up the lumbar spine towards T12, conscious alignment of the hips is one half of the equation.  Note that in the stretch, the lumbar and thoracic spine will want to pull forward in space.  Instead, consciously draw the lower belly and sides of the waist back and up (almost like scooping your belly with an ice cream scoop).  This lifting and scooping action will draw the superior fibers of the psoas away from its insertion on the back thigh.  Like ice cream: delicious.

Shoulders

Urdhva Dhanurasana requires a lot of openness through the shoulders.  Invariable, this is why some of our sturdier male students remain landlocked on the ground.  The arms need the facility to flex fully at the shoulder joint.  External rotation of the upper arm is preferred to help anchor the scapulae firmly on the back.  Prepare the body for this position by focusing on poses that get the arms above the head: crescent, chair.  One of my favorite poses is to do Chair (utkasana) with a block firmly positioned between the hands.  Work on pressing your hands into the block as you externally rotate the upper arms, straighten the arms, and then lift them overhead.  Once you’ve worked in these positions, move the body in weight-bearing positions to open the shoulders in such asana as dolphin and handstand.

Thoracic Spine

Naturally, a backbend ain’t a backbend without the extension of the thoracic spine.  Start small and target the upper back through poses such as cobra and sphinx.  Once the upper back has been educated, then you can move to fully spine extensions such as full cobra and updog.  When working in spinal extension, it is important to maintain the stability of the lower back in order to avoid over-compressing in the lumbar and lower thoracic.  The lower back is the backbendiest place of the spine, and the juncture between the lumbar and thoracic is particularly mobile.  While we do use this mobility when we backbend, we don’t want to overly capitalize on it and neglect the opening that needs to occur in the upper spine.  Create length and stability by maintaining a broadness in the mid and lower back and focus your backbending efforts higher up.  Use the external rotation of the upper arms to facilitate a greater sense of drawing the scapulae into the back.  This will help with your thoracic extension.  (Try it: do a mini standing backbend with your arms externally rotated, then internally rotated – which is easier?)

The pumpkin

The buttocks in backbending can become overly zealous.  My teacher Catherine Munro called this phenomenon the “pumpkin.”  While the glutes work, we want to be careful that they don’t overly engage.  The secondary action of the glutes is to externally rotate the thigh, which can lead to compression through the lower back and inability to lengthen the tailbone.  Use the muscular midline (adductors, internal rotators) to keep the legs neutral even when the glutes engage.

You can teach proper engagement in your backbends, but also in poses such as crescent or 3-legged dog, where the back leg needs to find a slight internal rotation to bring it back to neutral.

Getting up there- Two hand positions

After you warm up your students thoroughly and appropriately, start your students in bridge and confirm the neutral placement of the feet.  The feet – as a distal reflection of the thighs – will attempt to turn out when the glutes engage.  Use midline to keep the legs (and feet) parallel.  As your students lift into bridge, confirm the action of the legs and pelvis in this non-weight bearing position.

From here, they place their hands in position #1: by the ears and close.  The proximity of the hands to the head will give them more muscular access to lifting up.

Once they come onto their heads, widen the hands into hand position #2, which creates a little more space into the shoulder girdle.  While they will have less power to press up, most students appreciate the extra space.  They can also turn their hands out slightly to create even more room.

Now it is time to affirm the lift into the thoracic spine and appropriate action of the shoulders -  before they become weight-bearing through their arms.  Have your students roll towards their hairline to draw their chest forward through their arms as they root the upper arms bones back into their sockets (towards their hips).  This will anchor the scapulae on the back.  From here, they can then press into the hands and feet evenly (watch the feet don’t move – continue to hug the midline) to come up.

There are two variations of Urdhva Dhanurasana. In variation 1, the student works to create an even bow through the whole body, with the pelvis and ribs level.  While this is easier on the shoulders, it’s harder on the wrists as they are at a very acute angle.  In version 2, the student begins to bring their shoulders forward over their wrists (see pic above). Easier on the wrists, but asking for lots of space in the shoulders.  Eventually, you can take version 2, then walk the feet in as is comfortable to tighten the bowstring.  Students should maintain the capacity to feel grounded in the feet (good for standing up eventually from this pose) as well as rooted in the hands (great for shoulder opening).  Here’s a tip from Asthanga teacher Chris Richardson: To keep the lower back long, move everything from the navel through the thighs towards the feet, while the navel through the back spine reaches forward into the hands.  Move both parts of the body away from each other to create spaciousness in the center.

If you have students who are limited through their shoulders, you can have them hold your ankles.  They should place the webbing of their hands into the crease where your leg and foot meet and hold there, rather than wrapping their hands around your lower leg.    (Make sure to keep your feet on the wide side.)  Otherwise their hands will slide down to your feet anyway, giving you a you an unwelcome skin massage.

One step at a time

Many times students will forget about the foundation in the excitement of getting up and turn their feet and leg out every which way in an effort to “do the full pose.”   While this may be initially exciting, it is far better to proceed with patience so that the whole body can be integrated in the pose – from the toes to the fingers.  Otherwise, cranky low backs will ensue rather than the adrenal stimulating, expansive awakening that Urdhva Dhanuarasana provides.

The”full expression” of Urdhva Dhanurasana allows you to leverage the action of the arms to open the upper back and chest, your students in bridge are still experiencing the delights of spinal extension.  Over time and patient practice, the body will become more receptive and open to this luxurious expression.  Warm up intelligently, manage your foundation and actions, and allow the pose to unfold from there.