Backbends

Along with the twists, asanas involving backbends takes a lot out of me. Which is why when one day someone mentioned that he found the Intermediate series very energising because of the backbends, I was amazed. Backbends have the opposite effect on me. I'm completely exhausted by my 3rd Urdhva Dhanurasana.

Here are some clips of my backbends taken early 2009 :



Lately, when I'm doing things like Upward Dog and Warrior 1, I put in extra effort to access a stretch in my hips. My hips are tight, though they have come a long way from before I started yoga. Here are a couple of clips of me dropping back to the wall, taken a few days ago.

The first one was when I decided to walk my hands down and got freaked out and came up immediately.

I then took a mental note to not panic the next time my hands walk down and to take a couple of breaths before coming up.


Slowly, slowly, I hope one day I'll walk my hands all the way down to the floor.