“Why not be like the flowers in the field without any reason?  They live, they blossom, they expand.  Their perfume is swept in the air by the wind and it is not contaminated by ideas, duties, motivations.  Those things would twist the flowers in different directions.”  - Vanda Scaravelli, “Awakening the Spine”

The spine is one of the most important parts of our body, providing support and structure.

 The normal shape of the spine is an “S” curve, allowing for an even distribution of the body weight throughout the vertebrae and discs.  Even though most of the weight is carried by the lower part of the spine, each segment relies upon the strength of the others to function properly.   When properly aligned the back has three curves –inward curve at the neck, outward curve at the chest region and inward curve in the lower back.  Each part of the spine moves in certain ways and can do different things. The basic movements of the back include flexion (forward bend), extension (backward bend), lateral bending (side stretch) and rotation (twist).   It is important to understand that the mobility of the spine is not the same in all its different parts.  The neck (cervical spine) has a lot of mobility, the thoracic spine has restricted movement because of the rib cage, and the lumbar spine is where most of the bending takes place and is considered the most injury-prone area of the back.

Most of our daily activities involve bending forward and as a consequence, many people develop rounded shoulders and a sunken chest.  The closest we come to extending the spine is perhaps best illustrated when we reach up for something on a high shelf, when we paint a ceiling, or when we do certain sports such as rock climbing, etc.  But even so, the extension is never held for very long, and always involves one side of the body more than the other (stretching up with the left or the right arm), whereas on the other hand, we often spend a very long time in a forward bent position at our desks, in our cars, in our gardens, etc.   The sad thing is that even when we are standing, most of us still display signs of a stooped posture because our bodies have forgotten how to stand up correctly.   The back muscles have become weak and overstretched, and the front muscles (chest and abdomen) have become tight.   The beautiful innate balance of the body is lost.   This is also often compounded for many of us by tight hamstrings and hip flexors.   A good yoga practice will help keep the spine healthy, strong and flexible and will help restore balance within the body.

Poor posture affects all the body systems.   Because many of us walk through life with our hearts closed, we have become unable to connect with our inner joy and tend to fall prey to depressive states.    There is a very close relationship between the way we hold our body and the way we feel and vice versa.  The heart needs the support of the back muscles to stay open and for our inner light to radiate outwards.    The heart and the chest are symbols of freedom and openness.   When we open our hearts, we can embrace our fearfulness and release it to the wind.

Back bends open the front of the body and wake up the whole system.  They are dynamic, energizing and invigorating postures which make us feel fully alive and yet they have this amazing ability to take us to that quiet centre deep within so that we can develop in consciousness and reach higher levels of awareness.   We are not just the physical body but multi-dimensional beings with several other subtle energy bodies (etheric, emotional, mental and higher spiritual bodies).   All these energy levels need to be in harmony with each other for well-being to manifest itself in our physical body.  The initial reluctance we may experience at the beginning will soon dissipate and we will come to really love the liberating effects of back bends.   Back bends put us back in touch with the joy that exists at the core of our being.   Once we get used to experience that feeling of bliss in our practice, it will permeate every action and every moment of our living.

Yoga practitioners either love or hate back bends because of the discomfort they feel in them and also because of what they bring up to the surface of their mind lake.  Teachers often avoid teaching them in class for various reasons.   However, it is essential to include some back bends in any yoga practice as a complement to the other postures.   As the stiffness in our backs decreases, we will find back bends more and more comfortable and we will actually seek them.   Back bends open the Anahata or heart chakra in the subtle body (associated with loving ourselves and others) and the Manipura chakra or solar plexus (associated with personal power).    Although initially challenging for most of us, back bends give us fortitude and make us strong and supple in body and mind.   

Those among us who do not like back bends may find that their own practice has reached a dead end and needs to be revisited.   The very excuses we put forward to dissuade ourselves from doing back bends – stiffness in the front body, weakness in our back, unwillingness to open our heart fully, etc., are the very same ones that backbends will help us with!    We need to embrace our tight backs, our tight hamstrings, and our fear of back bending for they are our gifts in this life.  If we pretend these issues do not exist, we forfeit an opportunity to bring the different parts of ourselves together again and we remain fragmented.   We need to acknowledge our resistance in a non-judgemental way and make it our own.  By simply rejecting it, we give it more power.  The only way to become whole and end the suffering is to integrate all the traits we disown.  An equanimous mind is non pushing, non grasping.   An equanimous mind knows that expectations create more tension and remove us further from who we really are.  An equanimous mind lets the body explore freely into the back bends without pushing it into what it perceives to be the correct pose. 

“Bending back and opening the chest also unlocks the spirit within.  Practicing these postures takes you along previously untravelled paths, challenging you to overcome fear and frustration, teaching you to move with ease and grace and to live with an open heart and a passion for life and love”
- Jessie Chapman, Yoga for Inner Strength

There is a great resistance in our spines to open backwards, especially in back bends in which we cannot see where we are going; when doing these back bends we need to trust that the ground will be below us to receive our hands as we drop backwards into wheel.  In some of the more challenging back bends we turn the body out to face the world from a different perspective than our normal one.  Back bends are powerfully instrumental in removing blockages of energy – especially emotional ones - in all the chakras and they leave us feeling invigorated, focused, uplifted and so light. 

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