Yoga means balance.  This balance can only be achieved and maintained if body and mind work together.   We do not want to overwork certain parts of the body (the more flexible ones) and under work the others (the less flexible ones).   In yoga we embrace the dance of opposites.   A harmonious pose happens when our body works as an integrated whole, guided by our inner intelligence.  

Back bends help clear the emotions that lie in the way of our inner bliss.  Yoga is an emotional journey; we must give ourselves permission to go through the emotions as they arise but also know when to release them back. 

It is quite natural to experience extremes of feelings when holding a back bend – ranging from anger, frustration, exhilaration, etc. - or to find ourselves crying for no apparent reason.  Back bends enable us to expand beyond our boundaries and to feel in harmony and at peace with all that is.  We need to release anything that comes between us and the posture and colour our perceptions and cultivate a state of deep acceptance of ourselves; for “There is beauty in the acceptance of what is” – Vanda Scaravelli, Awakening the Spine.

Even if nothing much seems to happen when we do backbends, subtle changes occur here and there which make all the difference to our practice and if we are not present we will miss them.  We sometimes live under the impression that we need to drastically change our lives in order to feel better.    It is impossible to radically alter the effects of years of poor posture overnight.   We must learn to be happy to be where we are for it is exactly where we should be right now.  There is no point in rushing the body ahead of time; what is right in front of us is no less perfect than what we will find weeks, months or years later on our life journey.
 
If our approach is balanced, we will be exactly where we need to be at this very moment in time.  If we can completely immerse ourselves in an inward experience of the pose, our satisfaction will not be fleeting.

Asanas enable us to understand some of the most fundamental teachings of yoga.  As we move from the gross to the subtler, from the basic to the more advanced, we come to the realization that there is a delicate point of balance right in the middle of everything, half way between effort and surrender, between change and resistance, between tension and relaxation,  between expansion (brahmana) and contraction (langhana), between each opposite pairs.    We come to understand that one aspect can only exist because its counterpart does too, that the more we will push in one direction, the more we will move away from its opposite, and the further we will also move from the point of perfect poise.   For the sake of entering into what we perceive to be a more advanced posture, we may lose its very foundations.    We must not see our yoga practice as a personal confrontation with our own selves, and bring elements of competition and judgement but see it as an enjoyable encounter with ourselves, an encounter that enables us to know ourselves better.   When doing asanas, certain elements of ourselves are inevitably invited to come more to the fore, others invited to recede further in the background while the rest help hold everything together, but we must always keep the whole picture of our body in our mind’s eye.

Because everything is in perpetual motion and everything changes and nothing ever stays the same, we need to be open to whatever comes our way.  Each new breath brings a new experience and each experience – according to how it is lived by each of us– will either open us or close us.    Experience enables us to grow but at the same time it creates conscious and unconscious patterns in our lives.    We gradually become aware of these habits in yoga and we can use our practice to explore into areas of resistance, into dull and tight places.  Back bends enable us to break free from the rigid patterns we have imposed on ourselves physically and mentally.    Back bends enable us to explore beyond the self-protective limits we have set around ourselves.   Transformation brings increased power, increased knowledge and increased responsibility. Transformation cannot be hurried but we can ease and pave the way.   Transformation can only happen if we allow it to happen.

Because back bends are one of the least familiar movements in our daily lives, they must be approached gradually and with respect.  The body must not be forced into a backward bend before it is ready.    Backward bends are visually spectacular postures, so we must be careful not let the ego take over and disregard our body’s present restrictions.   Back bends are powerful healing postures but they can also be potentially very injurious.   Except for the small minority of people who are naturally blessed with a beautifully flexible and strong back, back bends present many challenges, physically, mentally and emotionally.   It is essential to first start with the easier ones (the baby back bends as they are sometimes called) such as cobra or Bhujangasana before attempting the harder ones.   Again, it all comes down to accepting our body where it is now and to start from here.  Postures must not be considered like mountains to be conquered but mountains to be enjoyed and explored in all their diversity and richness.    Yoga is both the process and the end product.    If we are not sensitive to where we are now, we will create unnecessary tension and anxiety in our bodies and our minds.   Too much pushing will create pain, resistance, maybe an injury, will deplete our energy and will close the body instead of allowing it to open up gracefully when it is ready to do so.    First we need to get comfortable in the easy back bends looking for an even arch in the upper, middle and lower part of our body.     And soon we will find that the back begins to open up enabling us to do more advanced back bends. 

There are many backward bends to choose from and they can be done in a variety of positions:  from standing (as in Chakrasana - wheel or Natarajasana – cosmic dancer), lying supine (as in Supta Virasana – hero pose lying on the back), lying prone (as in Bhujangasana – cobra, Salabhasana – locust or Dhanurasana – bow), standing on the knees (as in Ustrasana – camel), inverted (as in Vrichksasana – scorpion with feet on head), etc.
Some backward bends are very challenging and require even more focus, strength and flexibility than the other ones, together with an excellent balance.    To be able to do certain back bends – such as Eka Pada Rajakapotanasana (one-legged king pigeon pose), for example, the chest and shoulders must also be very open in order to be able to bring the foot to the head.   Because both hips open and work differently in this pose, maintaining the balance is very difficult.   Our ability to do the more advanced back bends depends on restrictions/openness in other parts of our body.  If our shoulders, our hip flexors or our hamstrings, for instance, are tight we will not be comfortable in back bends.