Backbending
Backbends are among the most potent of postures. They can touch our deepest vulnerabilities, and they can give us poignant opportunities for release. Just for that, backbends can be daunting as well. This course teaches the secret of deep backbending. It explains how to work with the internal movements of the breath, and with carefully orchestrated engagements of the pelvis, lower belly and diaphragm to sustain a long and supple spine that moves gracefully into these difficult and exhilarating forms.
The secret of deep backbending is to extend endlessly through the axial line. The idea is simple, but difficult to implement. This course explains how to find length through the axial line by releasing the psoas and sustaining the continual spread of the diaphragm while ever more deeply into the form.
Lucid and Supportive
This course focuses on the backbends of the Intermediate Series, while sharing a number of preparatory sequences for opening the psoas lines and developing the capacity to keep the rib cage lifted with the diaphragm. This lifting action is essential to creating the kind of internal support that allows one to go calmly and deeply into the backbend. The course is around 90 minutes long, and includes detailed alignment instruction on the following postures:
Shalabhasana (Locust Pose)
Danurasana (Bow Pose)
Ustrasana (Camel Pose)
Kapotasana (Pigeon Pose)
Urdvha Danurasana (Upward Bow Pose)
Dropping Back | Standing Up