Tip of the Week: Switch Up Your Grip

Do you switch up your grip in the second set? This means placing your other thumb on top in the second set of postures.  It provides a more balanced stretch to your arms, shoulders and back, and builds more equal grip strength in your hands.  It also gives a shot of discipline and focus in your practice, as you have to decide which thumb to put on top first and remember to switch it up for the next set. You get an extra mental workout as you settle your mind when your brain is telling you the grip feels uncomfortable or awkward with your non-dominant thumb on top. 

In half moon, the grip switch can be particularly helpful in getting a much stronger stretch in your  hip when the thumb on top is the same as the side to which you are bending.  It makes sense, as the thumb is the strongest digit and its iron grip on the stretching arm allows for greater reach.  In half tortoise it focuses the stretch on alternate sides of your back and hips in the two sets.  Switching which arm is on top in wind removing pose and fixed firm pose helps to get a more equal stretch in the shoulders.

By switching your grip in the second set of postures, you’ll create balance not only in your practice, but also in your daily life. At first switching your grip might feel super awkward, but before you know it you won’t even remember which grip was dominant. Life is all about balance, and if we can learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable in class, we can deal with it off the mat as well. 

Tip of the Week: First Part of Standing Head to Knee

It’s best to think of Standing Head to Knee Pose in phases instead of focusing on the ultimate destination.  If you can commit to mastering each step one at a time, you will build a much stronger foundation and ultimately a better executed posture, even if you remain in the beginning phases for weeks, months, oftentimes even years.  If you can breathe, have a little faith, and truly take this posture at your own pace anyone can enjoy the benefits of this posture. For the first phase of this posture:

Step 1. Clear your mind and say to yourself "I am not going to fall out of this pose today." Keep your eyes fixed on one spot and do not move the eyeballs (this is a meditation technique that helps keep the body and mind very still and concentrated)

Step 2. Establish a very solid foundation. The most important aspect of this pose is the standing leg being STRAIGHT and ENGAGED. Contract all of the muscles above and below the knee. You know you are collapsing when the weight is sinking all the way back in your heel and you are feeling pressure in the back of the knee of the standing leg. 

Step 3. Suck your stomach in and breathe slow and steady throughout the pose, as this will help you with your balance considerably. Do this BEFORE you round down. Trying to suck your stomach in after you already have your foot in hand does not allow you to engage all the same muscles because now your weight is distributed differently in the body. Suck it in as hard as you can before you round down!

Step 4. Interlock 10 fingers and as you pick up your foot try to round down, so that your lifted thigh is parallel to the floor. If you are standing upright as you try to grab your foot, it is much more difficult to achieve a locked out leg as your hip joint on the standing leg isn't in the ideal position. With your lifted thigh parallel to the floor, the lower part of your leg should be directly under your knee at a 45 degree angle to the thigh.

*For those who are overweight, have arthritis or other conditions and challenges, round the spine and grab wherever you can below the knee.

Step 5. Notice how heavy your foot feels in your interlaced hands.  Your “core” or more accurately, the muscles in your belly, hip flexors, and in your lower back, are responsible for holding your leg lifted (NOT your hands). The more these muscles work to hold your leg up, the lighter your foot will feel in your hands. *To test your core strength, try releasing your foot for a second while in this position to see if you can still hold your leg up.

Step 6. Keep your body weight forward on your standing leg foot (as opposed to resting on the back of your heel or in the back of your knee). Push the knuckle of your big toe into the ground. This will cause the muscles on the front side of your standing leg to pull up almost automatically.  As a result, between shifting your weight forward and holding your leg lifted, you will be using almost all of the muscles in the front side of your body.

When the muscles on the front side of your body are being contracted, they send signals to the muscles on the back side of your body to stretch.  As you build range of motion in the back of your standing leg and low back you will eventually have the range of motion available to kick out part way, or fully.  If your standing leg buckles when you try to kick out, it means you’ve gone beyond the range of motion available to you, and are no longer using your contracted front-side muscles to hold you in place.

Remember that you are getting 100% of the benefit of the posture just by staying in the first part.  Focus on maintaining your balance here, looking forward in the mirror at your standing knee, and breathing in and out through your nose. Don't get frustrated if you aren't ready to kick your leg out. It can take months or even years to get to the next part. Again, 100% of the benefit from 100% effort in the first part!

Tip of the Week: Final Savasana

The final Savasana brings a deep, meditative state of rest, which may help in the repair of tissues and cells, and in releasing stress. It also gives time for the yoga workout to sink in at a deeper level. This posture leaves you in a state of rejuvenation, and allows the body and mind time to process what has happened during class. 

• EMBRACE IT! This is where your body, mind and spirit can relax and fully assimilate the benefits of your practice. While teachers allow students to leave after a two minute Savasana, it is recommended to stay 10-15 minutes to calm the nervous system and promote equanimity in the entire body. Even though your brain might be telling you it's time to jump up and out of the heated room, taking a long Savasana will actually help you handle the heat in future classes. Read more on that by clicking "here".

• Scan your body for tension. If you find it challenging to relax, try scanning your body from toe to head, saying the name of each body part and then releasing it. Often it's the mind that wants to stay active even when the body is relaxed. Try the basic meditation techniques of noticing your thoughts, labeling them as thinking, and then letting them go. Just like other types of yoga, this takes practice. Eventually you will notice that when your body goes into Savasana, your mind also assumes a relaxed position.

• Breathe normally, find a comfortable position on your back (there’s no real form here, unlike the Savasana between standing and floor series) and close your eyes. While your body might be fatigued and ready for relaxation, your mind can get in the way. Focus on your inhalation and exhalation to calm your mind. The incoming breath energizes the body while the outgoing breath brings relaxation. Drop all sense of hurry or urgency or any need to attend to anything else. Just be with the body and the breath. Surrender the whole body to the floor and let go.

Tip of the Week: Protect Your Knees

When postures are performed mindfully, your Bikram practice can help prevent knee problems and disease, and help you regain strength and flexibility after an injury.

5 Ways to Protect Your Knees in Yoga

1. Avoid Hyperextending

When joints are overly mobile and flex too far back, they’re hyperextended. Your upper leg, knee, and lower leg should all be in line with one another when standing, and not making a concave shape. In the knees, hyperextension often occurs in poses in which the legs are straightened, such as Standing Head to Knee and Standing Bow Pose, putting an unhealthy tension on the ligaments. If you’re prone to hyperextension, keep a slight bend in the knees during standing poses (while keeping it "locked" by engaging your quads) and keep your weight evenly distributed among the four corners of your feet. 

2. Start With Your Feet

Proper alignment through the feet is the key to building strength evenly in the ligaments on both sides of the knee; when all the ligaments are equally strong, the kneecap glides effortlessly up and down and the cartilage doesn’t get worn down. Separate your toes and press actively through the four corners of your feet, especially in postures like Awkward Pose. If your feet are out of alignment, your knees are going to suffer.

3. Keep Your Knees in Line

When moving into deep knee bends such as Triangle Pose, first align your bent knee over your ankle, then draw your kneecap in line with your second toe. Maintain awareness in your back foot, pressing down evenly, while lifting up from the arch of your front foot. If you let the arch drop, the knee falls inside the big toe, and you’re set up to suffer a number of different kinds of overuse and acute knee injuries.

4. Tune in to Subtle Signals

Oftentimes, the knees don’t give immediate feedback. Only later do you realize you’ve gone too far. When it comes to the knees, the sensation that would normally proceed the red flag is the red flag. If you feel achiness when you come out of a bent-knee pose, you may have worked too hard. If you feel any pain going into a posture such as Fixed Firm Pose, back out of it.

5. Build Strength by Balancing

Balancing postures, especially those that require moving through a bent standing leg, such as Garudasana (Eagle Pose), are especially beneficial. Very dynamic balancing protects the knee against future injury by training the functional alignment, not just working the muscle.

For some more information on proper knee alignment and isometric exercises for your knees, go to Tip of the Week: Yoga Therapy for Your Knees.

Tip of the Week: Improve Your Eagle

 Benefits:

• Works into the major joints of the body appendages: Shoulders, elbows and wrists; Hips, knees and ankles
• Good for central nervous system
• Facilitates lymphatic function, improving immune system
• Improves mobility of hip joints
• Improves balance
• Strengthens legs
• Good for varicose veins

Tips:

• To help with balance, focus on one spot directly ahead of you in the mirror. Or, for a more powerful mediation, look into your own eyes with a soft focus.
• Work on symmetrical hip alignment. Both hips facing the mirror evenly, one not higher than the other.
• We have a tendency to lean forward and hunch over the knees and toes. Visualize yourself sliding down a wall with your shoulders and upper back flat against it.
• The tighter you squeeze your legs together, and the more you engage your core, the more stability you'll have.
• Work on arching your upper body back more with your inhales and sitting down more with your exhales.

Check that you:

• Keep your chest up high at all times
• Never lean forward to ‘sit down low’
• Weight is in the heel, with your shoulders stacked evenly above your hips

Tip of the Week: Floor Bow Pose

The last of the of spine strengthening series postures works on the entire spine. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you get the most out of this posture.

1. Lying on the belly, bend the knees, reach back and grab the outside of each foot, two inches below the toes. Keep the knees and feet as close together as possible and make sure that the wrists stay straight (*read more on this below). 

2. Roll your shoulders onto your back so that the heads of your arm bones lift off the floor and the shoulder blades move towards each other. 

3. Exhale and contract through the abdominal region in order to lengthen the lower back and bring support to the spine. 

4. Inhale and lengthen out through the crown of your head.  At the same time, keeping the knees hip width apart, press the feet back into the hands, creating a natural lift. For more strength, push the hips and pelvis into the floor before lifting the legs up and back. 

5. Release the shoulders back as the torso keeps lifting and roll the body weight forward to balance on the center of the abdomen (not too far forward on your ribs or too far back on your hip bones). 

6. Just as in Standing Bow Pose, it's more about the KICK than the pull of your arms. With each breath press the feet back and up into your hands, gradually increasing the back bend, keeping the spine long. Maintain the supportive contraction of the abdominal muscles to counter any pressure going into the lower spine. 

7. Use inner thigh strength to make sure the knees don’t splay out too wide – keep the knees and feet six inches apart. Bringing the heels together with the toes pointed outwards helps to keep your thighs together.

8. Keep looking up! Try to look up towards your toes and one day you will see them! Looking up during this posture helps to complete the benefit for the cervical spine (neck) and helps to tone the muscles surrounding the eyes while stretching the ocular nerve. 

80-20 breathing is very important during this posture. Read more on that by clicking (here). 

*From our blog entry on 10/23/12: If you are bending your wrists, it is a sure sign that you are using the strength of your arms instead of the strength of your legs. Bow Pose is all about the KICK. Instead of holding on to the feet, think of yourself as ‘hanging’ from your feet, using your fingers only. You kick your legs up and back behind you. This pulls on your arms. The arms have hold of the feet only through the grip of the hands (the only active part of your arms). The kick of the legs pulls the arms back allowing a surrender of the shoulders so that they get pulled behind you as well.

Tip of the Week: Avoid These Pitfalls in Pranayama Breathing

Some common pitfalls that happen in Pramayama Breathing, especially for beginners in terms of form are: 

1. Collapsing in the spine. 
When exhaling, don't do a backward bend. This caves in the lower spine, puts a lot of pressure on the vertebrae of the lower back, and collapses the chest. You want to keep the chest lifted while keeping the spine straight to keep a nice feeling of elongation throughout. Squeezing your buttocks will also help to elongate and straighten the spine.

2. Creating a lot of excess tension in the neck and shoulders. 
Keep the shoulders down away from the ears and stretch the shoulder blades away from you.

3. Not breathing slowly enough.
In order to achieve full lung capacity, you must breathe in and out for the full size counts or for as long as you can.

4. Not sucking the stomach in.
 You want to keep the core engaged to keep the spine straight.

5. Closing the eyes on the exhale. 
Many people naturally close their eyes as they tilt their head backwards on the exhale. Keeping your eyes open helps you to stay present in the room. 

Tip of the Week: Lengthen Your Spine in Head to Knee Pose

If you focus on going deeply into a forward bend, such as the seated forward bend Janushirasana (Head-to-Knee Pose), and your hamstrings and glutes are tight, you’ll bend from the spine. The tailbone will tuck under, the upper back will round, and the backs of the knees will pop off the floor. In this case, even though you might still be able to reach your toes, you’ll be missing the true benefit of the pose. The goal of a forward bend is not, in fact, to “bend” but instead to fully extend and lengthen your spine while stretching the back of your body—your hamstrings, gluteal muscles, and spinal muscles—to the extent that’s appropriate for you. Although you don’t want to bend your spine in Janushirasana, there are three joints you do want to bend in the pose: the hips, the knee of the bent leg, and the elbows. Learning to bend in all the right places allows you to create length and extension in the spine.

Bending at the hip joints is crucial in any forward bend. It allows the torso to extend forward while the spinal muscles stay relaxed. Move your shoulders away from your ears, and lengthen your spine. From your knees, lift through your quads up into your pelvis, and use that to help deepen the flexion (fold) at your hips. Keep lengthening your spine and torso.

Having one knee bent in Janu Sirsasana makes it different from other seated forward bends. The action of bending one leg helps alleviate the pull of tight hamstrings and gluteal muscles on that side of your body. The added mobility allows you to extend the abdomen farther forward.

The final bend in the pose is at the elbows. When you clasp your foot and bend your elbows, the pull of the arms helps lift the chest upward, which lengthens the upper spine. And gently pulling the shoulders back helps maintain this extension.

Extending the spine and stretching the back body in a seated forward bend can have a calming effect. Practicing these poses can improve digestion and soothe the nervous system. You experience these benefits by practicing a progressive series of actions: stretching and releasing tension in the back of the body, bending at the joints with skill and attention, and lengthening the spine before folding forward. When you practice Janushirasana this way, not only will touching your toes become easier, but you’ll be getting the benefits of fully extending your spine and expanding your chest.

Tip of the Week: Don't Attach to Difficulty or Pain

In searching for some information on non-attachment and letting of the things that no longer serve us, I came across this blog (below) from Bikram Yoga Manhattan. Just as they describe not attaching to difficulty or pain in postures, we can practice not attaching to things that don't serve us in our daily lives. Life is a mixture of pleasure and pain, of comfort and hardship. We cling to pleasure, hoping it will never leave, and we are overwhelmed by pain, fearing that it will never end. Not being attached to success and failure, or to our highs and lows will help us to achieve a more stable sense of inner peace. The nature of the world cannot be changed, but the nature of ourselves can.

 This hurt? Try letting go.

"Often, Bikram teachers float little pieces of advice into their dialog, during postures or during savasana. Of course, our retention rate is not necessarily the best when sweating out a small lake, but sometimes a nugget of that advice gets through.

One came recently that suddenly struck me as making a lot of sense. The advice was, when something is difficult or something hurts, don’t attach to it. As in, the problem is there but it’s not really part of you. Once you attach to it, you make it a part of you. 

It’s esoteric but I decided to see if it applied. I thought maybe I could use it to get over the final hump of an injury. The pain of a pulled hamstring was stubbornly hanging on and certain postures were going nowhere. It was like running into the same wall every day. And the wall wouldn’t move. So, I tried detaching from it. Before every posture that usually hurt, I tried not to anticipate the pain. I focused on some other detail. I let go of the injury.
It took only a few classes to start seeing progress. It turns out, my brain had been getting in the way. By focusing on what hurt, knowing what was going to hurt all the time, I owned the pain. My mind needed healing more than my hamstring. It was a powerful lesson, one that seems worth trying in getting through lots of issues. Because if it works on a hamstring — the most stubborn character in all of anatomy — it could work on anything. 

In class the other day, one of our teachers, Jeanne, said something along the same lines during Camel posture, that pain and fear lie in our resistance — in other words, in our minds. If we learn to let go of the resistance, the pain and fear recede. When we stop trying to protect ourselves, we grow. It is a huge lesson, applicable across our whole life, but Camel posture seems a good place to start.

Is there some way you are holding yourself back? Is there any way for you to detach from something?" 

Tip of the Week: Hips in Standing Bow

When doing Standing Bow Pose, try to kick your leg directly straight up behind you. You should start to see your toes and leg come straight up above the top of your head in the mirror. If you see your leg start to come out to the right or left of your head, this means your hips are out of alignment. But instead of focusing on your hips, trying to get them into alignment, if you try to keep your leg directly centered above your head, your hips will automatically come into proper alignment. Squeezing your glutes and inner thighs together really helps to keep the kicking leg straight above your head.

Tip of the Week: Hands to Feet Pose (Padahastasana)

Hands to Feet pose comes immediately after doing Half Moon pose and a backward bend. The combination of these postures opens the spine by moving it in ALL 4 directions. The idea is to elongate the spine outward through the crown of your head as you fold into the pose.

As a beginner, let your knees bend as much as necessary to grasp your heels from behind with your fingers pointing toward the mirror, elbows BEHIND the calf muscles, keeping your feet together. 

If you can't reach your heels, don't be discouraged; you're not alone. Just reach your hands to the back of your calves, or as low on the back of your legs as possible. This is better than putting your hands under your feet from the sides. 

As you lay your body against your legs, bend your knees even further if you have to. If you can’t get your body to touch your legs, then just do your best to touch your forehead to your knees. Unfortunately, nothing will accomplish the ultimate straightening of your legs except day-in, day-out determination and much strength. Try concentrating on lifting the hips rather than on the straightening. At the beginning you will feel pain! But this kind of pain is normal, expected and good  - a step beyond discomfort. 

The goal is to keep upper body and lower body SANDWICHED together through the entire posture. Once your body is able to touch your legs, you want your upper body to be completely flat against your lower body as much as possible. Bring your torso to the front of your thighs FIRST by straightening your back and lifting your hips. THEN try to reach the top of your head towards your toes.

Pulling is the object of the stretching! Pull on your heels as hard as you can and LOCK YOUR KNEE. "Locking the knee" means tightening your quadricep muscle as hard as possible so that the knee naturally lifts. 

See how much further you can get your elbows behind your legs. See if you can make them disappear so they can't be seen from the front.

Stretch your upper body down by lifting your hips high and sucking your stomach in. This will help to straighten your back and legs. Stretch your face to your knees, eventually your smiling relaxed face will go below your knees, and the top of your head will touch the top of your toes.

Tip of the Week: Wind Removing Pose

Wind-removing pose is like Bikram’s “Pepto Bismol.” This pose stimulates the ascending, descending and transverse colon as well as the stomach and small intestines. The order in which the pose is preformed helps to stimulate the bowels, cures constipation and improves nutrient absorption. The posture is called “wind-removing” for a reason, as it helps to relieve flatulence. Finally it helps to balance out hydrochloric acid levels in the stomach helping with indigestion and heartburn

Strengthens

• Abdominal wall

• Thighs

• Hips

Stretches

• Hip joints

Stimulates

• Massages ascending, descending and transverse colon.

Benefits

• Regulates and normalizes hydrochloric acid levels in stomach

• Improves and may cure conditions of constipation, flatulence and hyperacidity

• Relieves lower back pain

• Increases peristalsis in the gut 

Tips:

• The tendency is to take your time to get into the posture, but students receive greater benefits when getting into this posture quickly and staying in it longer

• Use your arm strength evenly so you don’t roll to one side. Do your best to get both shoulders on the ground

• In order to keep the back of your neck on the floor look with your eyes down the center line of your body

 *For even more tips on Wind Removing Pose, click "here". 

Tip of the Week: Blowing in Firm Pose (Kapalbhati Breathing)

Kapalbhati Pranayama is a cleansing breathing exercise done at the completion of the 26 postures. In Sanskrit, Kapal means forehead or skull and Bhati means shining. So, Kapalbhati is known as the practice which leads to the cleansing of your mind through rapid exhalation. This exercise is just all about inhaling and exhaling but surprisingly it has tons of benefits. Kapalbhati plays a very important role in keeping your heart healthy, improving your digestive system, removing toxins, strengthening your abdominal wall and keeping your mind peaceful and free from negative thoughts.




Tips: 

• Sit on your heels and with straight arms place your hands on your knees.
• Focus your gaze at yourself in the mirror.
• Completely relax your abdomen.
• Take a small inhalation. Pull your belly in and up to sharply exhale.
• Place a hand on your stomach to make sure your midsection is moving in and out as it should.
• ONLY YOUR ABDOMEN SHOULD BE MOVING.
• Do not bounce or move your shoulders up and down.
• Inhale will happen automatically, so focus on exhaling.
• Exhale like you are blowing out a birthday candle, but keep your face and lips relaxed.
• Pick up the pace in the second set and work to stay in rhythm with the group.

Tip of the Week: Finding the Best Yoga Mat

With all of the sweating, moving, and balancing you do in Bikram Yoga, you want to have the right kind of yoga mat. The following from livestrong.com has some good pointers on choosing the best mat for your practice.

 

Thick and Padded for Cushioning

A yoga mat that is thick and padded enough to withstand the rigors of a Bikram yoga class is best. A thin mat will wear out too quickly and will not provide the cushioning you will want for poses such as rabbit pose, when you place your head onto your mat. For most people, that will mean a mat that is at least one-half inch in thickness.

Durability: Rubber, Bamboo

Eco-friendly yoga mats made from natural rubber or bamboo or other plant-based materials are excellent choices for Bikram yoga. A rubber mat will wear well from the standing poses found in Bikram yoga. Those made from bamboo are surprisingly durable and lighter in weight than rubber.

Traction to Prevent Sliding

It might be possible to practice some types of yoga on bare wood floor, but Bikram yoga is not one of them. The heated room and no-nonsense succession of poses will quickly produce a sweaty practice that requires a yoga mat that will not slip or slide. For that reason, selecting a yoga mat made with a patterned surface to provide traction on carpet or hard flooring is a good idea. It is not uncommon to see people practice Bikram yoga in bathing suits as the session produces that much heat.

Reversible for Versatility

Fully reversible mats are also very practical for a Bikram yoga class. While many people will bring thick beach towels and lay them flat on top of their yoga mats, these can slide during practice. There are yoga mats that have a “sticky” side and on the other side is a terry towel side to soak up the perspiration from practice. You might try one to see whether it suits you. As all yogis know, you should choose the best yoga mat for your Bikram yoga class based on your direct experiences.

Tip of the Week: 5 Steps to Safer Backbends

Do you tuck your tailbone in backbending poses? Here’s a smarter way to keep your back safe—and get a deeper opening. The following is from Doug Keller on yogainternational.com.

It would be hard to imagine yoga without backbends—they’re invigorating, uplifting, and heart-opening. Backbends stimulate the proper functioning of the digestive system, help preserve the health of the vertebrae and spinal disks, and open the body to deep diaphragmatic breathing. It’s no wonder that backbends are an important part of any hatha yoga routine.

At the same time, these poses place strong demands upon the most vulnerable segment of the spine—the lumbar region. To protect against pinching in the low back, many teachers give cues to “scoop” or “tuck” the tailbone. But there’s a better, more precise approach to safe backbending that engages certain key core muscles and the traditional hatha yoga practice of mula bandha, or root lock. To understand just when instructions regarding the tailbone are appropriate—and when we should engage our core instead—let’s take a closer look at how the sacrum moves within the pelvis.

Sacral Movement

The pelvis contains three bones that are designed to move in relationship to each other. The two hip bones swing back and forth with the legs, while the sacrum is positioned between them, twisting slightly from side to side as it mediates between the movements of the hips.

The sacrum also has its own distinctive action called nutation—a tipping or nodding forward of the top of the sacrum—which is crucial in supporting the spine during bending motions, including backbending. The sacrum’s neutral position—when sitting or walking, for example—is one of slight nutation. This minor forward tilt helps to support the natural inward curve of the lumbar spine; it is a stable yet unlocked position that allows free movement of the hips.

Tadasana, or mountain pose, on the other hand, requires that the pelvis be locked into a stable, unmoving position at the sacroiliac (SI) joints (the surfaces where the sacrum joins to each hip bone) in order to maintain the stillness and steadiness of the posture. This is accomplished by slightly scooping the tailbone down and forward—an action called counternutation, which causes the top of the sacrum to tip slightly backward. Counternutation does not generally apply if the body is in motion; it is specific to tadasana and other postures (such as parshvakonasana, or side angle pose) in which the body is meant to be in a single straight line from the heels through the crown of the head.

When you bend backward or forward, however, the opposite action takes place in the sacrum: the top of the sacrum automatically nods forward beyond its neutral position, and the tailbone shifts slightly backward. Studies show that this sacral nutation in spine-bending poses stabilizes the sacrum within the pelvic bones in a more secure and less vulnerable position than counternutation, where, particularly with backbending, you may be more at risk of pinching the tissues within the SI joints, forcing the SI joints into misalignment, or otherwise straining or jamming your low back.
So if we’re not scooping or tucking the tailbone, what should we do to protect the spine in backbends?

The Right Support

The right support for backbending recruits several muscles in the pelvis, but starts at the deepest layer of the abdominal muscles—the transverse abdominals.
The transverse abdominals play a significant active role in stabilizing the trunk of the body for movement. They wrap around the torso—from the fascia of the lumbar spine and the upper edges of the hip bones at the back body to the front edges of the ribs and the rim of the pelvic bowl. Essentially, the transverse abdominals produce just enough pressure in the abdomen and pelvic cavity to distribute the stress of movement, so that no single part of the low back bears the entire burden.

In order to consciously engage these muscles, you can focus on their action in the lower abdomen, about three inches below the navel. When you contract here, you can feel the muscles firm in toward the sacrum and draw up toward the navel; at the same time, the two hip points at the front of the pelvis squeeze toward each other, as if there is a string between them that is tightening.

A Simple Experiment


Engage the Transverse Abdominals

Sit cross-legged in sukhasana (easy pose) and place your hands to either side of your hips; bend your elbows so you can place yoga blocks or books under your hands. (This same experiment can be done while sitting on a chair with armrests; place your feet on the floor and your hands on the arms of the chair.)

Bring a natural inward curve to your low back, tipping your pelvis slightly forward. Tuck your chin toward your chest to help you draw your shoulders back and open your chest. Then press with your hands to lift your weight out of your sit bones (you don’t have to lift your hips entirely off the floor). Feel how the pit of your abdomen naturally tones and lifts, your hip points draw toward each other in the front, and your sacrum lengthens downward from your waistline toward your tailbone, as if your tailbone were heavy or rooted in the earth.

Find Mula Bandha

Now look deeper inside, beyond these actions. If you pay attention to the muscles of the pelvic floor at the perineum (the region between the anus and the urethra), you’ll find that you can gently draw the perineum upward as you lift. This is the subtle action of mula bandha, a toning and inner lift of the muscles of the pelvic floor. Then lower the hips back down.


Next see if you can create the same actions at the pelvic floor before you lift your hips, and then lift up. In this exercise, mula bandha is most accessible when you start from the abdominal action we just described: the pit of your abdomen tones and lifts, and your hip points squeeze toward each other. This action helps you to initiate the lift of the perineum. When you engage mula bandha, your pelvis, abdomen, and low back will feel steady, stable, and light, regardless of whether you’re lifting your hips up or setting them down.

Notice what happens in the area of the sacrum as you practice the actions in the abdominals and pelvic floor. The deep muscles that you feel drawing downward from your waistline toward your tailbone are the multifidus muscles, which lie close to the sacrum on the inside of the two hip points at the back of your pelvis. When the transverse abdominals engage at the pit of the abdomen and the sacrum is stabilized, the multifidi co-contract and inflate. In this way, the multifidus muscles act like protective air bags that cushion the sacroiliac joints, preventing any pinching of the joint tissue.

For comparison, try scooping your tailbone down and forward before you lift up. You’re likely to feel the triangle of muscles between the tailbone and the sit bones tense up, and there is a hardness and greater effort to the action of lifting. You may even feel a slight pull or discomfort in the SI joints. In this sitting position, scooping the tailbone works against the natural nutated positioning of the sacrum.

Safe Backbending

This nutation (a forward tilt of the sacrum relative to the hip bones) also occurs naturally during backbending. However, it is possible for the sacrum to nutate excessively under the pressure of the backbend—especially if you’re hypermobile in the SI joints. So it is essential to engage the core muscles described in the exercise above in order to stabilize and protect the low back.

By engaging the transverse abdominals, the multifidi, and also the muscles of your inner thighs (as we shall see below), you provide the support for mula bandha, drawing energy up from the center of the pelvic floor and helping the spine extend into a healthy backbend. The example of ustrasana, or camel pose, illustrates how these actions all come together.

Ustrasana

A camel kneels down to release the burden of packs and passengers placed upon its back. In ustrasana, we mimic the camel’s relief when we find a light and expansive feeling in the pose, as if we too just slid a burden off our shoulders.
Activating the core muscles and mula bandha in preparation for this kneeling backbend provides the necessary foundation for the feeling of extension, expansion, and release without any compression in the spine. (In contrast, tucking your tailbone and clenching your buttocks would immobilize your spine, pinch the sacroiliac joints, and place the burden of the backbend almost entirely upon just a couple of vertebrae—L4 and L5—in your lumbar spine.)

To begin, kneel on a blanket with your knees and feet hip-distance apart and your toes turned under. Rest your hands on your hips and position your hips vertically above your thighs.

Place a light yoga block between your upper inner thighs. The width of the block should allow you to keep your thighs parallel, with your knees slightly wider than your sit bones. Firm the muscles of the inner thighs (the adductors), as if trying to lift the block up toward your pubic bone, and then draw the block back toward your sit bones. This will tip your pelvis forward, increasing the arch in your lower back. 

Finally, rather than clenching your thighs on the block, draw your inner thighs apart, as if you were trying to drop the block—but without actually dropping it . These actions in the inner thighs create space for the sacrum and allow for the proper amount of nutation. Now the stage is set for engaging your transverse abdominals and the inner lift of mula bandha.

Without changing the arch in your lower back, drop your chin toward your chest and exhale as you firm the pit of your abdomen, squeezing the hip points at the front of the pelvis toward each other. Feel the broadening at the back of your pelvis, across the whole area of the sacrum.

Use your next inhalation to lift through your torso and lengthen the sides of your body from your waistline to your shoulders. Now the pit of your abdomen is not only firming inward but also drawing upward. Take your attention down to your perineum, at the pelvic floor. With the lift of the lower abdominals, draw up from the perineum, initiating mula bandha without creating any clenching in your buttocks or hips. Once you’ve activated mula bandha, you can take the block out (though you may want to try the whole backbend with the block in place).

Before taking the spine into the backbend, look for the slight squeeze of the deep multifidus muscles in the area of the sacrum. Draw downward through these muscles from your waistline toward your tailbone (without scooping), and root through your legs as you continue to lift up from the pelvic floor and the pit of your abdomen. To protect your neck, keep your head looking forward and your chin tucked toward your chest.

Your spine will now naturally want to extend into a backbend. With your next inhalation, press your hips forward (your sacrum will tip forward slightly, as it should) and, without allowing your chest to collapse, reach back to touch your heels, palms facing out.

It’s natural for your whole body to shift back slightly when reaching for the heels, so press your hips forward once again to bring your thighs back toward vertical over the knees. To deepen the pose, point your toes back and place the tops of your feet flat on the floor; if this causes any strain in the knees, come back to the previous version.

Finally, lift and open your chest to allow your spine to fully extend into the backbend. It may feel natural to take your head back into the full expression of the pose. If this causes any pinching in your neck or low back, however, keep your chin tucked toward your chest, and continue to work on the actions in the lower body that we have been practicing. The neck extension will come in time.

Hold the pose for 3 to 5 breaths. To come out, engage your quadriceps by grounding through your feet and lower legs. You can take your hands to your hips as you press your hips forward and draw your spine up, letting the head come up last. When you come fully upright, it’s appropriate to scoop your tailbone to stabilize your spine and sacrum in its tadasana position. You can also give your back muscles a rest by sitting back into balasana, or child’s pose.

The Key to Safe Backbending

As we’ve seen, the key to safe backbending is to stabilize the sacrum in its optimal nutated position while protecting the spine from overarching. By engaging the inner thighs, the transverse abdominals, the multifidi, and mula bandha, we provide core support for the sacrum so that we can drop our burdens and reap all the invigorating benefits of backbends.