We introduced these tummy lying backbends in class recently. There are a whole lot of things you can do with your arms in them.
This post is just for watching and not really for practicing until you come to class and I can talk to you and we can consider what is going on with your knees, spine, and shoulders and figure out what might be safe and comfortable for you.
Always remember you do not need to take your foot at all. If you have troubles with your knees, spine, or shoulders you should talk to your teacher before you even consider it. You can just bend the knee and reach towards your foot without actually taking it, as shown below. For some people this will be enough.
Some other things to consider in the variations I show in the video is the shoulder is rolling out when you take it back. It rolls in again in some variations and stays there or rolls back out again while possibly doing a variety of other things around the shoulder, shoulder blade and elbow joint complexes.
The point is, there is a lot going on around the shoulder joints and you really need to take extreme care before embarking on any of these variations.
For that reason I am just showing them here so you can maybe take a look in slow motion and have a visual memory of the movement patterns for when you come to class and we can discuss more in person.
The three shoulder variations I show in the video are shown below. In all of these positions I am basically doing the same thing with my leg, which is to press my shin or foot away and then up.
In these variations the hand can have a pulling action but I counter it with the pulling action of the shin and foot so that it is not just an arm pulling and tugging at the leg.
I am mindful of how the knee is feeling and I don't feel squashing in the knee joint.
I am mindful of how the shoulder is feeling and I don't feel over-stretching at the shoulder joint.
I am mindful of how my spine is feeling so I take action to ensure I am not bending through one part of my spine only. In fact, I keep my pubic bone and lower ribs on the table, do a sit up in my tummy, and try to lengthen and wriggle my spine forward and up so that there is never squishing in my lower back and this pose ends up feeling great in my spine for all variations.
I make sure I can breathe naturally (although the breath tends to quicken here). I relax and soften my face.
These variations are tough. They are not for everyone. But remember the first option is also a good one (where you do not hold your foot) so you stay there as necessary.
Just for fun I also made this video of natarajasana on a table, which shows the same arm variations. It is more tricky because you have to balance as well.
Learning on the table beforehand helps you sort out the feeling in your spine.
This week I will be running a workshop delightfully titled 'Groins Emerging'. Here is a little taster of Harry and I doing a little bit of synchronous work along that theme!
One of the key things we will be working on is the idea of softening and lengthening around the front of groin area as one of the 'tricks' to free the spine in back bending positions. I call this position knees away, groins emerging. They don't get pushed or forced up. They 'emerge' and soften as the knees move away.
This is slightly different to how many people are used to initiating a backbend. To people newer to my class what I see are lots of pelvic curls and groins thrusting going on. I don't want to suggest that this is a wrong movement. But for my spine freeing purposes it can tend to jam you in the lower back.
So we will be working on figuring out some ways to first get length in your lower back.
Then we will move to some arms away and chest emerging, as shown below.
From there we might work towards combining those two elements (knees away, groins emerging and arms away, chest emerging) to see how it can support a possible spine lengthening back bend.
From there some people will possibly work on a bit more arms away and chest emerging to go deeper. But that is pretty tricky. It is not for everyone.
Harry and I went back up to our backbend to take a foot up. But you could also do this (and we can try in the workshop) with the elbows on the ground like in the start position. Maybe not. I will be there to see what type of position will be helpful for you and it might be something different.
We ended up where we started. In our case this was on the road in front of what turned out to be the rubbish tip. No wonder it smelled so bad. Still, through it all we smiled and kept in touch with the core theme of knees away, groins emerging.
Finishing up with a bit of eye contact, some shared laughter at our antics. This felt beautiful to do together, almost like we were synchronised swimming yogis on the road.
So join us for an extra special workshop on Good Friday if you are round, 9-11am (probably a bit later). This is not for 'advanced' or 'extreme' back bending but for people who want to learn to move more freely in their spines, stop over arching their lower back and feeling all scrunched, and who want to hang out and share a few laughs.
Tiny things can make an enormous difference to your practice.
In this post I share some small tips to help you in suriya namaskar. They will help create postural firmness in your tummy and around your shoulders.
When you use these tips you should feel from but calm. If you were beside someone you should be able to be in the posture and talk to them normally, without feeling breathless. Otherwise you are too deep in the posture and you need to back off.
When applied mindfully these little tips will help you practice less with more benefit. Then you can spend more of your time living your practice and being happy and helpful to other people and less time in the practice arena.
Watch the video then read the written and visual instructions.
In your own practice you should maintain the free feeling in your spine. It is easy to hang in your shoulders and your lower back and the cues I give here should help you avoid this and thus avoid strain.
Four cues
I have put circles around the lower back area to show you that it is always in a lengthened position. I would not call this neutral or tucked under pelvis. I imagine I am lengthening my sitting bones towards my heels and my top of pelvis back. This lengthens my lower back and lengthens the front of groin area. I am looking for this feeling of lengthening and freedom throughout the cycle. CUE: Sitting bones down, top of pelvis back to lengthen lower back.
I have put circles around the shoulder joint area to show that I am focussing on not dropping or sining into the shoulders. Instead I feel that I am lifting out of them. Pressing my hands down and forward helps with this lifting feeling. CUE: press hands down and forward.
I have also put circles in some positions around the elbows. The cue here is that I am bending the elbows so they point back towards the knees/hips/toes and squeezing them together as though they are trying to touch. Even when my elbows are straight, as in the plank or down dog, I feel as though I am making those actions but with straight arms. This gives me a feeling of broadening across upper back and neck. CUE: elbows bend towards hips, squeeze in.
I have put circles and arrows around feet and knees. I try to keep as little weight as possible on knees and toes as possible. I make an effort to drag the toes or knees (whatever is on the ground) towards the hands. This creates more tummy activation. CUE: feel as though you are pulling toes/knees towards your hands.
There are more things you can do in these postures but these cues will help create postural firmness in the tummy and around the shoulder joint so that you feel like you are doing something but can breathe naturally and without feeling stress or strain in your spine or shoulders.
From Plank
Be on the very tip toes in your plank. Not on the ball of the feet. Right up there on the toe nail area. Over the tops of your toes if possible. With the shoulders over the wrists this should automatically create firmness in the tummy in a way you can still breathe.
The feet feel like they are pulling forward towards the hands. This should create more postural firmness.
It is important that you start from a position of the lower back lengthened.
The lower ribs are lifting. If you look at my spine it is more in a straight line than with any dips. No valleys between my shoulder blades.
Kneeling Plank
I lower my knees softly here. In the video I show how I raise and lower the knees and the knees feel light on the ground. I feel as though I am pulling my knees towards my chest. Shape of spine did not change.
Bend and squeeze elbows
From kneeling plank I bend elbows back towards hips. It does not change the height of the posture. I do not dip into my shoulders or create valleys in my shoulder blades.
I also squeeze my elbows towards one another.
Your elbows might not bend very far. It is not important. You should feel the work around the under arm and side chest area and that your neck has become more free.
Lean forward
Lean the whole structure forward. You are not trying to lower. Try to stay up. You will lower somewhat but that is not what I am thinking about at all. I am trying to maintain the integrity of the structure I have created and just lean the whole thing forward.
Most people will find they cannot go very far. That is not important. Maintaining integrity is important. Don't let your ego write cheques your body can't cash (do I need to put the reference in there? It's from Top Gun of course!).
Knees up
If all is good maybe, just maybe, you might feel you can press your heels back to lift the knees while maintaining your integrity. There should be no change in the structure aside from a secret knee lift. If you cannot make that secret knee lift then you are not ready for this version of the posture and go back.
Knees down
Pop knees back down if you took them up.
Chest forward and up
This sequence of postures has me maintaining, in particular, integrity of my lower back. Feeling as though I am drawing my knees forward helps tremendously.
I do not dip into the shoulders. I simply (well, if you try you will maybe find it is not that simple after all) try and wriggle my spine forward and up through my arms.
Take your pelvis away from the floor if you feel any strain in your lower back. This should not feel like a back tensing posture. It should feel like a spine lengthening posture.
Down dog
Ease your way back to a buoyant child's posture and to down dog.
In Sum
A feeling of ease and length in your spine is glorious. You will feel less like you are stretching and more like you are just having a bit of a jet spa inside your body, loosening and relaxing your muscles. You will definitely still feel like you are doing something. But practice to a level where you can still breathe easily
This is the way I like to practice. It is better than any massage I have ever received and, when done well, you feel like you are floating buoyantly.
I hope to impart this type of knowledge and practice to you in my Canberra outdoor classes and in my upcoming retreat in Sri Lanka.
Practice mindfully.
Much metta,
Samantha
www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com
www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com
Having a free spine is always something I think of when practicing. If you walk away from yoga class with a sore back then there is something about your practice that is not right. It should not hurt to do yoga.
One of the most common actions I perform in my practice is to lengthen the lower back. I do this by imagining that my sitting bones are melting down the back of my legs. I like the idea and feeling of melting as it reminds me this is something done without force. I once told a class to imagine their butt cheeks were like two scoops of ice cream atop a cone (their legs) and that the ice cream was dripping down the one (i.e., their legs). A child, who happened to be in the class with her mother, whispered loudly, "My bottom is not an ice cream.' Some visualisations are not for everyone I guess!
Anyway, the idea is to create some space in the lower back. It is a small action done without strain or force. If you overdo it, or misunderstand the movement as something more akin to what I call a pelvic tuck, then you might irritate nerves if you have an irritable nerve condition so be mindful and move slowly.
I try to demonstrate the difference between the lengthening movement (melting) and the tuck in the video. What you will notice is that no length is created in the lower back with just the tuck (the way I perform it in the video). Whereas, when I melt the sitting bones down you will see that the space between my vertebrae is lengthened.
I use this melting of the sitting bones to prepare for standing poses, in my forward bends, and in my back bends. It helps to prevent me from overarching the back or squashing it. If you combine it with lifting the shoulders and arms overhead it will traction the whole spine.
These videos are intended mainly for students who attend my classes as an aid to their practice and as a point of discussion. Please be mindful if you are practicing any videos from any source without the guidance of an experienced teacher.
In these variations the hand can have a pulling action but I counter it with the pulling action of the shin and foot so that it is not just an arm pulling and tugging at the leg. 
I am mindful of how my spine is feeling so I take action to ensure I am not bending through one part of my spine only. In fact, I keep my pubic bone and lower ribs on the table, do a sit up in my tummy, and try to lengthen and wriggle my spine forward and up so that there is never squishing in my lower back and this pose ends up feeling great in my spine for all variations. 
These variations are tough. They are not for everyone. But remember the first option is also a good one (where you do not hold your foot) so you stay there as necessary.
