DoceVidaFitness Recommends a Backbend! Today.

Practicing backbends gives us a formula for peace. Arching your back up and over opens up our Anahata (heart) Chakra and we can always count on a feeling of liberation no matter how deep we are in it. Extending our heart energy outward while being relaxed in a backbend is called bliss! Practicing backbends is about unshackling the toxic energy that sometimes gets stored up in our heart center. Plus, backbends contribute to keeping our spines flexible and healthy. Can't beat that.

There are many different ways to backbend. If you are a yoga practitioner, you most likely have come to know camel, bridge, bow pose, wheel, upward facing dog to name some. If you are thinking about starting a yoga practice, you will learn many backbends with many variations and you will feel something unique each time you practice one.

Of course, when practicing any backbend please only do what feels right. When we develop a yoga practice our body learns how to tell the difference between what is right and what is not. There have been volumes written on the backbend and each yoga teacher has their own unique way to teach one. Here are a few ways we here at Doce Vida Fitness have etched in our yoga minds to help us through the curve we crave...

You can use these tips with any backbend just apply them as you see fit.
Remember to warm-up the body before digging into any deep backbend.

1.Generally, the way your spine elongates depends on the way your pelvis is turning.
Tilt your lower pelvis forward.

2.Curve your spine evenly.
Create a magnificent lift in your upper spine and through your upper body so
that the lower spine can follow. Don't just over bend on the lower lumbar!

3.Direct the apex of the curve into your upper back and chest just behind your heart.

4.Draw the ab muscles toward the spine.

5.Slide your should blades down your back.

6.Soft Gaze...breathe.

We like to compliment our backbends with a twist and a forward bend to feel complete.

You will change by opening up the heart.
Remember yoga teaches us to experience feeling negative emotions and intensities without being disturbed by them, without having to run away from them.

If you're not heading to a yoga class anytime soon, a great way to release into a backbend gently is with a physio ball. Of course, start by slowing rolling back, be aware of your spine, and breathe, breathe, breathe...With the tips we offered above you can find amazing results with the physio ball. We keep several in our office so that throughout the day we can get up from our computers, lie back on the ball and feel happy! Be careful to roll off slowly, and give yourself a moment to reconnect with your breath and yourself to let the spine come back naturally.

Love rules the world, your participation is required!