The Art of Vinyasa: Awakening Body and Mind through the Practice of Ashtanga Yoga

Moving from the deadened spine rather than the pelvic floor and full body usually causes pain and injury because we fold into the easily bendable areas—compressing the lumbar vertebrae, pressing the kidney wings closed at T12, and collapsing the head back on the atlas in the cervical region. When practicing backbends in a more integrated manner, we

case. Having arrived in the territory of the backbend, it still requires a great deal of internal and meditative focus to actually turn a gymnastic position into a fully functioning yoga pose and receive the benefits of that pose. Because those who are naturally flexible arrive more easily in the pose, they also run a greater risk than stiffer indi

We see that this balance makes the finishing poses important for everyone, but particularly for those with a rigorous Aṣṭāṅga Vinyāsa practice because the poses automatically induce a profound feeling of vairāgyam, or letting go.

some practitioners avoid the depth offered by the finishing poses, conceptualizing them as strictly therapeutic or restorative practices, which can create an imbalance toward an attachment to dissolution before there is actually anything to dissolve—in other words, before they have done the work. This can quickly become tamasic dullness in yoga. An

In all twists, there should be a feeling of dignity in the final pose—as though you are growing longer up through the center of the spine and out through the crown of the head.

if we can imagine the feeling of extension up through the core of the body from the chest (or better yet from the pelvic floor through the chest) and out through the crown of the head, we can begin to avoid dropping the head back unconsciously and overextending the cervical spine.

Backbends are the epitome of the prāṇa family, expressing a sense of extension and expansion up and out.

Because a central physiological aspect of backbends is that we literally “open the heart” to do the poses, taking care not to overdo this physical pattern when we are feeling emotionally unsettled or vulnerable is very important. Sometimes, even for those who can do extremely deep backbends, it is not advisable to go to the body’s limit; it is bett

For all backbends the underlying pattern is that as we inhale and consider the pose, we then ground fully on the exhalation to set the apānic pattern solidly in the pelvic floor as the base of the pose.