Lecture: Back Bends & the Front Line
7A. The path less travelled…Up!
1. The Path Less Travelled:
We begin our exploration of back bending with a familiar poem by Robert Frost, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference”. Did you notice that slight hesitation in the poem, “and I-I took the one less travelled by…”— the poet felt a tendency to go towards the obvious path, but hesitates, and allows an inner voice to guide him towards a path less travelled.
When we work in our asanas we are constantly presented with a similar fork in the road— do we work to touch our hands to our heels in Ustrasana (camel pose) for example, or do we surrender external appearances and focus inside while we work and explore a path that may not be cued? We are all probably nodding our head to the latter choice, but in reality it is an incredibly challenging choice to make that requires surrender. In fact, this choice is so challenging that we have to practice it over and over again in order to actually choose it, as the minute we become unconscious we are led down into our patterns, instead of up into our potential.
2. The Illusion of Maya: This is because the path of growth isn’t left or right, it’s up! According to the Yogic Tradition, our true nature is veiled from our mind, a phenomenon known as Maya. Whenever we make choices based solely on our mind, we are bound to make very limited choices that will eventually limit our experience of reality, which is another way of saying cause suffering. For example, if you are doing yoga from your head, based on shapes and angles, you might be tempted to reach for your heels in Ustrasana. In doing so, you may attain what you perceive as the goal, but at the expense of the path there, your Intervertebral discs and core strength. Following the path less travelled requires patience and surrender, but when we arrive we can be sure that we have reached a place worth waiting for.
When we live according to the mind, we might feel in control, but that control is an illusion that often results in eventual injury. As the ancient yogic text, the Tantrasadbhava, describes it, “The results of your God consciousness (caitanya) being fenced in by the five coverings is that you act in a limited way, know in a limited way, love in a limited way, live in a limited way and possess in a limited way. Being attached to this path with your organs of knowledge and organs of action, you are guided to walk the spiritual path in a limited way…Here, being completely dependent on that illusive energy of knowledge and being without real knowledge, you are continuously doing right or wrong. So, being completely entangled in that fence you become just like a beast.”
What we see in this quote is that our judgments and decisions are often cloaked by our likes and dislikes, the limiting lenses of our samskaras. This means that when we operate solely from the mind, and disregard our inner intuition and innate ‘real knowledge’, we tend to make decisions that bind us or entangle us. Which is exactly what happens to many people during their back bends— they disregard the inner experience of support in order to have the outer experience of touching their heels in Ustrasana, for example, and in so doing, become fenced in by their misalignments. Fighting against the body, against our intuition, just entangles us more and more, leading to injury.
3. Knowledge Without Inner Awareness Leads You Down: This might seem impossible to the mind, as the mind only knows ‘right and wrong’, ‘left and right’. But imagine using the GPS on your phone to get everywhere, and never using your common sense to see if you are driving into the ocean (of Samsara), which as you may have seen on the news happened just a few miles from the Konalani Ashram in Hawaii at the harbor. The skillful yogi is one who can use their mind and intuition together— we come to the fork in the road, we see the options in front of us, and we use our inner guidance as we proceed.
4. Growing Up into Awareness: So we see that our work on the mat has less to do with right and wrong, left and right, and a lot more to do with whether we are being pulled down into our patterns or up into our awareness. When awareness is present, as it was for Robert Frost, we might hesitate, we might walk a bit slower, but where we walk is taking us towards our growth, instead of in circles. As the Shiva Sutras put it, “These organs [of the mind, body and senses] therefore perform in two ways, depending on whether you are fully aware or not. Those who are deprived of awareness are pushed down into the field of ignorance. Those who possess the fullness of awareness, however, become completely elevated.” In terms of back bending, being pulled down into the field of ignorance is like reaching for our heels in Ustrasana— you can feel it when it happens, your core deflates, your bones compress, your breath quickens. But when we prioritize awareness during the process of bending backward, a remarkable metamorphosis transpires. With each bend back, our consciousness inflates and our being restores. Through this practice, every back bending posture becomes a sanctuary of restoration and a conduit for transcendence.
5. Seeing the Directional Pull of the front and back line:
At the core of our uplifting work with back bends is a powerful scientific fact— the musculature of our front and back body have a directional pull— a healthy body, when standing in Tadasana, has an upward pull across the front of the body and a downward pull across the backside of the body. This is intuitive when you take time to feel yourself as you stand up, or roll up— the muscles of the back body pull down to roll up the front of the body. We find that focusing our awareness on the uplifting sensation of the front body, as opposed to just the down pulling sensation of the back body, is a skillful means of generating spaciousness in the spine, deep core support, and eccentric uplifting tone across the front body. The result is that back bends begin to elevate you and your awareness.
6. The Front Line Pulls Up: As we look at the front line we see the same—a dominant muscle, the tibialis anterior, nestled along the lateral aspect of the shin, orchestrates the elevation of the foot during each step. Progressing to the quadriceps of the anterior thigh, an upward thrust propels the kneecap. The rectus abdominis, in its optimal state, lifts the pelvis, and without proper tone, the pelvis tends to slump forward into an anterior tilt.
7. A Marriage of Opposites: In contrast, a parallel dynamic takes place along our backline—while the front elevates, the back orchestrates a downward pull. Within this team of muscles, a synchronized effort generates a compelling force that effectively counters the influence of gravity. This cohesive action assists in the extension of the spine, hips, and knees, ultimately granting us the ability to stand with a dignified posture. For instance, consider the hamstrings diligently pulling downward on the ischial tuberosity to balance the pelvis. When the hamstrings don’t pull downward, the pelvis tips forward and spinal alignment is compromised.
8. Retraining our Front lIne: This ever present physiological pull didn’t happen overnight of course, but was earned by each of us since infancy. We toned our back line and front line every time we lifted our heads up to find our parents in the room, or when we rolled ourselves up to try to walk. But even though we may have spent years of our life pulling ourselves up and upright, a majority of our adult tasks— such as being on our phones or computers, driving, writing and eating, as well as the simple fact of sitting to perform these tasks— are just as slowly but surely reversing the pull, dragging us down towards injury and discomfort. The work of back bends is here to restore our posture and help elevate us towards movement freedom.
9. The Surprising Impact of Forward Head Posture:
Ever thought about the weight of your head? It's more than meets the eye! For each inch your head leans forward from its natural center, the gravitational load it carries feels 10 pounds heavier— and this effect multiplies exponentially. Imagine, just a 3-inch deviation makes your head seem like it weighs a whopping 38 pounds!
Surprisingly, about 66% of us suffer from Forward Head Posture. (I wonder if that is really all?)This can bring on neck stiffness and shoulder issues. Why? Well, because your head, feeling "heavier," calls on your shoulder muscles for help. This action pulls up the upper trapezius and the Levator scapulae, which lifts and rounds the shoulders. And here's the twist: the longer you're in this position, the more your body reinforces it with connective tissue, making it increasingly challenging to reverse. It's like sliding down a slope, inching toward potential discomfort or injury—what the Sutras call "the field of ignorance." But fear not, there’s hope!
10. Inflating Awareness Exercise:
The hope is in the form of our awareness— ‘the fullness of our awareness’ to be precise, which is all we need to reverse this downward spiral. To illustrate this let’s do a simple exercise, take a moment to stand in Tadasana. Imagine that you are inflatable version of yourself, standing light and easy. Now imagine you have a slow leak and begin to let yourself slouch just a couple of inches forward, nothing dramatic, just enough to feel it— the slower the better. Feel for yourself the direction of pull in your body, the front body shortening and the back body lengthening as you slouch ever so slightly and slowly. Now instead of ‘correcting the posture’ with a single muscle or imposing angle, begin to simply inflate your posture from the inside out. Take at least 3 natural inhales and exhales to slowly inflate your entire body, as if you were a Thanksgiving Day Parade Yoga balloon floating along main street in ‘Tadasana’. Don’t inflate into a back bend, just inflate into Tadasana. Notice how intuitive it is to correct this posture when you take time to feel from within— recall the hesitation from Robert Frost’s poem— if we just take time to feel from within while we practice, there may be hundreds of re-alignments that can come to us effortlessly, just like this one. Notice any sense of evenness, balance, and/ or spaciousness that has emerged through this exercise.
Exercise Part Two, Inflating into Back Bend:
From this balanced tadasana, let the action of the whole front line lifting and the entire backline anchoring extend the whole body into a gentle, evenback bend, almost like a slight smile, barely perceptible from the outside, but easy to feel from the inside. You will know you have arrived when you can feel an upward tone through the front body and a quiet density of the back space. Be in that space for a breath or two, and then deflate your way back to tadasana with a few more breaths. Once again, notice how intuitive this process is when you slow down and feel while you move— no mirror needed, just the reflective gaze of your own awareness.
Reflecting on the Exercise:
Notice the effortlessness of your tadasana— do you feel yourself standing with both ease and strength? Are you taller, but not because you’re reaching, but because your body’s internal tone is buoyant and awakened? We will start our experience of back bending by taking this same path into our most foundational back bending asanas, Bhujangasana and Shalabhasana. The goal is to let awareness be the guide, to let our path take us up intuitively by cultivating awareness with every breath. This may mean that your postures are not as dramatic, or deep, as you are accustomed to, and we hope after this discussion that you can see why that might be the ‘path less travelled’ yet also the ‘path most needed’ by our body, breath and spirit.
11. The Path of Fullness:
We can end this introduction to back bends in the same way that many of the pujas in the yogic tradition conclude. A puja is a ceremony of offerings, mantras and meditation on a certain aspect of the divine, such as Saraswati or Ganesh. The practice helps us cultivate our awareness in a joyful and abundant fashion, waving lights and incense, as well as fresh fruit and a peacock feather fan, for example. By offering this fullness to the divine, we ourselves become filled with that same abundance. Yet another upward spiral effect in the yogic tradition. Each puja concludes with a unique mantra about fullness. We are told that everything is full, and that fullness arises from fullness, and even when fullness is taken from fullness, fullness remains. One way to interpret this teaching, especially in the context of back bending, is that when we move from fullness in our back bends we are guided towards a more fulfilling experience. The inner awareness we bring to a posture determines the awareness we receive from it— and that there is always an infinite amount of fullness available to us when we are willing to look inside to find it.
This intuitive and inside-out approach may not result in dramatic external postures, but it leads us towards an ultimately fulfilling experience for our body, breath, and spirit. Over time, the path of fullness lies in embracing awareness and surrender, allowing us to tap into the infinite abundance available within us. By walking this path of elevation and fullness, we becomes full ourselves, as the puja ceremony concludes: "OM pürna-madah purna-midam purnat pürnam-udacyate | pürnasya purna-ma-daya pürna-mevava sisyate OM. That is full. This is full. Being full, fullness arises. Having taken fullness from fullness, fullness alone remains.”
Summary & Reflection:
As we explore the path less traveled in the realm of back bending, we see that the path itself is not as important as our own awareness. The vertical path of Back bends offer a means of restoration and balance, inviting us to slow down, feel the postures' effects, and make mindful decisions. Elevating our awareness during back bends becomes transformative, leading to an uplifted state of being by embracing the intuitive nature of these poses, enhancing alignment and offering a journey toward movement freedom.
How do meditation and surrender play a role in your practice? How can slowing down and truly feeling a posture's effects enhance your experience and understanding of it? How does shifting your focus from external endpoints to the uplifting sensation within the pose transform your experience?
7B. Anatomy in Motion: The Superficial Front Line Team
1. Emphasis of Muscles Teams in this Training: Up until this moment we have looked at the deep front line, the deep core of musculature that buoyantly floats you through your hip postures and beyond. We also looked at the back line of the body, slow twitch endurance muscles that lengthen together through fluid forward folds. Now we will look at the front line of our body in our exploration of back bends, as the postures of back bending will be key in repatterining an upward lift in this team through elevated eccentric work.
2. Front and Back Line Working Together: The musculature of our front body that is toned through the work of back bending run parallel to our back line, but are very different in their genetic inheritance. These muscles cover the vital organs and viscera of our front body, and have a fast twitch capacity to protect these sensitive areas from the belly slap of a sibling perhaps, or more primitive concerns that might have actually been a matter of survival. As Tom Meyers writes, “The need to create sudden and strong flexion movements at the various joints requires that the muscular portion of the SFL contain a higher proportion of fast-twitch muscle fibers.” This means that the fast twitch front line is very different than slow twitch back line. This allows the front line to respond to quickly to mechanical needs when moving through our life, making the small but necessary adjustments needed in our posture in our daily life. This is primarily why Tom Meyers goes on to say that “The overall postural function of the Front Line is to balance the Superficial Back Line.”
3. Eccentric Tone:
The Front line accomplishes this task specifically through its eccentric tone, its ability to not only contract but to lengthen as it maintains that strength of contraction. Back bending provides us with a golden opportunity to tone the front line of our body in this most optimal condition, eccentrically. This means that when we bend back, our front line contracts, which means contracts and strengthens, while it simultaneously lengthens and stretches. This upward eccentric contraction is exactly the direction of pull we want to instill in the front line of our body, a single moment that not only strengthens the muscles of the front line but also trains them to lift us in the right direction.
4. Front Line Anatomy: Let’s take a look at each muscle of the team to feel its work, so that we can more naturally incorporate it into a full body experience.
5. Toe Extensors & Tibialis Anterior:
Starting at the feet, we see the front line expressed by the short and long toe extensors as well as the powerful Tibialis Anterior. To find the Tibialis Anterior, flex your foot and feel for the bulky muscle on the distal (away from center) portion of the shin. This powerful muscle runs down the shin and crosses the ankle, inserting on the medial cuneiform and base of the first metatarsal (the inner half of the foot and base of the big toe bone) You can probably see the tendon of this muscle when you flex your foot as it runs diagonally across the top/front of the ankle. Every step you take requires an uplifting effort from this muscle, as well as the toe extensors, in order to lift your foot to clear the ground and take a step into the present.
6. To Tuck or not to tuck, the toes:
When we tuck our toes in Ustrasana or Anjaneyasana, for example, we are ‘priming the pump’ so to speak in getting these front line muscles engaged. Unfortunately, though, this can often overlook the necessity of getting out deep core online first, which is best accomplished with flattened feet when in a kneeling position. For this reason it is recommended to start any kneeling posture with feet flat, then add a tucking of the toes later to fire up the front line. It should be noted, though, that tucking the toes can be challenging due to a tight posterior chain, specifically in the calves and plantar fascia. This means that what might help one student could be structurally challenging or not possible for another— so offering the tucking of the toes as a modification, and not as a requirement, is recommended.
7. Quadriceps: The lower leg and upper leg work synergistically in every step you take, not only to pull the leg forward for a step, but even to propel that leg forward for a kick or lunge. This is why the path of fast twitch muscles in our front body take us from the Tibialis Anterior to the Quadriceps. The Quadriceps are a group of four (quad) muscles that serve to flex the hip, lifting the leg in towards the body, as well as extending the lower leg, like when kicking a ball. The quadriceps themselves consist of three Vastus muscles, spanning the inner thigh, mid thigh and outer thigh, as well as the Rectus Femoris, which sits atop them. The Vastus muscles originate on the femur itself, under the hip socket, and inserts as a flattened tendon into the quadriceps femoris tendon, which itself inserts into the upper border of the patella (knee cap).
vastus intermedius, the vastus lateralis, and the vastus medialis do not cross the hip, which means that they only serve to extend the knee, but the rectus femoris muscle, our fourth member of the quadricep team, does cross the hip, which makes it a two joint player.
The rectus femoris muscle originates above the hip socket, at the anterior inferior iliac spine and supra-acetabular groove, and inserts down with the rest of the vastus muscles at the knee cap— this means that the rectus femoris can both extend the knee as well as flex the hip. Take a moment to gently kick an imaginary soccer ball and feel that the flexion of the quadriceps both extends your lower leg as well as flexes your hip simultaneously. In our backbends, we work with this muscle eccentrically, which looks like the pulling back of the foot before you kick that ball. This action plays out for us in the back leg in the back bend Anjaneyasana. As you set up the posture it can be helpful to take a smaller stance than usual, find a neutral pelvis and then actually mimic kicking down into the earth with the back leg to activate the superficial front line as you slowly extend knee, hip, and spine with ‘the fullness of your awareness’, little by little as, generating eccentric tone across the front line of the body.
8. Looking closer at a Neutral Pelvis:
Because of our sedentary culture, the muscles of our front line, and especially the hip flexors, are in flexion most of our day, which means that they are literally stuck in a shortened state of contraction. This means that when we stand up from our seat, these muscles may not lengthen out with us— but rather they keep pulling down, keep contracting, drawing the front of our pelvis down and forward in an anterior (front) tilt. An anterior tilt in the pelvis creates a downward spiral effect, lengthening the rectus abdominus, shortening the quadriceps and hip flexors, reversing the pull of our erectors, and compressing our Inter-Vertebral discs. If you add a back bend to this compromised foundation you may have the ‘pinching’ sensation that many students experience in a yoga class all too commonly. To avoid this we must take time to neutralize the pelvis, which means we need to understand what ‘neutral’ means, what it looks like, feels like, as well as how to cue it.
Spilling the Pelvis:
We have all heard the cue not to ‘spill the pelvis forward’, which is a way of teaching a student how to avoid anterior pelvic tilt. This can be confusing, though, as the pelvis itself does sit at a slight forward angle over the femurs— so a slight degree of anterior tilt is actually not only natural but essential. For example, if your hips were actually a bowl, then you could say that healthy hips would still be ‘spilling forward’ a few degrees in their natural alignment. The current “norms” are between approximately 4 and 7 degrees of anterior rotation in males; 7 and 10 degrees in females. But once your hips begin to tilt past those averages, the aforesaid symptoms begin to develop.
Cueing a neutral pelvis:
For these reasons, and more to come, we must take time to find a neutral pelvic position that naturally incorporates a slight degree of forward tilt, but not a dysfunctional amount. This can be hard to cue in a word, as the term “Neutral” seems to imply a pelvic bowl that doesn’t tilt at all. The most important thing is that you know what a neutral pelvis feels like, and that you can cue that exploration and sensation to your students. We will take time to explore this concept on our back in the setup to Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge pose), as this is a great place to work with pelvic tilts and feel for ‘neutral’ or ‘natural’. Because no matter what you call it, back bending begins by establishing a supported pelvis, and we find that this indeed takes focus, effort and experimentation. From there, we must also begin to pay closer and closer attention to the first few degrees of work as we extend ourselves back because back bending, more than any other family, finds its work quickly— meaning you don’t have to go far to get the benefits, and if you go quickly, you’ll almost surely miss them.
9. Rectus Abdominus:
To support a neutral pelvis, we can walk up our front line to the Rectus Abdominus. The fast twitch musculature of our front line can be seen instantly as our stomachs contract to protect the sensitive organs of digestion and elimination from the playful smack to the belly by an older sibling walking by us. This ‘six pack’ muscle originates at the xyphoid process (the downward pointy protrusion at the bottom of the great bone) and inserts at the pubic symphysis (the front/middle aspect of the pelvis just below the belt line), creating a mid-section “shield” when activated. The natural direction of pull of our Rectus Abdominus is up, as can be felt in Tadasana when the front of the pelvis (the pubic symphysis) lifts as it engages. When there is lack of proper tone in the Rectus, though, the front of the pelvis drops down, further adding to the excessive anterior tilt of a forgotten pelvis.
Ironically doing too many crunches can also have the reverse affect on the rectus abdominus, instead of lifting the pelvis, it can actually pull down on the ribcage, creating a hunched posture. To avoid this outcome, avoid crunching the body up to meet the knees in a sit up, instead try keeping the pelvis neutral and floating your shins up to level with the floor— from this neutral position, lower one foot at a time and keep the pelvis intact, in this way your ab work can help you maintain length across the front of your body. (Full exercise in detail “Deep Core Toe Taps” at the beginning of the Fluid Forward Folds Movement section) One of the beautiful aspects of backbending is that it promotes eccentric engagement of the Rectus Abdominus, lengthening this key muscle while simultaneously toning and contracting it, which serves to restore the muscle’s natural upward lift of the front of the pelvis, as well as generate space in the vertebral discs on its opposite side.
10. Psufferin’ Psoas:
We looked at the role of the rectus abdominus and quadriceps in the maintenance of a neutral pelvis, but there is one other major player in our hip health that needs the fullness of our awareness when back bending, the psoas. The Psoas muscle is not only our primary muscle of walking and locomotion, it is also intimately connected, through the diaphragm, to the rhythm of our breathing. This amazing muscle originates at the last thoracic vertebrae (T-12), all the way down to bottom of our lumbar, (L-4). This origin point is on the front of the vertabrae, facing forward, and from here it angles down and across the front and inside of the pelvis, where it unites with the illiacus muscle and then passes over the psoas bursa, a cartilaginous pad that allows it to slide over the bony surface of the ilium. The psoas finally inserts a the lesser trochanter of the femur head (the inner uppermost aspect of the head of your thigh). When we sit for long periods of time this muscle can become ‘shortened’ or ‘contracted’, producing a sneaky tightness in the low back that doesn’t seem to resolve with any kind of low-back therapy, making the psoas a tricky muscle with which to work. Often people need to first strengthen this muscle- which is why the eccentric work is so essential as it simultaneously brings length and strength to a muscle. Additionally, long brisk walk may help offer relief from back pain. With each step taken, the psoas undergoes a gentle alternating process of lengthening and shortening, contributing to potential relief from discomfort.
11. Thoraco-lumbar Junction:
When there is not proper upward lift on the front of the body during back bends, the pelvis and lumbar spine spill forward and down as our shoulders move back, creating excessive compression at a specific joint in the spine called the thoracolumbar junction. Hinging at this point between T-12 and L-1 (the top of the lumbar spine and bottom of the rib cage spine), creates what looks like a 90 degree angle in the middle of our back— the lumbar remains fairly vertical, and the rib cage bends perpendicular to it. The cartilaginous discs that lie at this junction, the Inter-Vertebral or IV discs, shield us from this pressure initially, but over time they begin to wear thin and eventually we are left with a pinching sensation at this critical juncture. By using the natural musculature and the fullness of our awareness during backbending, we can actually use these postures to build a haven of muscular support and awareness that will keep our IV discs healthy for a lifetime. This work ensures that even as the natural water content of these cartilaginous discs fade over time, the muscles surrounding them will be toned and capable of supporting the load.
12. Sternocleidomastoid:
Our final stop on the front line is the neck, specifically the Sterno-Cleido Mastoid. This is a particularly important muscle to understand as it is not only a weak and atrophied muscle due to our head forward culture, but also the key muscle to keeping our head in a supportive position while bending back. This is a strong, broad muscle with firm attachment points to our axial skeleton. It originates at the manubrium of the sternum (the upper most aspect of the chest below the connection point of the collar bones), as well as the medial portion of the clavicle (the front portions of the collar bone closest to center). From this wide base and stable base, the SCM angles up behind our ears to insert at the mastoid process on the skull. You can imagine the SCM like the hood on a sweatshirt, running from behind the ears to the top portion of the center of the chest. You can activate the SCM by imagining yourself pulling down slightly on the front edges of a hood, and pressing your head up and back into the back of the imaginary hood.
13. Alleviating Head Forward Posture:
Earlier in this chapter we saw that forward head posture affects nearly 66% of the population, and as you are reading this you may be one of those 66% (self check!). When the head drifts forward of the support of our axial skeleton, the SCM concentrically contracts, which means it shortens as it engages. If you place your head on your forehead, and then press into the hand with the forehead gently, you can feel forward head posture in action. But if you bring your finger tips to the back of your skull, to the occiput, and press gently back towards this point while tucking your chin, you will feel the eccentric phase of the SCM. This is the kind of work that we are practicing during back bends, and why they can be so healthy for your neck.
14. Addressing the Neck in Back Bends:
In numerous back bend postures, the neck often emerges as a potential "weak link" within the chain of movement. This implies that muscles like the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) may tire out before the erector muscles or abdominals. Not only is this OK; it's a wonderful chance to utilize your back bends for both fortifying and elongating your SCM muscle group as a whole!
A typical instruction for the neck during back bends is to "imagine squeezing a grapefruit beneath the chin." While this direction effectively safeguards the neck from falling back and compressing the cervical vertebrae, it unfortunately overlooks the valuable prospect of enhancing the core musculature of the neck during back bends. To address this, it can be beneficial to allocate time during the setup for back bend postures like Anjaneyasana or Ustrasana to practice eccentrically lengthening the SCM. This newfound awareness can then be seamlessly integrated into the posture itself.
An earlier suggestion of visualizing a hooded sweatshirt can serve as an effective teaching tool. Alternatively, consider a technique involving a healthy eccentric lengthening of the SCM by gently lifting your head upward and backward, as if aiming for an imaginary headrest in a car seat. As we explored previously, you can use your fingertips on the occiput (the bony prominence at the back of the skull) to recreate this sensation. Apply gentle pressure to guide your head slightly back and upward into your fingertips. Strangely enough, this sensation should evoke a subtle "double chin" effect, aligning your head more directly over your torso instead of flexing it forward.
This approach to working with the neck during back bends accomplishes two key goals. Not only does it sustain the health of the cervical vertebrae, but it also bolsters the SCM through an eccentric phase, leading to improved overall head positioning in our daily activities.
15. Understanding the Impact of Forward Head Posture:
Let's gain a clearer grasp of the escalating weight and consequences linked to Forward Head Posture by employing the "Grapefruit Test." If you have a grapefruit or a water bottle with a substantial amount of water, grab it. Extend your arm vertically, allowing your wrist to stack so that the object's weight is centered over the supportive structure of your forearm. This mirrors the neutral alignment of our head over our rib cage and spine. Within this alignment, muscles function to maintain head balance without bearing its load. Primarily, these muscles encompass the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and splenius capitis.
Now, consider leaning forward, perhaps to read a text or observe the road ahead. Notice how the object's weight seems to magnify as it tilts forward. This change signifies that the head's weight has shifted from its supported position. Over time, the muscles intended for balance can no longer uphold this additional load. Other muscles, typically engaged in distinct tasks, are enlisted to manage this newfound imbalance. For instance, the levator scapulae and upper segments of the trapezius muscle are often recruited due to their parallel alignment with the previously mentioned SCM and splenius capitis.
However, as these supplementary muscles tire, they become achy. We might massage the neck, providing temporary relief, but the underlying imbalance endures, leading to persistent discomfort. Attempting to lift our heads upward and backward may inadvertently pinch the upper cervical vertebrae. Pulling our shoulders together and downward could trigger tension in the upper back, overloading superficial muscles and bypassing the deeper support necessary.
So, what's the solution? It involves dedicating time during the initial setup of a back bend to ensure that first and foremost, the deep core is the main support system. After the deep core work has been illuminated, then the whole superficial front line, including the SCM can eccentrically lengthen to bring the body into extension. Additionally, it's essential to acknowledge that the weakest link in this chain might indeed be the neck. Respect this reality and permit it to catch up with the rest of your musculature, instead of "pushing through" and perpetuating its weakness.
As the text from the puja attests, fullness arises only from fullness. When we practice from a place of fullness, we naturally receive fullness in return. This approach holds the key to rectifying the impacts of Forward Head Posture and fostering a harmonious balance within our musculature.
Summary & Reflection:
Understanding and engaging the front line team is vital for balanced and healthy body dynamics during back bends. These muscles safeguard internal organs, and back bending provides a unique chance to tone them eccentrically, inducing upward lift. Collaborating with the back line, maintaining neutral pelvis alignment, and addressing forward head posture are essential. By incorporating awareness and eccentric engagement, back bends cultivate strength, flexibility, and harmony throughout the body's front line, promoting overall well-being and alignment.
How does the concept of eccentric contraction in the context of back bending enhance the understanding of the front line team's role? Reflect on the significance of simultaneously contracting and lengthening these muscles and how it contributes to muscular support and balance.
Consider the challenges associated with maintaining a neutral pelvis and addressing forward head posture. How do these issues impact your overall body alignment and musculoskeletal health? Share your strategies for incorporating awareness and corrective actions into your daily routine or yoga practice.
Explore the idea of collaborating with both the front and back line muscles for optimal body function. How can you apply this principle to other aspects of your physical and mental well-being? Reflect on the interplay between strength, flexibility, and harmony in various aspects of your life.
Review Quiz: The Least You need to know about Inflated Back Bends
1. According to the content, what is the significance of the poet's hesitation in Robert Frost's poem "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference"?
a) The poet was uncertain about which road to choose.
b) The poet wanted to follow the obvious path.
c) The poet allowed their intuition to guide them towards a different path.
d) The poet took both paths simultaneously.
Fill in the Blank
2. The Shiva Sutras emphasize that those who possess __________ of awareness become completely elevated, while those who lack awareness are pushed down into ignorance.
Short Answer
3. Explain the significance of cultivating unwavering awareness during the process of bending backward in back bending postures.
Multiple Choice:
4. What is the primary goal of back bending with regards to the front line of the body?
a) Lengthening only
b) Contracting only
c) Eccentric contraction with simultaneous lengthening
d) Isometric contraction
True or False:
5. Back bending can help alleviate the effects of forward head posture on the neck muscles. (True / False)
Fill in the Blank:
6.The musculature of the front body that is toned through back bending run parallel to the ___________.
Short Answer:
7. What is the primary function of the sternocleidomastoid muscle, and why is it important during back bending?
Matching:
8. Match the following muscle groups with their correct actions:
A. Tibialis Anterior 1. Flexes the hip and extends the knee
B. Quadriceps 2. Lifts the foot during walking
C. Rectus Abdominus 3. Eccentrically contracts when you touch the back of the head to your car headrest
D. SCM (Sternocleidomastoid) 4.Supports natural/neutral pelvis
Essay:
9. Explain the concept of eccentric contraction in the context of back bending and its significance for the front line of the body. Provide examples of how eccentric contraction is utilized in specific muscles during back bending postures.
Matching:
10. Match the following actions with their respective effects on the body:
A. Tucking toes in Ustrasana 1. Generates eccentric tone for front line engagement
B. Eccentric contraction in neck muscles 2. Alleviates compression at thoraco-lumbar junction
C. Maintaining natural/neutral pelvis 3. Prepares for toning of front line muscles during back bends
D. Lengthening the psoas muscle 4. Supports healthy head positioning
E. Upward eccentric contraction during back bend 5. Supports spinal health in long-term
Answers
1. c) The poet allowed their intuition to guide them towards a different path.
2. Fullness
3. Maintaining constant mindfulness during back bending is crucial due to the fast-twitch nature of the front body muscles, which can swiftly engage and disengage; a wandering mind could disrupt the eccentric tone, potentially resulting in disc impingement.
4. Eccentric contraction with simultaneous lengthening
5. True
6. The Back Line
7. The sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM) supports head positioning and balance. It is important during back bending to ensure proper head alignment and to prevent excessive forward head posture.
8. A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3,
9. Eccentric contraction involves the simultaneous lengthening and contracting of a muscle. In back bending, this contraction pattern is crucial for the front line muscles as it helps strengthen and tone them while maintaining flexibility. An example is the psoas muscle, which lengthens during back bends while supporting the lumbar spine.
10. A-3, B-4, C-2, E-1