Nailing for back bend.
Vibhaga is a dance for our bodies.
We invite small core muscles to come into play,
Releasing big ones,
Finding space and better articulation at the joints.
Kneeling up allows the hips to extend with the spine.
Use the purchase of the knees to widen the hips,
And become aware of the tailbone extending to the ground.
Then,
On an in-breath,
Allow it to lengthen away backwards as the spine moves up,
Especially at the front.
If you place your hands behind your back,
Together near your spine,
Preferably in prayer position,
It helps to focus attention,
Moving into the space and involving all the vertebrae.
As you exhale,
Imagine breathing down from the back of the lungs as the tailbone slides forward.
Gravity is pulling the lower half of your body down like sand in an hourglass.
Then,
With the in-breath,
A rebound enables uplifting growth into the sky to gradually lighten the upper body,
Not bending but still going up.
Feel the space in your back and neck as your spine extends.
On an out-breath,
Allow your arms to float up to shoulder height,
Weightlessly like wings.
They don't finish at the shoulder,
But go all the way to the spine,
Which still supports their weight.
Again,
On an out-breath,
Let the hands float towards the ceiling,
Taking with them the wrists,
The elbows,
And leaving behind the shoulders.
The rotator cuff muscles are released,
And the bones in the arm seem to move through a sleeve of muscle.
The more vertical they get,
The less you need to use big surface muscles.
If your neck muscles start to tense,
Just move your head,
Possibly backwards,
To release them.
Move your shoulders to release tension there.
Feel as if you are hanging from your hands and all the weight is dropping down.
Tity continues to pull the lower half down,
But with each in-breath,
There is a rebound through the big feet,
Which are your lower legs.
Your upper legs feel strong and solid,
And you can feel the spine extend up between your shoulder blades and take the weight out of the arms and legs as they release away from the shoulders and hips.
The uplift in the upper body increases with each in-breath,
And you feel the spine extend from the tailbone to the top of the head.
With the out-breath,
Let the lower legs feel really far away,
And really make contact with the floor,
Anchoring you down.
Feel really tall with the next in-breath.
The arms encourage the spine upwards,
And you imagine the breath coming up the front of the body to the forehead,
And you are about to dive.
The lower legs anchor you back,
But the feeling is of falling,
Not sitting.
On the next out-breath,
Release and lengthen the spine,
And really feel the contact as you imagine the breath traveling down from the back of your lungs to your knees and toes.
Feel a lightness and uplift coming from the roots going deeply into the ground.
Imagination is important.
It fills the gaps while our awareness is developing.
There's a two-way movement from the ground under your lower legs,
A sense of the sacrum and the lower part of your body going down from the waist,
A sense of the light and wide upper body moving away upwards.
Let go of thoughts and feelings.
Put your body's intelligence in charge.
Find deeper,
More subtle control.
Imagine that on an out-breath,
The tailbone is sinking,
And your back has an outward curve.
On the in-breath,
Imagine your head going forwards and up between wide shoulders while there is a backbend.
As your spine rolls with each breath,
You become aware of a long back and a long neck,
And your spine moves through a wide skeleton.
The more you connect to the ground through your lower legs,
The more your upper spine can release.
You're bringing your spine to life,
Awakening the core while relaxing the outer body,
Letting go of dominant surface muscles.
The depth of this backbend increases with each breath until finally you need to support your back with your hands,
At first with just the thumbs while the fingers are on the stomach,
And then turning your hands around with all your fingers underneath.
Imagine that there's a great big sphere behind you,
But with each in-breath,
You're still diving forwards.
Experience how the pull of gravity helps you,
And stay in touch with how you're breathing.
You can experiment with the toes either tucked under or straight out behind you.
Go as far as you feel comfortable,
And notice the possibility of resting your hands on your heels,
But never be too ambitious.
Less is more.
At the end,
Gently sit back on your heels,
Really gently,
As you're flexing your spine the opposite way.
When your tailbone is as close as possible to your heels,
Then fold forwards.
Child pose is natural here.
As you breathe in,
Notice that the space in your hip joints increases,
And you can take your fingers there to check.
This is a kneeling forward bend.
On the out-breath,
Move into this space,
Folding the chest onto the thighs,
Maintaining a collected feeling as the spine moves through a wide skeleton,
The neck feeling long.
As you fold forwards,
The tailbone slides backwards,
And you may experience a tension in the back of the stomach,
Moving down into the pelvic area and up behind your pubic bone.
The more you're connected to the ground,
The more the upper spine releases.
The head has no ambition to touch the ground.
It's just another vertebra.
You can rest it on your fists,
Placed on top of each other,
Or on your forearms,
Lying on the floor.
Your base is wide and solid,
Either with the knees together or apart,
Supporting a light upper body with a long back.
It's not about keeping your back straight.
It will be more curved if your knees are together.
It's about folding from the center and not sacrificing your feeling of being grounded with your tailbone close to the ground.
Release the shoulders and the hips,
Keeping them wide.
The more you're connected to the ground,
The more the upper spine releases.
