Chapter 9
Week 5: Back Strengthening to Support Healthy Posture
Finding ways to keep your back strong as you age is important. Metaphorically, having a strong back allows us to be in the world with a sense of dignity and elegance. Physically, having a weak back contributes to back pain and a corresponding decreased ability to engage in meaningful activities. In fact, back pain is one of our society’s most common medical problems.110 The practices introduced in this chapter are designed to strengthen your back so you can enjoy healthy posture, decreased pain, and fuller participation in life.
Functional Benefits of the Back-Strengthening Practice
Strengthens weak muscles. Practicing sustained backbends can recondition the muscles of the back body that tend to get weak with disuse.
Enables prolonged activities. Having a strong back can make it more comfortable to sit through a grandchild’s soccer game or the symphony, stargaze, or take a nice stroll through your favorite park.
Counters the tendency to slump. Back-strengthening postures also stretch and lengthen the front of the body, countering the tendency to slump forward and creating more space for the organs of respiration, circulation, and digestion.
As a reminder, you can download audio for week 5’s practice at http://www.newharbinger.com/33643 .
Figure 9.1
Figure 9.2
Setup
Come down onto your hands and knees on a mat or soft carpet. In this table-top position, place your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Feel free to cushion your wrists and/or your knees with a folded towel or other prop.
- Inhale as you lift and extend your breastbone toward the wall in front of you and your tailbone toward the wall behind you (see figure 9.1).
- Exhale as you drop your tailbone down and relax your head toward the ground. Avoid emphasizing the rounding of your upper back as you relax your head and tailbone down—in other words, do not press down with your arms to strongly round your back.
- Inhale and lift your heart forward and your tailbone up and back—so your spine arches in two directions, like a smile.
- Exhale and relax your tailbone and your head down.
- Continue extending and articulating your spine in this way for a few breaths, trying to synchronize your movement with your breath.
- Next, as you exhale and drop your tailbone and head, also move your buttocks as close as they will come to your heels (see figure 9.2). This posture is known as Child’s pose.
- Inhale back to hands and knees, and extend your heart forward and your tailbone behind you.
- Exhale as you drop your tailbone and move your buttocks back toward your heels again into Child’s pose.
- Continue this rhythm for a few breaths.
- Then pause with your buttocks as close to your heels as they will comfortably go, and relax your head toward the ground. If your forehead doesn’t comfortably reach the ground, please give it a place to rest—be sure your head doesn’t just hang. You might stack your palms or fists and rest your forehead on them. Or, if you prefer, rest your forehead on a block or cushion.
- Relax here for several breaths, inviting your breath to nourish your low back, waist, shoulder blades, and neck.
- • If your wrists aren’t able to support the weight of the arms and shoulders, explore coming onto your fists or lowering down onto your forearms.
- • If your knees and/or wrists are sensitive, try placing a pillow or a rolled towel under them.
- • Bring your buttocks back toward your heels only as far as is comfortable.
- • Welcome the simple pleasure of just being.
- • Avoid pressing into the ground with your hands when your head and tailbone are dropped. Pushing your spine into this rounded “Halloween cat” position can place too much force on the vertebrae.
Figure 9.3 Crocodile pose
Setup
Come down to rest on your belly. Bend your elbows and stack your hands to make a little pillow for your head, turning your neck so that your cheek or your ear rests on the back of your hands. If it’s uncomfortable to turn your head in this position, please rest your forehead or chin on the back of your hands (see figure 9.3).
Movement
- Allow your body to relax completely, so your weight releases down into the earth.
- Let your heels turn away from each other.
- Take a few slow, deep breaths.
- Feel your back body expand with the inhalation and relax on the exhalation.
- If you are resting on your cheek or ear, turn your head to the other side for a few breaths.
- • Notice the effects of this gravitational and energetic shift.
- • Completely surrender your body weight into the earth.
- • Be aware of the sensations in your physical body, any waves of emotion, and any thoughts in your thinking mind.
- • If lying on your belly is uncomfortable for your feet or legs, try putting a rolled towel under your ankles.
Figure 9.4 Sphinx pose
Setup
Rest on your belly. Place your elbows under your shoulders and bring your forearms parallel to each other with your palms on the ground.
Movement
- Root the front of your pelvis into the ground.
- Lengthen your legs behind you and press the tops of your feet into the ground (see figure 9.4).
- Draw your shoulders back and down.
- Beginning with your tailbone, invite each vertebrate to extend forward and up.
- Lengthen up through the crown of your head.
- Continue to lengthen back through your legs.
- Root your forearms into the ground as you explore the action of “pulling the ground toward you” isometrically.
- Breathe into your belly and chest for several breaths.
- When you are ready to come out of this backbend, open your elbows out to the sides and pull the ground toward you with your hands to lengthen the spine.
- Rest on the ground for several breaths. Then return to Crocodile pose one more time, if you like.
Remember
- • Feel how and where the breath moves after a backbend.
- • Notice if you feel a sensation of stretching across the front of your torso.
Figure 9.5 Baby Cobra pose
Setup
Rest on your belly with your elbows bent, one hand placed on top of the other as in Crocodile pose. Rest your cheek, chin, or forehead on the back of your stacked hands. Pause here and take several belly-focused breaths.
Movement
- Move your arms down along your sides, palms down. Rest your forehead or chin on the ground.
- Root the front of your pelvis into the ground.
- Extend your legs back and press the tops of your feet into the ground.
- Shrug your shoulders back and down.
- Inhale and lift your head, shoulders, and chest up off the ground (see figure 9.5).
- Exhale and soften a bit so that your body moves slightly back toward the ground.
- Continue with this integration of breath and posture: inhale and lift, exhale and soften.
- Keep energy moving down through your legs.
- Explore remaining in the lifted position while still feeling the rise and fall of the breath.
- On an exhalation, release back to the ground and rest.
- Breathe into your back and notice where your breath moves.
Remember
- • Only lift your head, shoulders, and chest as high as comfortable. Your strength will build over time with practice.
- • Keep the front and back of your neck long, without jutting the chin forward. This means your gaze will likely be down, not forward.
Figure 9.6 Locust pose
Setup
Lie on your belly with your elbows bent and your cheek, chin, or forehead resting on your stacked palms. Pause here and take a few belly-focused breaths.
Movement
- Move your arms down along your sides, palms down. Rest your forehead on the ground.
- Root the front of your pelvis into the ground.
- Extend your legs back and press the tops of your feet into the ground.
- Draw your shoulders back and down.
- Inhale and lift your head, shoulders, chest, arms, and legs away from the ground (see figure 9.6).
- Exhale and soften a bit, so your body moves slightly back toward the ground.
- Continue with this integration of breath and posture: inhale and lift, exhale and soften.
- Balance the amount of energy in the upper body with the amount in the lower body.
- Explore remaining in the lifted position while still feeling the rise and fall of the breath.
- On an exhalation, release back to the ground and rest.
- Breathe into the back and notice where the breath moves.
Remember
- • Only lift your head, shoulders, chest, arms, and legs as high as comfortable. Your strength will build over time with practice.
- • Keep the front and back of the neck long, without jutting the chin forward. This means your gaze will likely be down, not forward.
- • When you finish the posture and rest, keep your attention present with the experience of your body letting go. Pay attention to how this feels.
Figure 9.7 Bridge pose
Setup
Lie on your back with your knees bent. Place your feet flat on the ground and hip-width apart. Rest your arms at your sides, palms down. Tune in to your breath.
Movement
- Inhale and root down with your feet and arms as you lift your hips up off the ground (see figure 9.7).
- Exhale and release your hips back down.
- Continue with this easy lifting and lowering: inhale your hips up and exhale them down. Try to keep your legs parallel—avoid letting your knees “knock” in or splay out.
- For more challenge, stay in the “up” position for a few slow, full breaths.
- When you are done, return your hips to the ground and rest.
- • Be sure your head is properly aligned: your chin should be in line with the little “notch” in your collarbones.
- • Bring your chin slightly lower than your forehead, but don’t flatten your neck. Be sure to keep the natural curve in your neck so that there is a little space behind it.
- • Keep your breath flowing. Avoid holding your breath.
- • Only lift your hips as high as comfortable. Your strength will build over time with practice.
Figure 9.8 Knees-to-Chest pose
Setup
Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the ground, and arms at your sides. If your chin is higher than your forehead, place a folded blanket or towel behind your head so that your chin is at the same level—or slightly below—your forehead. Tune in to your breath.
Movement
- Bring both knees toward your chest as close as is comfortable.
- Hold on to your legs behind your knees or on top of your shins (see figure 9.8).
- Welcome breath into the back of your body—your tailbone, your love handles, behind your heart.
- Linger here for several breaths. You might notice that, as you inhale and fill your body with breath, your thighs move slightly away from your body. As you exhale and release used air, you might hug your thighs in just a little more and feel the sensation of stretch in your low back.
- After 3 to 5 breaths, or when you are ready, return the soles of the feet to the ground with your knees bent.
Remember
- • If it feels like a strain to hold your legs with your hands, use a strap over your shins or behind your thighs to keep your thighs close to your belly. If this still feels stressful, let your arms rest at your sides. You can also hug one leg at a time if that is more comfortable. If you have knee arthritis, it may be more comfortable to hold behind your thighs instead of holding your shins.
- • Feel free to widen your thighs to make room for your belly, if you like.
- • Notice how the waves of breath and the waves of sensation come into relationship.
- • Discover the various responses—physical, emotional, mental, energetic—to the posture.