Yoga Backbends
Discover the powerful effects of yoga backbends with step-by-step instructions, sequences, and expert advice to keep your practice pain-free.
Latest in Yoga Backbends
Cow Pose
Bitilasana is an easy, gentle way to warm up the spine before a more vigorous practice.
You Might Be Approaching Counter Poses All Wrong. Here’s Another Way
You know what happens to a paper clip when you bend it back and forth too many times? Stop doing the same thing to your body.
Upward-Facing Dog Pose
Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, a well-known backbend, will challenge you to lift and open your chest.
Bridge Pose
Setu Bandha Sarvangasana can be whatever you need—energizing, rejuvenating, or luxuriously restorative.
Camel Pose
Bump up your energy (and confidence!) by bending back into Camel Pose. Ustrasana counteracts slouching and relieves lower back pain with a generous, heart-opening stretch.
Bow Pose
Bend back into the shape of a bow to feel energetically locked, loaded, and ready to take aim.
7 Gentle Backbends for Beginners (Or Anyone, Really)
Want all the benefits of a big, heart-opening backbend without the big backbend part? These poses bring the same perks with less strain on your shoulders and low back.
Don’t Just Perform Lord of the Dance. Use Props to Practice It With Intention
Check out Sarah Ezrin's author page.
The Secret to a Powerful, Pain-Free Cobra Stretch
Strength is the secret to a safe backbend. Learn how to activate your abs for support in Cobra Pose.
Props to Help You Explore Lord of the Dance With More Flexibility—And Honesty
Natarajasana is a posture you can choose to "perform" or do with curiosity. And the best way to better observe your movements in this pose is by adding props.
Want to Backbend in the Hot Season? Just Add Blocks!
Yes, you can challenge yourself with some heart-opening postures during pitta season. Try these variations of four block-assisted bends.
Iyengar 201: Get Ready for Your Deepest Locust Pose Ever…
Check out Carrie Owerko's author page.
8 Innovative Ways to Use a Bolster to Explore Backbends in Your Body
Every single body has its own unique skeletal structure, ranges of motion, and thus expression of a given pose. Here, discover how a bolster can help you make better sense of backbends in your own body.
6 Steps to Master Bridge Pose
Opens your shoulders and chest in Setu Bandha Sarvangasana.
3 Ways to Modify Bridge Pose
Modify Setu Bandha Sarvangasana if needed to find safe alignment in your body.
3 Poses to Prep for One-Legged Inverted Staff Pose
Open your shoulders, chest, and upper back, and practice rooting down through your forearms and lifting your shoulders away from the floor with these prep poses for Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana.
Challenge Pose: One-Legged Inverted Staff Pose
Root your forearms, lift your shoulders, curl your chest open, and extend through your spine and legs as you move step by step into Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana.
A Safe, Core-Supported Backbending Sequence
Move into backbends more safely, knowing you can consciously engage the muscles needed to protect the lumbar spine.
Amy Ippoliti’s New Way to Wheel: A 6-Step Warm-Up
Amy Ippoliti is masterful at breaking poses down into their individual components, making them accessible and beneficial for all levels and body types. Here, her creative and thorough new pathway to Urdhva Dhanurasana.
Target Tight + Weak Spots: A New Way To Do Bow Pose
Alexandria Crows teaches Bow Pose in her "new, backwards way," to target all the tight and weak places that might be holding you back.