Yoga Backbends

Bitilasana is an easy, gentle way to warm up the spine before a more vigorous practice.

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.

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, a well-known backbend, will challenge you to lift and open your chest.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana can be whatever you need—energizing, rejuvenating, or luxuriously restorative.

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.

Bend back into the shape of a bow to feel energetically locked, loaded, and ready to take aim.

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.

Strength is the secret to a safe backbend. Learn how to activate your abs for support in Cobra Pose.

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.

Yes, you can challenge yourself with some heart-opening postures during pitta season. Try these variations of four block-assisted bends.

Check out Carrie Owerko's author page.

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.

Opens your shoulders and chest in Setu Bandha Sarvangasana.

Modify Setu Bandha Sarvangasana if needed to find safe alignment in your body.

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.

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.

Move into backbends more safely, knowing you can consciously engage the muscles needed to protect the lumbar spine.

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.

Alexandria Crows teaches Bow Pose in her "new, backwards way," to target all the tight and weak places that might be holding you back.