Here are your 5 backbends to improve posture. These poses increase in difficulty as you work your way through them and achieve slightly different objectives. All 5 postures put the spine into extension, which is the reverse of the position that we spend most of out time in, especially if we ride a bicycle and/or sit at a desk. They also open up the chest and the fronts of the shoulders—muscles that become tight when we round our backs and bring our arms out in front of us. Bridge, Upward Facing Dog and Flying Locust also stretch the abs and hip flexors, which is also crucial when we’re looking to improve posture as these muscles are also chronically flexed. You’ll find full video tutorials for each of the poses in the Pose Library.
5 BACKBENDS TO IMPROVE POSTURE
If you’re suffering with poor posture, practice 1-5 of these poses every couple of days. You can hold each of them for 3-5 breaths and repeat 2-3 times. I have written more extensively about practicing backbends safely in this article. The important thing to remember is that we want to try to even out the curve along the whole spine. This means focusing our backbend in the mid back (behind the rib cage) and being careful not to over-extend at the lower back and behind the neck. Only move onto the next pose when you’ve fully mastered the one before. Flying Locust and Fish are fairly advanced and require excellent shoulder mobility.
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