Every yogi will tell you that they have a certain pose/type of pose they love to hate. Mine are backbends…upward facing bow (urdhva danurasana*), bow pose (danurasana*) and cobra (bhujangasana*) to be exact. When I first started practicing backbends (and struggled), I thought - wow my back isn't flexible at all!!! So I kept doing the poses over and over again to gain more flexibility in my back. It wasn't until later that I realized that the reason I found them so unbelievably tough was because I have tight quads and very,
very tight shoulder/chest muscles. (Read: Sits at a computer all day, every day.)
So now that I have figured out the root cause (well causes - plural - in this case), I am able to work at improving flexibility in those areas in hopes that the amount of dread reduces when a teacher takes us into a backbend. Oh yeah, this in theory should result in less injuries…minor detail ;)
Just sayin'.
Happy weekend!
*I love the sanskrit names for the yoga postures…that's why I include them. This is my attempt to educate new/aspiring yogis…take it or leave it! :)