What is the root cause?

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! :)