Is bad shoulder blade alignment doing your back in?!

I've had such a bad back over the past 4 weeks, at the joint between the lumbar and thoracic vertebrae. Even resting from loads of deep kapo and hanging back hasn't really helped, which I thought was a bit weird...  So I've been a bit standoffish when it's come to back work recently. 

Today I had one of those 'I can't be bothered to practice' days but dragged myself onto the mat as soon as I got home. I'm so glad I did. I decided when I got to end of standing I'd do second and went straight into it. I've only been practicing second a couple of times a week recently. Despite the recent lower back pain kapo was relatively easy and keeping the knees pressing down and thighs completely engaged was working to get me deep very quickly. Where was the pain? What was I doing differently? I scanned my body and it was the shoulder blades....they were pulling right down my back and close into the spine..everything felt perfectly aligned. I was engaging something that I had never engaged before. So I got up and re-created the feeling in urdhva dhanurasana and again, felt completely stable. 

Now, whilst I can drop back, I confess I normally do the 'Lino' style taking my hands down the legs then letting go and rotating them inwardly to land. It feels safe! I've always had a feel of not being able to open the thoracic spine enough and when I go back with hands in prayer I feel terrified and somewhat claustrophobic, like everything around the chest is closing in. (Image from ihanayoga.com.au)

Plus, the hands in prayer position looks so much nicer doesn't it?! 

So I raised my arms towards the ceiling, palms facing forward thumbs touching overhead, looking up and drawing the shoulder blades down the back and sucking them towards the spine, I placed my palms together and drew them into the heart centre, with engaged thighs I arched back and without any problems dropped back! So what has been the problem? I was so worried I'd drop onto my head my shoulders were somewhere round my ears and the shoulder girdle lifted, closing the heart area at the front of the body.

Kapo has also been awful because my right shoulder goes back effortlessly but my left just doesn't want to engage in any way at all, which means when being adjusted, normally with the right first, I get the right heel then my left arm/shoulder just won't rotate properly which puts me into a panic that I'm gonna put the joint out...and I fail miserably! It's as if without correct engagement of the back muscles, the front won't open. 

So the muscles of the shoulder girdle, the trapezius and the deltoids are contracted to keep the shoulder blades in the correct position whilst entering the postures, then once you're in the back bend, release these by engaging their antagonists, the pectoralis and the latissimus dorsi. The erector spinae and quadratus lumborum also need releasing by engaging the abdominals, especially rectus abdominis. It's important to release the erector spinae once in the back bend as their contraction will pinch the spinus processes of the vertebrae together which will prevent any further movement in the bend. 

So there you go. Some tips on working on urdhva, kapo and dropping back with hands in prayer. Hopefully now my left shoulder will build up strength correctly and over time will balance out with the right... :) Hallejulah!

Backbending and the shoulder blade bandha revisited - 15 steps

I just read a really interesting piece in Gregor Maehle's book Ashtanga Yoga Practice and Philosophy about back bending. The main tenet of the piece was about what needs to be done once you have lifted into backbend.

The main thing seems to be releasing the tension on the muscles that got you into the posture and then to engage their antagonists. So around the shoulder girdle you release trapezius and deltoideous and instead engage pectoralis major (in the chest) and latissimus dorsi (down the sides of the back as if you are pulling your shoulder blades down your back).

Along the trunk you engage the abdominals, especially rectus abdomens and at a the hips release gluteus maximus by engaging psoas (in the front of the hips) and in the legs releasing the hamstring by engaging the quadriceps.

We want to make sure that we are not pinching the spinous processes of the vertebrae, so we need to lengthen the spine and back. This action is therefore performed by engaging the psoas, rectus abdomens and pectoralis major, all in the front of the torso.

We need to be protective of the lower, lumbar region of the spin as it is the softest region.

Tips to achieve a deep backbend:

1: Maintain the support of the muscles that got you into the posture then engage their antagonists.
2. Make a swiping movement with your hands towards the end of the mat (one by one I guess!) This action brings the sternum towards the wrists or beyond.
3.Walk your hands in towards your feet.
4. Engage the quadriceps as if you want to flex the hip joint. They cannot flex so they will instead work to straighten the legs.
5. Bring the hands closer to the feet (more space should have been made by the flexion of the hips)
6. Come up onto your tip-toes and lift your chest high above the shoulders. Bring your heels back down.
7. Engage your rectus abdominus and thrust your entire torso up to the ceiling. Engaging the Abs draws the spinous processes of the vertebrae apart, creating length and space within your back.
8. Ensure that your armpits, thighs and knees have a slight inward rotation.
9. Drishti is always to the nose (especially when dropping back).
10. Feel how the exhalations open the rib cage and the front of the body.
11. Drop the crown of the head and lengthen the neck.
12. Engage the latissimus dorsi to extend the arms, this will draw the shoulder blades down the back, opening the heart.
13. To stay open behind the heart, release the rhomboids and engage serratus anterior. This muscle sets the shoulder blades wide whenever weight is borne into the hands, also a key muscle in downward dog and arm balances.
14. So in all of these postures the shoulder blades need to be depressed (lats) and abducted (serratus anterior).
15. Beware of the inward rotate of the humorous (arm bone) as the inwards rotation lets the armpits flare out to the sides, an action that allows the shoulders to move up to the ears which ultimately decreases the backbend. This action needs to be counteracted by infraspinatus.

Unfortunately GM's description fails to describe how to engage the infrapinatus! If anyone knows, please feel free to advise. :)

Shoulder blade bandha?!!

Along with finding my sitting bones this week I have found the wonder which I call the "shoulder-blade bandha"!!

Now, I don't know whether this is actually a bandha, but, the impact on my posture by engaging this bandha has been incredible!

Ever feel like your arms are just floating in warrior II? Squeeze shoulder blades together, it opens your heart and you feel the benefit!!! Ever had your teacher come behind you whilst in upward dog and roll your shoulders back? Answer: Squeeze the shoulder blades - engage SB bandha! How a simple engagement can transform certain postures never ceases to amaze me. Forward bends, especially the Marichi sequence - engage the SB bandha. It opens the heart completely, "turning on the lights of the posture", as RF likes to remind us.

Talking of Richard Freeman, I see he is starting an interactive pranayama course. It's quite reasonably priced also, I might sign up, although it's at 2:30 am GMT, so I'd have to watch the recordings, but think it would be really helpful given this year in the BWY course, we have to do a pranayama diary. AND I've felt my breath being quite shallow recently, so anything that can build my breath to access the full range of it would be so helpful.