Nurturing our health and fitness is more important now than ever before as the build up of stress and overwhelm in our daily lives takes its toll on our bodies and mind which can lead to higher rates of toxicity, inflammation, illusive sleep patterns, exhaustion, chronic symptoms and more. We spoke with Yoga Instructor and Psychologist Dr Fyona Flinn on finding a new approach to manage our wellness by incorporating stress relieving activities and mindfulness to help bring us back into balance and Yoga is one of the best ways to do this. The practice of Yoga allows us an opportunity to reconnect with ourselves, detoxify our bodies, strengthen our spine, ultimately enriching the relationship we have with ourselves
and leave us feeling restored and recharged.
This series of Yoga postures can easily be done in the comfort of your own home, just grab your mat or a towel and create a zen like space either in your garden or one of the rooms in your house and follow her guidance below.

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Yoga Instructor Fyona Flinn: 

Backward bends can initially be very overwhelming, most of us are not used to moving our spines in this way, indeed most of us spend a lot of time with our spines rounded forward. Think of all the time you spend sitting at a desk, typing on a computer, driving a car, even texting on a phone. Compressing the spine in a backward bend is one of the best ways to counteract this and build a healthy, strong spine. Healthy spine, healthy life you might say. 

While these postures strengthen the back of the body, they also open up the front, especially the heart chakra.  Our heart chakra is associated with our sense of well-being and ability to connect with others on a heart level. These postures affect our emotions and are often quite releasing postures, helping us to let go of any blockages we may be dealing with. Letting the head drop back overcomes fear and stretching the neck opens up into the throat chakra, encouraging you to speak your truth.

Backward bends are also very cardiovascular postures, heart and lungs are working hard together.  By opening up our chest we create more space for our lungs, sending more oxygen through our blood while also releasing stale air and toxins from the lungs.
 

What are the most important tips for backward bending?
Don’t “crunch” into your lower spine, most of us have a natural curve in our lower spine so the tendency is to load into the lower spine. Be mindful to feel your whole spine backward bending - lower, middle and upper. On your inhale think lift your chest up toward the sky, exhale move deeper into the backward bend.  Never go to a point of pain, discomfort yes but not pain.  Don’t hold tension in the neck, let the head go completely. Engage your legs for a strong foundation and always push hips forward as the counter action to your upper body bending backwards.
Use your eye gaze to go deeper.

Where are women most likely to store stress or tension in the body?
Often women store stress or tension in the hips, which then tend to be very tight and can cause lower back pain. Again by regularly practicing backward bends you start to stretch into tight hip flexors and strengthen into the lower spine.

Why do I find backward bends so difficult / overwhelming?
There are many different reactions to backward bends, physical and emotional. It’s very normal to feel nauseous, lightheaded or emotional after a backward bend. Part of it is because, as mentioned, we are not used to bending our spine in this way and it can feel unnatural and scary initially. Start by dropping the head back completely and build from there.

Because it is a cardiovascular posture, breathing can feel difficult and that can lead to dizziness or feeling lightheaded. If you’re struggling to breathe, begin with a deep inhale and then focus on taking small sips of air in and out, never hold the breath in the posture. Also as mentioned above, backward bending is a very releasing set of postures as we open up the whole front side of the body, this can make us feel vulnerable and overwhelmed and by working into the heart and throat chakras it can make us feel emotional. All reactions to a backward bend are normal!
Once we reflect on what we experience it often helps us discover new things about ourselves.