Found yourself looking at yoga backbends thinking “There’s no chance I could do that!”?

Getting stuck and blocked by fear taking over your mind and body, stopping you from progressing in your practice?

Well, if you’re ready to stop feeling afraid and want to explore yoga backbending poses, you’re at the right place.

Read on for a simple (and rational) guide on how to overcome your fears and step into bodily freedom.

In this guide I share the tips I followed to advance in my backbend practice, and now you can too!

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What's in this article

Why do we fear backbends?

Hey, I totally understand you. I’ve been there myself. Fear is a normal human emotion and I struggle with it too sometimes. (no shame in that!)

Backbends are the exact opposite of all movements that our bodies do all day – hunching, closing our chest, and pushing our shoulders forward. They seem a totally unknown, unfamiliar movement to us. The fact that we can’t actually see what’s going on behind us only adds to the daunting feeling.

Sure, you need flexibility and physical strength to do backbends, but if you don’t combat the fear first, you’ll never try, hence you’ll never even improve the flexibility or strength, right?

So let’s get to the bottom of it, and through it together!

Why should you practice backbends?

Backbends are one of the most energizing and exhilarating of the yoga asana groups. In my opinion, they are the poses that create the most openness and freedom in the whole physical body, and beyond!

Most of us, (yes, me included, as I do a lot of editing and writing) spend the day sitting and slouching over a desk, creating a rounded upper back and closed chest area. This is a very poor posture that enforces shallow breathing, associated with reduced energy levels and even negative thinking. And nobody wants bad posture or breathing problems, right?

Then we should control, if not reverse that bad posture, and expand the chest area.
How? Well, you guessed it – by doing backbends.

Once you start doing backbends you’ll start opening your chest. With that, you’ll induce deeper breathing, which in turn enables greater blood oxygenation. Moreover, you’ll reinforce the core muscles of the body, resulting in a healthier heart, and raised metabolism.

By practicing backbends you expose your chest and throat, stimulating the sympathetic nervous system (the “fight or flight” responses) and combating sluggishness and lethargy.

On a more subtle note, but maybe more important are the emotional benefits. That chest opening aspect of backbending is seen to help the body relax, increase its energy levels, and release mood-elevating hormones into the bloodstream. Some studies show that backbends might have almost the same effect as certain antidepressant medications.

Lastly, let me remind you that your back was designed to move in several directions, but as we grow older we tend to forget that. Backbends are a great way to, if not improve, at least maintain your spine’s natural range of motion.

So start using this natural anti-depressant, and as you backbend let go of negative emotions, replacing sadness, fear, and anger, with joy, acceptance, love, and compassion.

How to overcome your fear

We’ve cleared up that backbends are not just a physical challenge, but also an emotional and mental challenge.

As such a challenge, our approach to these heart-opening asanas should be properly adjusted. First of all, let me emphasize that the key to backbend poses is patience, practice, and understanding.

Throughout my personal practice and progress, I’ve learned and discovered quite a few things that I believe you can follow and apply to get your fear out of the way.

Here are my 6 tips to face the fear of backbends and ultimately overcome it:

learn the biomechanics
Fear is an emotion, and to combat an emotion you need mental understanding. So by learning how the movement actually works, you can better deal with the fear.
never skip the warm up
Just like you wouldn’t skip the warm up in the gym, or before doing any other intense/challenging movement, you don’t want to rush into backbends. Preparing the body, and giving it time to warm up is crucial, both to avoid injury and enable your body to go deeper.
start small
You wouldn’t go and climb Mount Everest on your first hike, right? Same with backbends, you want to slowly introduce the movement to your spine and start with simple backends. Think of introducing Sphinx, Cobra, and Cow to your practice, before diving into the more demanding backbend asanas.
use physical support
Backbends are the perfect asanas to use props! Whether it’s a bolster, a yoga wheel, or the wall, using physical support will give you a bit of peace of mind, while still preparing your body for deeper (or simply unsupported) backbends.
work on flexibility AND strength
Once you get into learning and understanding the biomechanics of backbends, you’ll quickly understand why working on both flexibility and strength is important.
keep breathing
People very easily forget to breathe properly, or even hold their breath during backbends or other challenging poses (whoops, it still happens to me sometimes…) That’s why it’s extremely important to emphasize and always keep this in mind!

Last and most important is to remember that every body is unique, and progresses at its own pace. Listen to it, respect its limits, and never push yourself to the point of pain.

Just keep on practicing while following the tips from this blog post, and with time you’ll notice the fear melting away, replaced by a newfound love for backbends.

If you’re interested in learning specifically about these two backbending poses, the Cobra and Upward Facing Dog, then check out my comparison here.

General backbend guidelines

Whether you’re a beginner yogi just starting and testing the waters of backbending asanas, or a seasoned yogi eager for more knowledge about backbends, I suggest you follow some general guidelines. No matter where you are on your backbending journey, or which pose you do, these guidelines apply and will help you bend safely.

shift your thinking
As I mentioned before, when you bend your back, your chest expands, right? So, backbend is somewhat of a misleading name. That’s why in yoga these asanas are more often called heart-openers. Ergo, why not start thinking of backbends as extending your front body, rather than stressing out about bending the back? By simply shifting your thinking, your approach to backbends will be much better and less scary.
no sharp, pinching pain is allowed
Pain in the lower back, or any other part, during or after backbending is a clear sign that a backbend is not evenly distributed. Meaning some parts are working overtime, while others are not engaged enough. In this case, you need to take a few steps back, analyze the pose again, and work on those parts that are not engaged enough.
“arches not angles”
This one is closely related to the previous point. If you distribute your backend well and evenly throughout the whole length of your spine, you will create a beautiful arch. Otherwise, there will be obvious hinges and breakpoints – sharp angles followed by flat lines. Think of ancient buildings – the arched doorways remain standing for many years after the angled walls have fallen into ruin, right? Same with our spine, we always strive to create an arch and not an angle.
slow and controlled
This I practice and teach for any movement, but it is especially important for backends. The spine is a delicate and quite fragile structure, so slow and controlled movement should always be prioritized. Never let yourself simply rely on gravity and quickly drop down. Yes, it is much harder, but also more beneficial, as it builds up strength in all the places that should be supporting your spine. Rushing is not the way if you wish to keep your spine healthy and bendy far into the future.
inside sensation matters more than depth
Sometimes people are tempted to (or maybe unknowingly) sink into the low back, with the idea that they create a deeper arch that way. In reality, this results in too much compression and overextension of the lumbar spine, not allowing the thoracic spine to be mobile and lengthen. So, instead of measuring how deep your backbend is externally, focus on feeling it from the inside. Chase an equal liberating sensation throughout the whole length of the spine, not just one part.

Lastly, the next time you are faced with the fear of backbends, summon strength by referring to all that you’ve learned in this post. Just like what Patanjali says in Yoga Sutra 1.33 “When you are bothered (badhane) by negative thoughts (vitarka), contemplate (bhavana) on the opposite (pratipaksha)”.

How to protect your lower back in backbends

Anatomically our spine is divided into three sections: the cervical spine – neck, the thoracic spine – upper and mid back, and the lumbar spine – low back. The cervical and lumbar spine are very mobile, whereas the thoracic is not as much.

Apart from being very mobile, the lumbar spine has a natural curve towards the belly, making it very vulnerable. We’ve already mentioned several times that people easily overuse their low back and tend to collapse in it (welcome pinching feeling… xD).

Doing backbends this way continuously will only harm and weaken that part of the spine, and may even lead to developing chronic pain.

Because of the lack of passive stability (there’s no ribcage like in the thoracic spine), the lumbar spine counts on the core, hips, and pelvis muscles for stabilization, and they all must work together, simultaneously, to protect it.

So, here are some of my tips, mostly on alignment, that you can follow to protect your lower back in backbend asanas:

tuck the tailbone in
The pelvis is naturally tilted a bit forward (anterior tilt), so to counteract this you should tuck the tailbone in. However, instead of directly squeezing your butt to do it, think more of lifting the lower belly slightly up. This will engage the deeper gluteal muscles, which won’t limit your spine’s movement.
straighten and lengthen the hip flexors
For most backbends to occur, there has to be an extension at the hip joint i.e. hip flexor. Our muscles work in pairs – as one lengthens another contracts. So, when we lengthen the hip flexors, the glutes and pelvic floor contract. This creates support for your lower spine and a shorter path for it to get into the backbend. Moreover, this too helps you with point 1 and brings the pelvis into a posterior tilt.
release the sacrum
When you over squeeze your bum you get a pinching feeling, right? This also happens when you let your knees point out, creating an external rotation in the hip joint, which puts more pressure on the sacrum. To avoid it, and release the very end of your spine, imagine that you’re holding a block between your legs. This will engage your inner thighs, pulling them towards each other, and creating a slight inward rotation instead.
lengthen the spine
Whenever you backbend you want to create length in your spine. Refer to the feeling of decompression you get from dead hangs. Similarly, imagine a pulling force from the crown of your head, which will create enough space between the vertebrae to prevent them from crunching.
lead with the head
This sounds scary and counterintuitive I know. But, I found that leading with the head actually points and creates the curve you’d like your thoracic spine to follow. This certainly doesn’t mean to just throw your head back and create a hinge in your neck. Instead, mindfully keep the healthy positioning and curve in your spine, rather than trying to keep your head up because of fear.
have a proud chest
Imagine a bird proudly puffing its chest. Or maybe a balloon with helium always trying to fly away. Or use any other comparison you’d like, but do use your chest in your backbending. It should always puff up, pulling forward and up. This will activate your chest muscles to give support and release the ribs, leaving space for the thoracic spine to curve.
start with “belly” backbends
Like I said in the beginning, you should slowly introduce backbending into your practice. If you’re a yoga beginner or have little to no bodily awareness yet, I strongly advise starting with so-called “belly” backbends. As the name suggests, these are poses in which you keep the belly grounded as you try and lift the chest, such as Sphinx and Low Cobra. They are gentle, yet perfect to strengthen the spine and teach you how to engage i.e. curve the upper back.
don’t practice only backbends, keep a healthy balance
Did you know that our spine is designed to move in 6 directions – forward, backward, side to side, and twist on both sides? Well, if that’s the case, why should you only focus on doing backbends? Of course, in yoga, we prioritize a healthy range of movement in all directions by practicing forward folds, side bends, and twists. This keeps the spine balanced and happy.

These are short, straight-to-the-fact pointers which in my opinion are logical, easily understandable, and actionable. However, if you’re like me, and have a geeky gene in you, then here’s a great article with a more extensive anatomical explanation of yoga backbends. Or if you really want to dive deep and study each pose separately, then get yourself this book.

Conclusion

Finally, to close off what turned out to be a slightly lengthy post, I’d just like to say that to overcome your fear, ultimately what you need to do, is start practicing. As you practice remind yourself to be patient and take your time. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Always be mindful and start with simpler poses, working on both flexibility and strength. Most importantly note that backbending should not be painful. Some muscle soreness the next day is acceptable, but no sharp pain, numbing, or pins and needles feeling.

Whatever you do, do it mindfully, with the only goal being to keep your spine happy and healthy.

Here’s to backbending without breaking!

Yours,