Arm Balance or Backbends – Banjaara Rubber Yoga Mat

Recently I participated in an arm balance workshop; it was terrific!  I’m a massive fan of balancing on my arms upside down or otherwise it doesn’t matter; I find them fun, actually inverting is by far my favourite. Anyway, the teacher made a note of those who enjoy arm balances generally speaking dislike back bending, this was a comment that really resonated with me.  I’ve never really enjoyed backbends, postures like Ustrasana (Camel Pose) have made me feel almost claustrophobic. Give me a handstand or a side crow any day!

This really got me thinking, so I found a backbend workshop at a studio not too far from my home, picked up my rubber yoga mat and off I went.  After the 75 min warms up, we began to get into stronger backbends, and by the end of the 3-hour workshop, I started to enjoy myself.  For me, I think the issue is that in a general class, there’s not sufficient time to warm up properly. Let’s face it during a 1-hour yoga class (likely to be gym style); you’re probably not going to enjoy a strong backbend unless this is what your body naturally enjoys doing.

The lesson learned for me is, we all favour a posture group over another for various reasons.  My back isn’t as flexy as some and needs a lot of nurture to want to work its way into postures that it isn’t used to doing on a daily basis, well at least not since I was a child.