Pose of the month: Ustrasana

January tends to be dark and cold and well, wintery (unless you live in Los Angeles where it is sunny and 70 right now) and one great way to lift yourself out of the winter blues is to do some back-bending.  I like Ustrasana in the winter time because it is a heat building back-bend asking your body to be strong and flexible at the same time.

Before you move into the pose it is important to warm up your body- do some Sun Salutations to get the body moving.

We'll start with the foundation and then work our way up:
your knees, shins and tops of the feet- you want your knees hip distance apart, the shins to be parallel and the tops of the feet to point straight back so you are steady and stable.

Moving up to the hips- keep your hips over your knees (you may feel like you want to lean back so you can reach heels but your hands will come to the heels when they are ready to, no need to force anything).

To make some space in your lower back release your inner thighs back toward your toes (this is a very subtle movement but will allow your glutes to release a little so there is no clenching) and release your tailbone down.

Rather than just moving back- think of moving up and back- lift and lengthen through all four sides of your torso so that when you begin to move the chest back your spine is still long and you have room to breathe with no pain or pinching in the lower back.  I like to imagine a big beach ball resting on my calves that I am trying to move up and over.

Release the  heads of the shoulders back and move your shoulder blades and thoracic spine (the part of your spine between your shoulder blades) into your body, towards your chest.  Start by resting your hands on your lower back to remind the lower back to lengthen and spread and as the back-bend deeps over time bring your hands to you heels.  If it bothers your neck to look back (keep the back of the neck long to avoid 'crunching' the back of your neck) you can tuck your chin to your chest.

When you are done take a nice long child's pose and a gentle twist to release your lower back.

Happy Back Bending!