Find Strength in Forward Folds
“As we increasingly live as our original self, we are periodically asked to depart from the known and to find rest in the unknown. It asks us to befriend our ultimate aloneness and to find safety in our own presence. In that stark simplicity, there is a profound fullness that is not of this world. The ego quiets down and becomes in service to the organic mystery of your own evolution.”
— Bethany Webster
In classes, we've been working with tales of Hanuman. This has included leaps into handstand, being in service to your breath, staying connected to your core, and turning inward with forward bends.
The forward bend practices have created quite a stir. There has been softening of tension in neck and shoulders, opening in upper back, and much-needed nourishing of the nervous system. These are the signs of forward bends done well. Signs that you’re tapped into the healing power of the backbody.
Let’s talk about what “backbody” means and what forward bends have to offer.
First and foremost, forward bends are tricky for modern yogis. Why? because we've become desk-dwelling humans. Leading to rounded spines and weak posterior chains. When I first started yoga forward bends looked “nice”. Innocent and approachable. But when practiced, they’d make my eyes water just sitting upright (because I couldn't even think about leaning in).
Done well, forward bends ask for strength and integrity in your legs plus activation of your abdominals. More specifically, the Transverse Abdominis. I call this engagement the “corset of the core” to open the posterior chain.
And what’s the posterior chain? It's the webbing on the back side of the body. It has several names - posterior chain, superficial back line. The yogis simply called it the "backbody" or the "west side". These terms are pointing at connection, rather than separate muscles, to illustrate the exquisite orchestration of tissue on the backside of your body.
Yoga postures and alignment don’t make sense without an anatomical model of connection (like fascia, anatomy trains, etc). You need language and concepts that explore the body as a web, rather than a machine. There needs to be recognition that if you pull on something, you influence everything. A remembrance that you are born WHOLE and COMPLETE, not missing a single thing! And you grow from innate intelligence residing in every cell of your body.
Yoga describes the frontbody as the seen, the known, the I-ness. The backbody is the unseen, the unknown, the great mystery of oneness. When forwards bends are done with strength and integrity, you tap into the back body. You feel the current of connection. You sense wholeness. It's wonderous.
There is a Led Practice for Forward Bend Skill Building in the Member Virtual Library.
If talk of connective tissue lights you up and you want to know more of how this blends beautifully with yoga asana, we spend a whole module on connective tissue in Inner Sanctuary. Registration for the Fall Course is open. Click here to Apply.
May your practice bring an experience of wholeness,
Alison
