9 Counterposes for Intense Backbends

Photo: Shannon Lee

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Depending on your relationship to backbends, they can feel transcendent or contortionist. And chances are at various times in your yoga practice, they’ve been both.

Because backbends take you into a shape that’s counter to how you spend most hours in the day, teachers methodically ready your body by taking you through progressively more intense stretches for the shoulders, spine, and hip flexors before they ask you to attempt intense backbends such as Camel Pose and Wheel Pose. If your body isn’t properly prepared, strain and pain can follow.

But what about the poses that come afterward?

Exhausted from holding yourself aloft in Wheel Pose (Urdhva Dhanurasana), you might simply lower onto your back and immediately draw your knees toward your chest. Similarly, you might immediately make your way from Camel (Ustrasana) or Bow Pose (Dhanurasana) into Child’s Pose (Balasana). Some of your teachers likely cue these subtle forward bends, which take the body in the opposite direction as a back bend, as counterposes.

What has become confused and debated in these situations is whether the safest counterpose should literally take the body counter to the direction of the backbend or whether it’s safer to simply find a more neutral position.

The thinking underlying counterposes is to ensure that, following a yoga practice, the body experiences physical and energetic balance. This has long been interpreted and taught as literally countering the shape you just made by taking the body in the opposite direction as the previous pose. But in recent years, an increasing number of yoga teachers who are physical therapists or have taken advanced anatomical studies urge students to take a different approach.

Moving from one extreme to another can cause muscle soreness or spasms as your body adjusts and decompresses. If you’ve ever noticed a slight ache in your lower back when you take a counterpose, that could be the cause. An isolated incident, in most instances, won’t incur lasting damage. But over time, these movements can ultimately lead to chronic strain in the sacral-lumbar area.

In the case of intense backbends, lying on your back and drawing your knees toward your chest lifts your hips and takes your spine into a slight forward bend. The same slight backbend occurs when you fold forward in Child’s Pose. Although there’s nothing wrong with a good knees-to-chest hug or lingering in Child’s Pose, there are other poses you can practice beforehand to allow the spine time to stabilize before taking it in the opposite direction. That allows the tension to release and the muscles and connective tissue and spine to come back to a more neutral position.

The following neutral poses and shapes are the more generally accepted options for when you come out of a backbend. And as you practice them, you can continue to practice the core tenets of yoga: Remain aware of your body’s needs in that moment, drop any attachments, be where you are, and breathe.

Try any of them following a deep backbend such as Wheel, Camel, or Bow. You can also string several together as a sequence for your cool down.

Slowly come onto your back. Bend your knees and place your feet on the mat a little wider than your hips. Stay here or let your knees rest against each other. Let your shoulder blades release onto the mat and feel a stretch across your chest as you rest your arms along your sides with your palms facing upward. Feel the support beneath you and see if you can release your lower back. Linger here for at least 3-5 breaths.

Settle onto your back with your knees bent, feet on the mat about hip distance apart or wider. Open your arms straight out from your shoulder in a T-shape, palms facing up. Let your knees fall to the left, letting your legs completely release, including any tension in your hip flexors along the front of your thighs. Relax your right shoulder, whether it lifts off the mat or remains grounded. You can “windshield wiper” your knees slowly back and forth in this position if some dynamic movement feels better than stillness. Bring your knees back to center and repeat on the other side. Stay here for 3-5 breaths.

Settle onto your back and bring your right knee toward your chest and extend your left leg straight on the mat. Interlace your fingers behind your right thigh and bring your right leg perpendicular to the mat. Keep a slight bend in your knee. Resist the urge to bring your right thigh closer to your chest as you want your leg vertical so your hip can settle into the pelvis. Flex your left foot and push through your left heel. You can either remain still or circle your ankles. Linger here for at least 3-5 breaths. Switch sides.

Come onto your back with your knees bent. Place the soles of your feet on the floor about hip distance apart. Place your right ankle against your left knee, making a figure four with your legs. Flex your right foot and move your right knee forward while keeping your hips even to find the stretch in your outer hip. Thread your right arm in between your legs and interlace your hands behind your left thigh.

Gently pull your left thigh toward you as you keep your head, shoulders, and back body relaxed and on the mat. Continue to flex your right foot and let the back of your pelvis and hips sink toward the floor. If your head or shoulders strain and lift off the ground in this position, place your bottom foot on a block or lower it to the floor and rest arms by your side. Stay here for 3-5 breaths. Switch sides.

Lying on your back with legs extended, take your arms shoulder height into a T-shape on the ground, palms facing up. Bend your right knee to place the right foot at the inside of the left thigh, and exhale as you drop the right knee over the left side of the body towards the ground, twisting to the left. Keep your chest wide and both shoulders flat on the floor, melting the right shoulder towards the ground. Take a 3-10 breaths here. Inhale to roll your hips back to center, exhale and extend the right leg down the mat. Switch legs to repeat on the other side.

Individually roll up two blankets or have two blocks or bolsters nearby. Place another folded up blanket on your mat to support and rest your head. Starting on your back with your head supported by the blanket, take your feet together, knees wide, forming a diamond shape with your legs with the outer edges of your feet on the floor. Place a rolled up or folded blanket, bolster, or block under each thigh to support and allow legs and pelvis to completely release down. Take arms by your side, palms facing up, back flat against the earth. Hold for 5 breaths and allow the body to completely let go.

Come onto your back, bend your knees, and place your hands on the outer edges of your flexed feet, behind your calves, or on the backs of your thighs. Push your feet into your hands and hands into your feet, pulling your knees toward your shoulder, keeping hips, lower back, and shoulders pressed into the ground. Find stillness or slowly sway side to side to massage your back.

Place one or more folded blankets 2-3 inches away from the wall, lengthwise. Sit at the edge of one side of the blanket with one hip alongside the wall. Gently lower yourself onto your back while swinging your legs up the wall. Settle your pelvis onto the blanket or bolster. Your sitting bones can be right against the wall or a few inches away from it, depending on what’s comfortable for you.

Adjust your legs so they’re about hip-distance apart. Let the weight of your thigh bones and pelvis release toward the ground and let your legs rest against the wall. Keep your chest broad and shoulder blades moving down and away from the spine, arms by your side, palms facing up. Close or soften your eyes and breathe. Stay here for 3-20 minutes.

There’s always Savasana, which can bring release during a sequence as well as at the end of it. For lower back release, take a little support beneath your knees, whether a rolled blanket, bolster, pillows, or a couple blocks on the medium setting with a blanket. Rest your arms by your sides, palms up, hands and feet falling away from you. Close or soften your eyes and find stillness as the ground holds you up. Scan your body for any lingering tension. Linger here for at least several breaths if practicing Savasana between poses or for a minimum of 5 minutes when closing out your practice.