Kapotasana

OK, this may look like a strong backbend but actually its a strong shoulder and upper body opener. The secret is not to let your pelvis tilt posteriorly (tilt back) but maintain it near its vertical position.  Remember practicing Ustrasana? For those of you lucky enough to have had a good teacher you will no doubt have practiced against a wall with the teacher shouting at you to keep the upper rim of the pelvis in contact throughout. And that applies for this asana too. When you ‘drop back’, aim your hands for your feet, not for the floor. This encourages the upper body to move into the correct position. Letting your pelvis simply tilt back puts undue stress on the lumber and avoids working the upper body. You then have to drag your pelvis anteriorly, and that’s a lot of work if your shoulder girdle remains fixed. All you do is put more and more compression on the sacral-lumbar area of your spine, and even if you get your feet,  the asana looks like it’s collapsing in the middle.

Practice by facing away from a wall, and dropping your hands to the wall. Push through the hands to keep the pelvis near vertical and from there move the hands further down the wall until you can see your feet. Eventually you will have your hands near your feet and then it’s time to move away from the wall and slowly curl back to grab your feet, and then your ankles and then……