Yoga Workshop of Jules Febre

I attended workshop of Jules Febre.

For my memo and to share with yogis, I'll write down what I learned.

I took back bending class and inversion workshop.
He told us that in our ordinary life, we don't usually back bend or invert ourself.
We do a lot of forward bending when you read a book or use computers, and you always stand on your knees. We don't back bend our body to see what's behind you, and we don't stand on our hands.
Your body took them for granted that we do a lot of forward bending and standing on our foot.
So, it's really good for your body to do back bending and inversion because it surprises your body and at the same time stimulate your body and brain. It's a medicine for rejuvenation!

In back bending, he told us that many people who have problems with back bending, usually not really bending their back. They are bending their neck, arms and legs.

In back bending, we use bones from C7 down to 12 thoracic vertebrae.
For those who are not familiar with anatomy, I'll show you C7 and 12 thoracic vertebrae in picture below.
When you bend your neck forward, there's a bone sticking out. That's C7.

(Picture borrowed from http://www.us.oct-net.jp/~e-fimie/takuma16.html)

So, before starting back bending, we did warm-up with Jivamukti-version suriya namaskara and gradually deepen our asanas to full-bending.

Suriya namaskara→Bhujangasana(cobra pose)→Shalabhasana(locust pose)→Dhanurasana(bow pose)→Urdhva Dhanurasana(bridge pose)

Things that you always have to care about are that you try to bend your C7 down to 12 thoracic vertebrae and relax your neck.

I'll write down more in my next entry!

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