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| Hi everybody,
I was wondering, why is it important to have both legs straight and a straight back while coming up from uttanasana to tadasana with both hands on the waists...
isnt easier on the lumbar to bend our knees and either slowly come up- vertebra by vertebra- Or come up with a straight back but supporting our arms on our thighs???
Please let me know what you think.
THANK YOU!!!
All the best,
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Veteran
Posts: 163
 
| There is some interesting new work by Judith Lasater and others that is questioning the straight back models of certain poses. Her new book, Yogabody: Anatomy, Kinesiology, and Asana delves into your question as well as discussion of the position of the spine in some other poses. I recommend taking a look at it to get some answers to your questions. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
  
| yogameansjoy - the straight back model works well if you know how to work your legs properly. Mr.Tourist has had a "bad" back since he was 19, when he had surgery for a herniated disc. He has lived in fear of forward bends since then and he is now 55. Since he has started taking Iyengar classes and learned to work his legs, he can straighten up from a forward bend with much less fear and anxiety. As far as day to day bending, it is still safest for him to use support and bend his knees (as it is for most of us) because he doesn't have the full attention and instruction going on to keep him mindful of correct technique. |
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| Hi guys, Thank you very much for your replies.
I just bought the book through amazon
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 574
| Why is it important to come up with straight legs and back? You should ask your teacher. It is far more important to have a variety of ways to come out of Uttanasana. One of the most common causes of back ache is not bending the knees to pick up something. We have knees for a purpose, why not use them? Many people are obsessed with the idea of stretching hamstrings and having a straight back. However the spine is not straight-if it was you would be in serious trouble with breath and movement. Any good sports scientist knows that stretching muscles or muscle groups actually weakens muscles and cause the nervous system to create a stretch reflex.
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| Going from forward bend to standing with straight legs and back makes your lower back a fulcrum with hundreds of pounds of pressure on your lower back. This is an excellent way to pull a muscle or injure a disc. Softening your knees is one way to take some of the pressure off your lower back. Pulling your lower abdomen in and up and inhaling while lifting your torso also helps support your lower back. Slowly straightening your back as you come up also takes pressure off your lower back.
Although the straight leg/back routine is good for building back and core strength for some people, it is also possibly the most dangerous thing for others and should not be attempted by anyone who is not both careful and already warmed up.
Forward bends, whether standing or sitting, are not just about stretching the hamstrings. They are also about stretching (NOT injuring) the lower back. Remember to soften (bend) the knees whenever you feel discomfort in the back of your knees or your lower back!!!
There is a right way and a wrong way to do every pose for every person at every time. It is the job of the yoga teacher to teach the students how to pay attention to their body and to make the right modification at the right time for their unique body, both in class and at home. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 574
| hi Jimg! Glad to see we agree on something! All the best |
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| Rather than thinking of it as straight legs and straight back, you can approach it as strong legs and an aligned back.
This means you create the natural curves of the spine first, before coming up, and keep them as you come up using the support of strength in the entire body. You can do this with bent or straight knees.
In my experience and opinion, rounding up or coming up with a flattened lower back puts enormous pressure on the spine and sets people up for injury. This is one of the reasons T5/S1 in the low back is the most commonly injured area.
If you're coming up from uttanasana to tadasana with your hands on your hips, you'll want to keep strong legs with the tops of the thighs back to create a natural curve in the low back (sacrum tips in, not rounding up). Then, with shoulders and head back to help keep the curve in the low back, root down from the tailbone and pelvis and think about coming up from the shoulders which are already moving back.
This is how I teach it, and many of my students have remarked on how much better their backs feel using this approach. Does that shed light on it for you? |
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uttanasana
