Ushtrasana: the camel

Strong backbends can sometimes engender fear and resistance. Yet a safe backbending practice can be fun and transformational.  London yoga teacher, Mollie McClelland, gives a step-by-step guide to the Queen of backbends: Camel (Ushtrasana).

Of all the categories of poses, backbends, especially in modern society where back pain is endemic, cause students a great deal of fear and resistance.

However, a safe backbending practice can be one of the most inspiring, transformative aspects of yoga practice.

Backbends are often called heart openers, which is true, insofar as they open (with differing levels of intensity) the front surface of the body and chest.

In acute fear or trauma and life patterns shaped by insecurity, sadness and low self esteem, this part of the body tends to collapse in, which makes a backbending practice essential to the healing process.

Elements of backbending

However, it is an over-simplification to think that heart opening is the only aspect at play in the backbend. Symbolically and practically back bending and heart opening require the participation of the entire physical and energetic body.

Some elements necessary to create the healing space of backbends are groundedness, space, expression and surrender.

Ushtrasana is a classic backbending asana. It is challenging and accessible to beginners and to advanced students alike and keep be a deep tool for educating the body in preparation for advanced backbends like Kapotasana and drop backs into Urdhva Dhanurasana, because the elements of Ushtrasana are fundamentals of deep backbending.

Easing into Camel

The first principle is the grounding of the legs. Legs should be hip width apart and parallel to each other, so that the femur bone is perpendicular to the floor. The space between the knees gives space to the coccyx bone to draw down towards the backs of the knees.

The tailbone is not tucked so that it moves forward, but firmly driving down towards the earth.

With the shins on the floor pushing down, in conjunction with the tops of the feet and toenails, activation of the quadriceps and hamstrings becomes balanced providing support for the back bend. The energy down through the feet creates leverage creating lightness in the upper body.

Indeed it is through that leverage that there is space to lift up. Additionally, the grounding of the legs in the pose begins to allay the fears that arise as one moves into the unfamiliar territory of the back bend.

The second basic principle is that the backbend moves up, not back. That movement up creates space, first off in the spine.

With the tailbone driving down, the spine starts to move up so that the ribs pull away from the waist as if making space for fingers to come under the ribcage. A deep breath into the ribs, not into the abdomen, is very helpful to creating that space.

Baby Camel

For all students, not only beginners, there is great value in beginning a camel practice with a "baby camel'.

In the baby camel, the focus is only on the lift up through the rib cage. The hands stay on the lower back, fingers pressing the sacrum down. The shoulders roll back so that the blades and elbows to come towards each other. From there the tailbone draws and the rib cage moves up on inhale. Only up, not back.

One way to highlight this is to do camel with the hipbones and ribs against a wall. The tailbone moves down and slightly forward pressing the hips towards the wall.

For the baby camel, the bottom of the ribcage stays against the wall, only lifting up through the collarbones. If this is done correctly, deep shakes through the body are not uncommon as the nervous system repatterns to create necessary space.

Drawing the tailbone down

As we come into the Ushtrasana, it is essential that the tailbone draw down. Among the tools that create space to releasing the tailbone down is a yoga brick between the legs.

The thighs are then parallel and the block reinforces the inward rotation of the legs. The buttock muscles then release taking tension and restriction out of the sacro-iliac joint and making space for width and stability in the lumbar spine.

As we move from the baby camel to the full camel, there are a few tendencies that are initially satisfying, but ultimately unsustainable. The first is to sit back with the hips until the hands reach the feet and then try to push the hips forward.

What generally results from this technique is that the pelvis tips forward, collapsing the lower back and the head drop back collapsing the neck.

This destroys the lifted up space created by work with baby camel.

Instead once the hands touch the heels (or for a beginner variation, a yoga block under each hand) the rib cage, not the pelvis, moves up, as if making space for someone to touch under the rib cage.

In this case, the thighs may not remain perpendicular to the floor, but there is not the crunching of the lower back.

The principle of expression comes now, in the work with the neck. The initial tendency is to drop the head back. This can cause discomfort in the back of the neck as the vertebra in the neck are crunched down.

Looking after the neck

Some people can practice camel with the head still in line with the neck and sticking straight back, but for many people this causes strain on the musculature of the front of the neck.

This halfway position is painful because of the effort against gravity. Another option is to keep the chin tucked in towards the chest the entire time. Though this can alleviate tension in the neck and make the pose safer, it prevents the spine from working effectively as a chain.

The best way that I have found to work with the head and neck is to keep in mind that the spine is a great chain of bones. As such, the neck does not begin behind the collarbone, but at the heart centre.

The shoulder blades draw towards each other and down creating support through the back and opening the chest and heart. As the heart lifts up, the chin follows up, not dropping the head but continuing the arc of the spine through to the back of the head.

Once in the maximum stretch of camel, either with the hands on the feet or supported by blocks, it is possible to further lift the chin towards the sky and allow the crown and even forehead to pour down towards the earth, releasing muscular effort without a drop.

This creates length and space in the front and back surfaces of the neck, but does not resist gravity's pull on the head. Supported deep into the thoracic spine, there is space and strength to protect the fragile muscular and bony matrix of the neck.

Surrender to the pose

The final principle of ushtrasana is surrender. The reason to go deep into the pose, to take the hands to the feet is to experience the great opening and surrender that can occur.

The pelvis is opened through the tailbone driving down. With the hands holding the heels, the chest and heart are stretched open. The backwards flow of the head opens from heart to throat to crown. There is space for the deep breath into the ribcage.

The deep challenge in to attain and maintain the pose correctly, but the rush of openness when done properly is immense. The architecture of alignment allows surrender to the deep healing of the backbend in the heart and all through the body.

Coming out safetly

Ushtrasana is a vulnerable position for the spine and the exit is as delicate as the entrance. It is important not to take the hands off heels one by one, twisting from side to side as this can create strain and torque.

The power to pull the body back up comes from the leverage of the legs as the tailbone roots even further and the shins press down. If this is completely unattainable, it is possible to sit back with the hips, draw the chin in towards the throat and rise in that manner.

After, it is best to sit for a moment on the heels, letting the spine regulate back to a neutral position, drawing mulabandha in and up to contain the energy.

If the back needs immediately to take child's pose it indicates that you have not maintained the length in the back, and have crunched into the spine at the base.

It is best to resist the urge to neutralize the spine first before bending the opposite direction into the forward bend.

Ushtrasana, if practiced correctly is deeply humbling and challenging, and profoundly healing.

To fully experience the joy, move safely and precisely through the beginning stages, taking time to build the strength to progress without fear, without collapse and with the greatest grace possible.

A word about the author

Mollie McClelland received her teaching certification with Ana Forrest who inspired a deep reverence for the healing power of yoga and the profound work necessary to create healing. She teaches in London at the Alchemy Centre and soon at Special Yoga Centre where her vinyasa based classes focus on alignment, grace and healing in the practice.