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April 11, 2020

Solo backbend: open your chest and straighten your upper back

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In this video, Kit demonstrates a solo back bend over a purpose-built device, the "baby whale", but any firm rounded surface (like the end of a couch) can be used. If you are a bit stiffer than he is, a tightly rolled beach towel on the floor works beautifully to start the process.

The key is to let your body mould slowly over the working surface; don't force anything.

The keys to this are two: letting the whole body go completely limp, and breathing normally. Move your awareness from one to the other, and back again, and before you know it, this area of the body will have opened.

Read transcription

Kit:

Today, I'm going to show you a passive back bend over this little device we call the baby whale. Now, two things about the baby whale to notice. One is that it's a very hard surface. So if you're not used to bending backwards over hard things, and you've got something like this, you'll want to put a mat over the top of it. But I like a harder surface myself, and the reason for that is, where the back doesn't want to bend is exactly where the whale pushes back the hardest. So if you compare that with a Swiss ball, anyone can lie back over a Swiss ball, but that won't actually change the shape of your spine anything like the same way this will do.



Kit:

The second thing is that you'll notice it has a gentle slope on one side and a much steeper slope on the other side. And something, a general comment now, Liv and I don't warm up before we do these videos. We are trying always to show you what our cold flexibility looks like, and in the process of doing whatever it is that we're demonstrating, how that improves in the session. So I'll show you how to get onto the whale, and also, more importantly, perhaps, how to get off the whale. And we'll start on the gentle side.



Kit:

So I'm moving myself back so that I can feel the whale contacting my middle back. I bring my feet close to my hips like this, and I lift my bottom off the ground until the spine is virtually straight. Then I shift my weight along the top of the whale so that my shoulder blades are sitting pretty much on the highest part of the whale. And then I gently let my head go back. Now, if you're one of those people who doesn't like the neck in extension the way mine is now, which feels completely comfortable for me, then what you do is you just put a little pillow between your head and the surface you're working on, and the exercise will work exactly the same.



Kit:

So once I'm here, I settle myself. I let the whole body go soft, and I reach my hands back to a comfortable rung, let's call it, or slat on this device. Once I've got a good grip ... And I'm only holding on here with a couple of fingers, you don't need any force here. Then what I do is I take a deep breath in, and on a breath out, let my tummy go soft. Take another breath in, and this time I let my hips slowly drop down. You may need to wriggle around a little bit on the whale to find the right spot. And let's say that's the initial bend. And I get used to that. It could take half a minute or a minute. As well, I'm rolling my hips from side to side, which as you'll find, and we'll do this each time, as you'll find, that stretches completely different parts of the spine. And of course, we're talking about stretching the front of the spine here.



Kit:

And now I'm going to do a contraction. The contraction here is simply to try to pull my hands through the slats as though I were trying to pull them up like this, but being slats, they don't move, and what happens is my muscles contract instead. And that's long enough. I take in another breath, let myself go completely soft, and as I breathe out, ah. That just feels marvelous.



Kit:

As you can see, much more of my back is now conforming to the shape of the whale. And that feels quite comfortable compared to only a minute or so ago. Again, I'm just going to rotate a little bit like this, and you'll see that allows me to rest on the ground completely comfortably. Now, the coming out part, you lift the hips up like this, run your fingers around to the back of your head like this, and always bring your chin into your chest as you lift the head up like so. Let your hips down, and then you'll find you'll be able to sit up easily like this.



Kit:

So now I'm going to turn the whale around and demonstrate the same thing on the steeper side. But before I do that, I'm going to do a little round out, because whenever you bend the spine backwards over a surface, any surface, harder surfaces the effect is more pronounced, the muscles that are on the inside of the curve, in this case, the muscles that run up and down either side of the spine, they have a tendency to cramp a little bit. So the easiest way while I'm in position like this to do a bit of a stretch forward for the middle and upper back is to put my chin on my chest, and watch. And that's all that's required. And that has ... everything's feeling completely comfortable now.



Kit:

Okay. Now the more intense side. Once again, I'm moving the shoulders until they're roughly on the highest part of the whale. I'll reach whatever slats feel comfortable to me today, which is these ones here. Sometimes I reach further down, but these ones feel very good today. Take a breath in, make sure that the body is completely soft. And by that, I mean that you're not anticipating any unpleasant or intense sensation. Just let everything go limp, and then let yourself go down until you feel a stretch, which for me is about here today.



Kit:

I get used to that sensation, roll the hips from side to side, do that little contraction. I'm pulling my fingers through the slat. Three, two, one, stop. Take a breath in. Let the tummy in particular go soft. And also, today we'd have to add the ribs. You want the whole rib area to be completely limp. Take another breath in and watch as I breathe out.



Kit:

And now once I'm in the final position, I'm going to breathe into the top of my chest, and I'll try and make those bones move. I'll just get back into position. I'm not sure whether you can see this, but, ah, that's marvellous. Ru n the fingers to the back of the head. Bring the chin into the chest. Lift the head up. Oh. And sit up. I'll show you a different restretch this time.



Kit:

Okay. Now, why do we do this? This is an absolutely magical exercise. As the body ages ... I'll just turn side so you can see what I'm talking about ... As the body ages, this is the kind of shape we see people making, hunched over and head held forward of the shoulders like this. We don't want that. So basically, bending yourself backwards like this reverses many of the tendencies of getting older, and in the current era in particular, it also helps improve your lung capacity a little bit. It also stretches all the muscles in between your ribs, and the additional effort that's required to breathe when your spine is fully extended also strengthens the diaphragm. Look, there's no downsides to doing this. It's all upside, as our economist friends would say. Anyway, give this a try, and if you like it or if you don't like it, please let us know in the comments below.


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