Camel Pose

Welcome back. Today we're going to dive into Ustrasana. For this practice you'll need two blocks, a strap, and a wall. So we're going to break this down step by step how to get into Ustrasana. Ustra in Sanskrit means camel. Asana referring to the pose, the posture, the shape we're creating. So camel pose. So many benefits to this posture. We're going to be lengthening, stretching through our front body, strengthening, creating stability through our back body. This pose has the opportunity to increase energy and also decrease anxiety, kind of calming our nervous system a bit. In terms of energetics we're going to feel a downward energy, an apana vayu. So as we ground through the shins, the thighs, and then a prana energy that's going to be a light lift as our heart lifts open. So we're going to be exploring a back bend, a heart opening practice. So to initiate let's go ahead and grab your blocks. As you grab your blocks you're going to come to a comfortable seat just on your shins. If you need to you can go ahead and sit on a block. So take the block slightly behind you and to start flip the palms open. So from the waist up we're in this anatomical position and I want you to bring your awareness to your upper arms. So the inner upper arms. Begin to spin the inner upper arms forward, outer arms back. So the outside of our shoulder, our posterior deltoid starts to slide the shoulders back. So we have this spin and external rotation of the shoulders. So I want you to hold that and then bend the elbows, bring them back onto the blocks to prop here. And notice the shoulders start to want to cave in as we take the hands back. See if you can lift up. So this is the arm action in Ustrasana when we start to move. So we're working this rotation of the upper arms. You can bring palms down or I like to stay on the tips of my fingers just to stay off the wrists. Eyes of the elbows are facing forward and that really helps with the rotation. So as we start to rotate the shoulders what happens is the rib cage starts to lift and it's going to lift a little bit but we want to start to slide the low ribs down just finding the rib cage to neutral. Not tucking, not forcing, just finding neutral. And then feel your shoulder blades come behind your back almost like a nice sweet support to your heart center. So you start to broaden through the chest. The shoulder blades slide towards each other lightly but there's also a broadening through the back. So you have these muscles in the back that slide the shoulder blades in and then also you've got muscles on the side. Your serratus start to round out here. So just hold here working this posture and keeping sides of the neck long, lifting up the chest, softening through the low ribs. So this shoulder action will translate all the way through. Go ahead and slide the blocks aside and then we're going to come on to our bum. Same action. Turn the hands behind facing the wall behind you. If this is too much on your wrist you can take the hands to face out but if available go ahead and turn them back. Bend through the knees. We're going to inhale, lift up, coming to a reverse table of variation of purvottanasana. So as you root through the feet, lift through the chest, eventually hips, low ribs, or even. And then for now keep the chin tucked. So what I want you to do is start to find that rotation again in the upper shoulders or upper arms. So it's a rotation and then you can feel the shoulder blades sliding in, lifting up, creating support to the heart. My muscles and my legs are engaged. Not overactive but just slightly engaged, holding stability and same with my bum. It's not totally relaxed and I'm not clenching. I'm creating stability. Good. From here you can start to take the neck long any mischief, come back to chin to tucking, and hold here. Nice. On an exhale slowly lower down. So starting to feel a little bit of heat through the arms and the shoulders. And then we're going to come on to our bellies. So any way you want to get there, roll on down. So moving into bhujangasana, low cobra, sliding the shoulders back, sliding the hands back. Bring the hands right to the mid ribs. And then start with the forehead on the ground. Draw the outer arms in. Anchor through the tops of the feet. Again, active through the legs but not overactive where we're hyper extending or irritating the space underneath the kneecap. On an inhale start to lift up from your low back all the way up through the middle back, through the upper back, and just pause. So I want you to bring your awareness to anchoring the tops of your feet down. The engagement of the thighs. And then we find this space that's lengthening from the low belly to the sternum to the chest. Good. And then find the rotation of the upper arms. Good. So the inner upper arms come forward, outer arms go back.

The chest broadens. The shoulder blades support the heart moving forward. And so this is the action that we feel from the waist up in ustrasana. You start to feel engagement of the low back muscles. Exhale and lengthening through the front body. Good. Just pause for a moment. Let the low back just soften and relax. Then we'll just move through a couple of these. On an inhale roll it up nice and slow. If you want to come up a little higher you can come on to the balls of your hands, your fingertips. Exhale release. Good. Nice and slow. Warming up the low back. Inhale rise up. So notice we find some energy in the low back. If you feel any constriction, back off a little bit. Find length. In the upper back are thoracic spine. That's a place that's really hard to get at. Exhale release. Come down. So just to pause we have a curve, a natural curvature in a low back and our lumbar spine that moves towards our front body. And then as we travel up behind our shoulder blades our thoracic spine starts to curve out towards our back body posteriorly. So for us to round the shoulders and open up it's harder space to get in to create mobility and flexibility. So a couple more times in focusing on that area. Inhale rise up. Maybe each time coming up a little higher drag the body a little more forward. Heart center forward. Exhale slowly come down. Good. Two more. Inhale rising up. Good. Feel the space from the low back. Feel the upper back moving forward. Exhale release. Good. One more inhale. Exhale release. Good. So as we move in to our back bend, again we're moving the spine forward but not congesting. We're creating more space, more depth, more width. So broadening through the back body, broadening through the front body. We're trying to get big here. So almost as if the energy on the inside of Samana energy is in and then drawing outward. I'm sorry a Vayana energy. In going out. So coming back hands to the mid ribs. This time moving into upward facing dog. So progressing into a deeper back bend. On an inhale start to curl the toes under to shift forward. Come on the tops of your feet. Press the floor away and just pause. So the tops of the feet are anchoring. Legs are lengthening. Right. So same thing with stability. Legs are engaged to create stability. Draw the shoulders back. Lengthen through the arms and find that same rotation. Interupper arms come forward, outer arms back. Broaden through the heart. And an exhale. Lowering straight down. Or you can come knees and lower down. Good. Take a pause. Maybe give a little shake out. And then one more. Same thing as you curl the toes under. Lift up and then shift forward. Good. Anchor through the tops of the feet. Roll the heads of the shoulders back. And then find that shining of the heart forward. Still maintaining a depth and a length and a space through the upper back. Exhale lowering back down. Good. From here we're gonna make our way into downward facing dog. So again either coming up onto your knees or simply press up into plank and then back. Good. Downward facing dog. Adho Mukha Svanasana. So same exact shoulder movement. Upper arms come forward, outer arms back. So just setting up this pose with wrist creases parallel. Middle fingers forward. Feet hip distance apart. Begin to lengthen through the back. So this can be a really nice counter pose for those back bends we just did. Finding some space. And then work the arms. Really find that rotation. See if you can feel your heart coming a little more forward. It's not a big movement. It could be a few little micrometers. From downward facing dog we're gonna move forward bringing the right foot forward. And it might be one smooth step. It might be 20 smooth steps or choppy steps. Taking the feet hip distance apart. When you're ready inhale take the arms up overhead. Right. So from here in Ustrasana we start to tap into our left thigh and right thigh when they're both shins are on the floor. So this will be tapping into our hip flexors mostly our psoas or iliopsoas. So it connects to the top of our femur bone.

Our main thigh bone. All the way up onto our spine. So it runs through the pelvic bone. So imagine our lives. We're texting. We're typing. We're driving. So this is an area that many of us are tight in our Western culture. So let's take a moment. So if this is too intense to keep the thigh parallel you can also lift up. Another option is to bend the knee to kind of get in a little more. Right. So you find where you want to be. And just pause. So even here we can work on the upper body. We can work on the arm rotation. So inner upper arms go back. Almost as if your pinkies come in thumbs out but it's from deep in the shoulder joint. So finding the rotation. Right. Notice as you do so the heart starts to lift. Low ribs might start to drop out and forward. See if you can just find neutral. So that helps us to tap into the upper thoracic spine. Good. Again broadening through the back body. On an exhale if the hands come down behind you. Right. So allow your hands to interlace. If you need a strap go ahead and grab a strap. You start to take the arms back. If you tend to hyperextend the elbow is keep a little micro bend in there. And then just pause. Right. So as the legs are cooking a little bit. We're getting them warmed up to go in a little deeper. Again still find the rotation. The lift of the heart. The lengthening through the low back. Kind of an exhale release the hands down. Step back downward facing dog. In any way you want to get there. And just take a few breaths here. Rotating inner upper arms forward and outer arms back. When you're ready left foot steps forward. Again 120 steps. Feet hip distance apart to create strong stability and then inhale rise up. First start lift up just a little bit and then exhale dip in. Take the left hip bone off the thigh. And then from here what's going to translate right into Ustrasana is right thigh. Shoulders chest upper back low back. So all of from the right side to here and then the torso up. Find the rotation the arms pinkies in thumbs out from deep in the shoulder joint. Feel the back body broadening but the shoulder blades sliding down the back. Create more depth through the low back. So if you feel like any congestion cramping in the low back lift up. Bring in more of that prana value that lifting that lightness. Kind of an exhale bring the hands down by the sides. Interlace either using a strap or the hands. Keep the elbows slightly bent. Slide the low ribs back just a bit as you start to tap into the upper thoracic spine. And just breathe. Good. Exhale slowly release.

Hands come down. Step back. Downward facing dog. Again work on the shoulder rotation. Arms spinning externally away from you. Upper arms. And on an exhale come on down to your knees. We'll be moving to the wall and you're gonna need your two blocks. We're gonna move into King Arthur. So King Arthur I'm sure this has many other pose. It's also a variation of Ekapada Bekasana frog pose. And we're gonna take the right knee as close as you can towards the wall. So you might need a blanket or fold your mat under the knee. And we're gonna bring the heel to the outside of the right hip. And I like to use my blocks just to set myself up. Press down and then lift the left foot, left ankle under the left knee. And then slide the chest back. So notice for some of you it might be really painful for the foot you can put a towel there as well to protect. I want you to bring your hands to your hips. And notice the hips tend to go up, down, side to side. So we're looking for evenness through the hips. Left hip might want to go down. Maybe even throw the thumb in there to roll it down. Good. Bring your right hand behind your back. So I want you to keep this natural curve. Our lumbar spine that naturally moves forward. We have these amazing curves in our spine to create a sharp absorber. So we don't want to press them out all the time. Chest lifts a little bit. Upper back presses in. And then just pause here. You can just let your fingertips hang. And I'll slide the blocks aside. But it's good to get in and out with them. And just pause. Sometimes I like to bring my hand to my foot. Thumb here. So right now we're focused on again opening up through the front thigh, the quadriceps, the hip flexors. And there's a little squeeze inward of the thighs towards each other. So the adductors, as they work in, it starts to lengthen through the leg that's down. And then take the palms forward. So now we start to work the shoulder rotation that we'll see in Ustrasana. A few more breaths. Right, notice if your lips are starting to curl a little bit because the right leg, for my runners out there, this one might be a little intense. Nice. And then slowly we're going to trade sides. Again, I like to use my blocks just to shift out nice and easily. So you're going to take left knee towards the wall. Start to walk back. Right foot to the floor. Line up left heel by left hip. Right hand comes to the hip. Roll the hip down. And check in. Knee over ankle. Just creating stability. Hands to hip. Check side to side. Front back. Slide the left hand behind. Create a little bit of that natural curve. Keep that there. Chest lifts and upper back comes to the wall. And let's spin our palms out. And here we stay for a few breaths. Notice the right shoulder and right hip kind of want to lift. Let's see if you can soften them down. And two more breaths. Slowly transferring out. We're going to come back in on the opposite side and I'll give a variation so you can stay with one. And then pressing on back. Again, feel free to pad underneath the knee. So keeping your blocks this time if you want to go in a little deeper. Set yourself up. Do the first check. Hips. Back.

Chest. Palms up. Good. So options stay right here or bring the hands down. And then as you scoot forward, you're going to scoot the left foot a little forward. Shin still presses. Toes face up. Notice if the toes start to cattywampas in or out. See if you can keep them in a line. I like to use blocks here because we're going to go into Ustrasana and it's a lifting. Without blocks, I start to lower my chest down. I want to keep the energy moving up. Right. So as I dip my left sit bone towards my left heel, I'm getting a deeper stretch through my right hip flexors. And then here with the blocks, use the rotation. Draw the inner upper arms forward, outer arms back. See if you can tap into that place that's hard to get. Upper thoracic spine. And then maybe start taking the blocks back a little bit as if you're in Ustrasana. Right. So as if the arms are back. Chest forward. Right. So it's really easy for us to just exhale and feel that energy kind of dump down. But in this, we want to stay lifting a lighter, brighter pose. A few more breaths. One more. Excellent. Slowly coming on out and moving to the opposite side. Left knee down. Left ankle on the outside of the left hip. Right knee underneath right ankle. Hands to the hips. Start with the rotation of the right hip down. Right hip, right shoulder. Kind of want to creep up. So you can soften them down. And then choice. Stay right here. This is perfect. Or if you want to go a little deeper, we're going to walk the blocks out. Scoot your right foot forward. And then let the right sit bone start to move towards the right heel. As you arrive, take the blocks back just to scoop behind the shoulders. As in that first posture we did with the arms behind us. Find the rotation. Tap into the upper back. And then see if you can create more space between your belly button, the sternum, and your sternum to the chin. And if you want more, you just dip a little bit more into the lunge. One more big breath. Slowly easing out. Excellent. So from here you're gonna need your strap and one block. Okay. I'm pulling out your strap. You're gonna make a loop that is just shy of shoulder distance apart. And from there, you're gonna move to putting it behind you just above your shoulders. Just above your elbows. How that be interesting. So you want to make sure it's not on the crease of your elbows and that the buckle isn't on your skin. From here, take your thumbs to your sacrum and just pause. So with the block, give a little squeeze inward. So this pose, Ustrasana, we're gonna go through all the teaching points here that you would see in full pose. We're gonna move into a standing back arch. So if you imagine from my knees up, it's gonna be exactly the same pose. So my inner thighs draw in, right? It's this draw in of the adductors that start to straighten from the knees to the hips. Then I start to lift my hips a little bit, pressing my pubic bone a little bit forward. So I'm not looking for this big tuck under. I'm just starting to move forward because the tendency is that we're gonna want to pitch back away from this plane in front of us. So we want to take the pubic bone just a little bit forward again, not a big tuck. Hip bones are gonna lift a little bit to create some space. So again, imagine that energy going outward. We're creating a deep pocket in the back here, creating length, broadening through the belly, tapping into the upper back and trying to open up into the thoracic spine a little bit more. So from here, take the thumbs to your low back right at your sacrum and then just pause here, finding a slight arch and keep the chin neutral right here. So we've worked all this time on the shoulders, all this time on the heart, chest, broadening. If it's available, you can take points of your fingers upward, palms press towards the sacrum. So feel the squeeze of the inner thighs and root through your feet. From here, start to press a little forward and start to dip back a bit. So the question in Ustrasana is like, oh gosh, what do I do with my head? So here in standing back arch, we have the same thing. Any mischief in the neck, keep the chin tucked. We're still getting all the benefits, all the energy of a back bend, of a heart opener. Or for some, you can draw it back, start to take the gaze up. And for some, if the shoulder blades can start to squeeze in a bit, creating a little bit of a shelf, you can draw back.

But I don't want you to just let your head go. Good. Inhale, come up, start with the low back, middle back, upper back, and then the head. So in keeping the integrity and stability in our neck, we want to make sure when we go back that we're not just, hate to do this, but let it go. We want to create some little bit of muscular action, so we're creating control, but still getting the lengthening and the balance elsewhere. So here, fingertips up, palms press. One more time in, pubic bone comes a little forward, again, just to make that plane in the front body. Hips lift, creating space. Think about getting big. Press the chest up, right? So not thinking about going back, we're trying to get bigger, get taller. Good. Arms, outer arms, drawing in towards each other, and you can use the press against the strap to find traction, to create more length. And pausing, so rooting through the feet, right? If I was to fall out of this pose, I would actually fall forward. Good. Heart lifting towards the ceiling. And then inhale, come on back up, nice and slow. Good. Unwind, untangle, remove your block, and come on back down. So now we're going to move to the wall. You're going to need two blocks and your strap. So one block, just bring the strap off to your side. One block again to the inner thighs, and because we're going to be against the wall, you're going to make the front of the block flush with the front of your thighs. And then the other block is going to be between your ankles. So to start, we're going to go toes curled under. So it's going to be below your calves, above your ankles, and then pick up your strap. Kind of scoots your way to the wall, right? Might feel a little awkward, a little congested, and then start to take your strap again behind. So hopefully, shoulders are starting to open a little bit here. And then just move the strap, the tail, over to the side, out of the way. Good. To start here, press the balls of your feet into the air. So anything touching the floor is going to be what's anchoring that we can lift and grow and make our pose big, right? Outer ankles are going to draw in. And from here, when I talked about the plane of not pushing the pubic bow forward to tuck it under, but more to maintain this front body plane, same action. We're going to keep our bellies towards the wall, hips towards the wall. And then from here, start to move, the thumbs to the sacrum, start to lift up, keep squeezing the blocks, and then create heart up, and then maybe reaching back for the heels, right? See if you can shift the belly forward to maintain contact with the wall, right? For some, you might slide the tops of the feet down. And then again, shift forward. Your choice with the neck, you can start to take the head back only by tucking the chin, lengthening through the crown. I'm reaching the heart up, and I'm still shifting forward, trying to keep my belly towards the wall. Good. Slowly come up, low back, middle back, upper back, and pause, right? Checking in with the strap. I'm going to tighten mine up a little bit because it got loose. And then taking a moment, and setting up for round two. Find the squeeze. So either anchoring balls of the feet under, or tops of the feet under. Pressing against the wall, thumbs to sacrum. Find the lift, right? Find the lift again, belly up. Maybe low ribs can stay, right? Keep pressing, and then reach back one or two at a time. Lifting up. Feel the rotation, the shoulders, the shining of the heart up. And then your choice with the head. Keeping neck tucked, neck lengthening.

Good. Inhale, slowly come up. Unwind. Just take a seat on your heels, right? So we're gonna go into one more. So before we go in, just take a moment of rest. You can either take one, two breaths in child's pose, or just stay seated up. I like to say seated up because we're gonna go in one more time. So just feel the energy right now, because sometimes backbends can be incredibly exhilarating, and sometimes they can be a little nauseating. So I say just accept and take on the gifts of the practice of the day. So final one. Ustrasana, camel pose. Away from the wall, without props. Come on to your shins. Root down shins, press down towards the floor, anchor through the tops of the feet. Line up, knees under hips, and check in sides of the hips, over the knees. Start to bring the front body in the same plane as the thighs, and see if you can keep it there. Take the thumbs right to the sacrum. If possible, turn the fingertips up. I'd always like to go in nice and slow. There's always more places to get to, so there's no reason to rush it. So take an inhale, lift up. So before you go anywhere, find your awareness to the shoulders, to that rotation, external rotation. Interoper arms forward, outer arms back. Feel the shoulder blades start to draw in just a little bit to press the heart forward and up. And then feel the energy getting bigger, broader through the lower back. So as you continue to lift, you can continue to go back just a bit. And if available, you can take the hands down. So notice as we take the hands down, we start to shift away from that front plane. So inhale, shift forward again. For my flexi friends, put a little micro bend in the elbows. And then again, your choice with the head. Tuck the chin, gaze, neutral spine in the neck long. We start to take it back just a bit, but don't let it go. Good. Slowly tuck the chin. Come on up and take a seat on down. Slowly bring the forehead to the floor. Nice and slow because we just went back, back, back. So now moving into a counter pose. Bum towards the heels. Hands come out and then just bring the forehead down. Breathe down into your hips. Let your shoulders go. And then bring your awareness again to your lumbar spine, your low back. And just breathe right in there. So we tend when we get into backbends that we move from one place, a place that we're used to moving from that's easier to move from. And that's right in our lumbar spine because that's the direction that our spine naturally curves. So see if you can just breathe here. We want to move in those places that are harder to get at. So if you feel congestion in this area, know that next time you start to move into these backbends to start to progress up the spine. Tap more into the upper back. Don't worry about going so deep and creating a big energetic pose. Nicely come on up. Thank you all for joining me for Ustrasna. Enjoy your backbends. Namaste.