Chapter 3: Backward Bending

When Your Spine Learns to Trust the Fall

When Your Spine Learns to Trust the Fall

We need to talk about backward bending – that moment in the hot room when half the class looks like they’re auditioning for The Exorcist while the other half barely tilts their head back like they’re checking for rain.

The traditional dialogue tells you to “drop your head back, way back, more back, fall back, go back.” As if saying “back” enough times will magically reorganize your spine into extension. Meanwhile, most students are hanging on their facet joints like a drunk person leaning against a lamppost at 2 AM.

Here’s what’s actually happening when you bend backward, and why most of you are doing it wrong.