Last week I talked about and showed pictures of what it looks like when you are lying on the floor with your shoulders rounded. I used the floor as a reference point so you could see this more clearly.
I want to make sure that you can see and understand this from a teacher's perspective. These differences can appear to be subtle, but they have a profound effect on the body and mind.
This week let’s look at what this looks like in Bridge Pose. One of the main concepts in many poses from Tadasana and especially into the Backbends is to open the chest. Daily living seems to make us round our shoulders. Yoga can help reverse these effects.
Take a look at the following series of photos and pay close attention to the effect that rounded shoulders have on the pose.
Lying on the floor, shoulders rounded, sunken chest
Bridge prep, shoulders rounded, sunken chest
Bridge pose, shoulders rounded, sunken chest
Compare and contrast the differences in the following three photos:
Lying down, shoulders back, chest lifted
Bridge prep, shoulders back, chest lifted
Bridge pose, shoulders back, chest lifted
Can you clearly see the difference an open chest has on these simple postures? But, what happens if you try and your chest doesn't open like that? Next week I will show some restorative poses to work on to open the chest.
Let me know if this was helpful. I'll see you in class!
P.S. I wish someone had told me to put my toes down! Although lifting the toes is a good remedial action that forms the arches in the feet and helps to keep the knees from splaying out; they shouldn't be lifted that way in the final pose.