Yoga Camel Pose

Video Transcript

"Ok, camel pose. We're going to tackle this one because I believe it's an important step in learning to back bend properly and you find it in a lot of beginning yoga classes even though I do believe it's well beyond the capabilities of a true yoga beginner. Here's a way to work into camel safely and effectively. You're going to start in Hero's pose coming onto the knees. If you have discomfort in the knees, you can always put a blanket or something on your knees. I'm using my foe fuzzy sheep skin because I feel like that's comfy. Ok, working into camel means, first thing we're going to do is tuck the toes under and reach for the heals one heal at a time. You reach for the first heel, you allow the head to drop back and reach for a second heel and you press your hips forward. If that's not comfortable for you and that's just way not happening for you today, just bring the hands to the lower part of the spine you should be able to feel right here where your pelvis, the top of your pelvis is and you're just going to inhale, crown of the head reaches, you must always stretch up before you stretch over and then as you exhale gently press the pelvis forward, squeeze the shoulder blades together. Then practice dropping the head. Try those two things and as you become more and more proficient with camel you can work at bringing the hands down and down and even hanging camel with the hands in Anjali Mudra, just hanging back like that. You can do it, don't stop your breath. Make sure your alignment is proper, don't push your body beyond what it's capable of, and have fun."