DDP Yoga Diamond Dozen: Bar Back

If you’re looking for a stretch that will help hold back the effects of hours of sitting with bad posture and make your back feel better, Bar Back is for you.

It’s one of the many tremendous positions in the DDPY Diamond Dozen.

How To Do Bar Back

Typically, at least in my sequences, you’ll do Bar Back after reaching up in Touchdown. This continues to extend your spine.

However, you can also do it from a regular, neutral standing position.

First, for Bent-Legged Bar Back, bend over and put your hands right above your bent knees. Pull your spine long, but keep it neutral so that the bends in your back still feel natural. Keep your chin tucked so that you’re looking at the floor.

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As you do this, press your hands into your quads, pushing each quad against your hand and vice-versa to develop your dynamic resistance. Your elbows should be back. Roll back your shoulder blades back so that they’re squeezed together like you’re trying to pinch a quarter in between them.

Once you’re in that position, take a deep breath in (when you learn how to do it, you’ll inhale as you get into the position). Exhale and fold forward. You should feel this stretch from your tailbone all the way up through your neck.

I also love it because it stretches my hamstrings, hips, and the backs of my knees.

For Stiff-Legged Bar Back, keep your legs straight as you push your hands against your thighs.

When you fold forward, most of your weight will be in the balls of your feet and your toes. You should feel like you’re about to fall off the side of a cliff.

What Body Parts You Work In Bar Back

Bar Back works your:

1. Quadriceps
2. Hamstrings
3. Calves
4. Triceps
5. Shoulders
6. Spine

What Bar Back Looks Like In Traditional Yoga

Bar Back looks like two traditional yoga postures: Standing Half Forward Bend (Ardha Uttanasana) and Standing Forward Fold (Uttanasana).

The Benefits of Bar Back

1. Lengthening our spine – Bar Back helps us to lengthen our spine. Approximately 80 percent of people suffer from spinal pain at some point, according to the American Chiropractic Association, and Bar Back helps alleviate that.
2. Fixing our posture – In addition to lengthening our spine, Bar Back helps us reverse the effects of slouching and spinal compression by rolling our shoulders back and keeping a neutral spine with our chin tucked.
3. Activating our hamstrings – Chances are you spend much of your time sitting. This flattens the hamstrings over time. With Bar Back, the hamstrings activate. Our hamstrings help us walk, run, and jump. Supple hamstrings allow us to do these activities even better.

Try Bar Back

It’s your turn!

Come try Bar Back with me. I teach DDPY! Check out my class offerings here.

Image by windyschneider from Pixabay