I have a flat back in my spine and I learnt that deep backbending should be avoided.
Honestly, this saddens me deeply, akin to how I felt when the doctor disallowed me from running
few years ago when I tore my meniscus in the knee.
I never knew I have a flat back that is not safe for deep backbending. Backbends have been in my
practice since primary school when I was in the dance group. I still remember doing a drop back into
a wheel pose was nothing difficult when I was in that age. The beauty of backbending poses in yoga
always amazes me.
But I had to stop my backbending practise sometime last year after I tore my intercostal muscles.
Subconsciously I developed a phobia of going into deep backbending. My intercostal muscles
snapped after a few rounds of tripod headstand with some backbend dropbacks in between. The
crucial thing was, I did not do any counterposes after the backbend practice and went into tripod
headstand straightaway, which has certainly overloaded my spine. It was negligence on my part and
I learnt my lesson well. The pain from the injury was excruciating during the initial months, before I
gradually returned to my yoga practice. But I have since then avoided poses relating to deep
backbending and tripod headstand, only till few months ago I decided to pick myself up from where I
fell. Then the knowledge of my flat back set in.. Should I be deterred by this?
Even in class when students with flat back or lodiosis were discouraged to do a wheel pose, I had to
resist very much the wishes of my usual practice.
Through YTT, I have learnt to become more aware of the limitations of my body, and also the
inclination of my mind about the practice. But the dilemma sets in when what I hope to achieve is
made challenging with the limitations of my body.
Evette
200 Hour YTT Feb-May’21
