By targeting your tight spots, you can go deep and discover your best backbend ever.

By Andrea Ferretti and Jason Crandell

Ah, beautiful urdhva dhanurasana. As the arms and legs press strongly down into the ground like pillars, the entire length of the spine curves into a deep, even arch. It's striking, it's inspiring, and it's...well, everywhere. Walk into nearly any hatha yoga class at any time of day, and you're likely to encounter the pose that is also known as Upward Bow or Wheel Pose.

It's easy to feel simultaneously seduced and humiliated by Urdhva Dhanurasana. The pose might evoke a burning desire to achieve and conquer this backbend, but if you're a beginner, you might feel fearful that you won't make it up. And if you're a more experienced student who has pressed up dozens of times, you might find yourself wondering, "Is it still supposed to feel like this? Am I supposed to feel the lower-back twinges, the shoulder soreness, and the occasional after-class sacral aches?"

In either case, when fear or frustration about Urdhva Dhanurasana arises, the first impulse is often to rely on pure force to muscle yourself into the pose. When you do, there are a few telltale signs that this is happening. You hear yourself grunt as you go up. You feel your knees and feet kick out. You push up quickly and pop your shoulders out of joint, overstretching the delicate rotator cuff muscles. A large, pulsing vein bulges out on your forehead. Do any of these things sound familiar? Such a brutish approach to Wheel not only puts your muscles and joints at risk for injury, but also unravels all the hard work you've done maintaining the integrity of your breath.

Fortunately, you can strike a balance between yearning and frustration. To do so involves the yogic concept of self-study, known as svadhyaya. Instead of pushing yourself into the pose, you can apply svadhyaya by refining your awareness of what is happening in your body and mind. One way to do this is by breaking down the pose into three components and assessing how your body responds to each. Urdhva Dhanurasana requires openness in the shoulders and chest; flexibility in the front of the hips, legs, and abdomen; and suppleness in the back body. It also requires arm and leg strength, but if you're able to hold a well-aligned Plank for five deep breaths, you're probably strong enough to do the pose. When muscular tightness releases, the pose requires less force.

Armed with this knowledge of the architecture of the pose, you can create sensible, thorough sequences that open your shoulders, hips, and trunk before practicing Urdhva Dhanurasana, allowing you to backbend more deeply and comfortably.

You can also begin to notice where you get hung up in the pose. Many practitioners are disproportionately restricted in one region. You might be surprised to find that your shoulders are naturally very open, but your thighs are so tight that you can't lift your hips without your feet splaying out. If that's the case, then you have a clear starting place from which to work—you can spend time in your daily practice cultivating openness along the front of your legs, abdomen, and hips. Or you may find that your shoulders and hips are plenty malleable, but there is stubborn resistance in your midback. Spending more time opening the torso will allow you to develop more ease in Urdhva Dhanurasana. In essence, refining your awareness will enable you to make choices that will create transformation.

As you practice breaking down the pose this way, don't be disappointed if you're one of those folks for whom each component is difficult. A deep pose may be beautiful, but the depth of your Urdhva Dhanurasana is not the most important thing. What's most important is that you develop a method that forgoes ego and force in favor of exploration and awareness. If you can do that, you can build a backbend that works for you—one that exhilarates, stretches, strengthens, and soothes you all at once. Ready to begin?

The following poses are efficient at opening the legs, shoulders, and back. Use them to explore your body, noticing areas of tightness and areas of ease. You can incorporate these poses into your practice as an excellent preparation for Urdhva Dhanurasana. Or, if, for example, you notice that your thighs are disproportionately tight, you can incorporate the poses for your legs into your daily practice—whether sequencing to Wheel or not.

Lengthen your Thighs Most students know that a healthy forward bend requires suppleness in the back of the legs. This type of flexibility enables you to rock the pelvis forward over the thighs, allowing the spine to lengthen and release. A similar principle applies to backbends. A healthy backbend requires suppleness along the front of your legs and abdomen. In order to arch your spine into a backbend without crunching your lower back, you need to open the front of the thighs so you can rock the pelvis backward over your legs. If you spend much of your day sitting, this can be difficult to accomplish. Sitting flexes the hip joints, which can make the muscles along the front of the hips tight and may impede your ability to move your pelvis into backbends. King Arthur's Pose and Bridge Pose are perfect preparations for Urdhva Dhanurasana because they help release tension from the front of the thighs and hips. Bridge Pose will give you adequate practice with the positioning of your feet, legs, and hips for Urdhva Dhanurasana. King Arthur's Pose Love it or loathe it, King Arthur's Pose will elongate your tight thighs efficiently. Start by folding your sticky mat in quarters and placing it next to a wall. Kneel with your back to the wall, place your right knee on your sticky mat, and extend your right shin (foot pointed) up the wall. Step your left foot forward two to three feet so that you are in a lunge, with your left knee situated directly above your ankle. Place your hands on your hips and observe the angle of your pelvis. Your hips will probably tilt forward, since this allows your body to avoid stretching your thighs. To improve your alignment and facilitate greater opening, lift the front of your pelvis and lengthen your tailbone and buttocks toward the floor. Increase this stretch by bending your front knee deeper as you draw upward through your abdominal core. If you really want to challenge yourself, press the top of your right foot against the wall. This will engage your thigh muscles as you stretch them, creating more intensity. To enter the second phase of the pose, vigorously extend your arms up toward the ceiling. As you reach up, lengthen your spine and lift your ribs further away from your hips. Complement this by bending your front knee and lowering your hips further. Remember to draw your tailbone toward the floor and retain the neutral position of your hips. Breathe slowly and deeply into your abdomen. After 10 to 15 breaths, release your hands to the floor and take your right shin off the wall. Pause for a moment before you switch sides.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana An ideal way to continue opening the front of your thighs and hips is to take Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, or Bridge Pose, which offers a blueprint for the leg and foot positions in Wheel. To begin, lie back, bend your knees, and place your feet hip-width apart. Bring your feet close to, but not touching, your hips, and align your arms alongside your body. See that the outer edges of your feet are parallel and that your toes are pointing straight forward. Initiate the pose by gently pressing your lower back into the floor so that your tailbone curls slightly upward. Root down through your feet and begin to peel your hips away from the floor. Mindfully, roll up, vertebra by vertebra, and lengthen your tailbone toward the back of your knees. Tuck your shoulders underneath your chest. Interlace your fingers—or hold the outer edges of your sticky mat—and burrow downward into the mat with your arms. Continue to lengthen your tailbone and your lower back, and shift your attention to your legs. Align your thighs so that they are parallel to each other, and position your knees directly above your ankles. Keep your shins vertical. This is the way you set the feet and legs for Wheel. Breathe slowly and deeply into your abdomen. After 8 to 10 breaths, walk your feet away from your hands and slowly lower to the floor.

Free your spine In a comfortable, healthy backbend, your entire back—lower, middle, and upper—will have a similar degree of sensation. In an uncomfortable and poorly distributed backbend, parts of your back will have intense sensations, and other parts will feel dull. Most people immediately feel the sensation in the lower back (because it's more flexible and often bears the brunt of the curve) and less sensation in the middle and upper back. In order to bring the spine into greater harmony during Urdhva Dhanurasana, you will need to awaken the thighs and shoulders, and prepare the torso and spine. Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana with a chair and Bhujangasana will teach you to distribute the curvature of your back evenly. Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana, variation Support your weight on a chair in Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana (Two-Legged Inverted Staff Pose) to open your chest and shoulders, stretch your abdominal area, and encourage length in your spine. When the chair is in the correct place, this pose will distribute the sensations of the backbend evenly along your spine, providing a somatic -reference for what an ideal Urdhva Dhanurasana feels like. Place a chair close to a wall (not on a sticky mat), facing out. Roll up your sticky mat and set it beside the chair. Sit with your legs through the back of the chair and place your feet on the floor a few inches away from the wall. Slide your buttocks all the way to the back edge of the chair (toward the wall). Place your rolled sticky mat on the chair seat so that one end touches the back of your hips (against your sacrum). The sticky mat should be positioned lengthwise down the middle of the chair seat. Slowly lower your spine onto the rolled mat and adjust your position on the chair so that the bottom tips of your shoulder blades are in line with the front edge of the chair. (If you have a longer torso, your pelvis may slightly hang off the back edge of the chair.) Finally, press the balls of your feet against the wall and straighten your legs. From there, interlace your fingers underneath the rolled mat and place them behind your head. Hinge at the bottom tips of your shoulder blades, allowing your upper back to hang off the chair and arc into a backbend. Simultaneously root the balls of your feet into the wall by lengthening through your thighs as you reach your upper arms and elbows toward the middle of the room. Depending on your comfort in the pose, you can stay anywhere from a few breaths to several minutes. To come out of the pose, bend your knees and put your feet flat on the floor, place your elbows on the chair seat, and lift your torso up. Pause for a few breaths and enjoy the aftertaste of the pose.

Bhujangasana All backbends will ease open your spine and cultivate flexibility in your torso. But Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose) stands out because it allows you to strengthen and stretch the spine and torso without demanding flexibility in the shoulders and thighs. When you do the pose, focus on lengthening your spine and observing the sensations in your back. To begin, lie on your belly and place your fingertips in line with the middle of your chest. Establish the basic foundations of the pose by rooting down through the top of your pinkie toes, the base of your fingers, and the pubic bone (this will help you lengthen your tailbone toward your heels). Slightly dome your lower abdomen away from the floor. Initiate Bhujangasana by slowly peeling your forehead and chest away from the floor. As you begin to rise, create a "pulling" action by drawing your fingertips toward the wall behind you as you traction your spine and trunk forward. Complement this movement by reaching back through your legs strongly (avoid squeezing your glutes). As you continue to lengthen your body in opposite directions, draw your shoulder blades away from your ears and hug your elbows toward your sides. From where you are, take a moment to observe the sensations in your back. Do your lower, middle, and upper back all have a similar quality of sensation? Are they all working a similar amount? Make subtle adjustments in your body until these regions feel harmonious. Begin to intensify the pose by reaching back through your elbows. Continue to lengthen your spine upward and press the bottom tips of your shoulder blades against the back of your ribs. Lift the middle of your breastbone, widen your collarbones, and draw your chest forward. Breathe into your back. After 5 to 10 breaths, slowly lower your torso to the floor, keeping your spine long. Observe the sensations of your back as you appreciate the rise and fall of your breath.

Open your Shoulders Downward-Facing Dog and Chair Shoulder Stretch will prepare you to extend your arms overhead in Urdhva Dhanurasana by elongating key muscles in your shoulders, upper back, and arms. These poses also extend your arms overhead while keeping your arm bones externally rotated. It's important to maintain external rotation when you do Urdhva Dhanurasana. If you're not open enough to get this action, you put yourself at risk for damaging the delicate muscles of your rotator cuff. As you practice these poses, it's OK if your shoulders feel tight; begin where you are and notice the sensation of your arm bones externally rotating. Practice enjoying the process rather than trying to achieve an end goal. Adho Mukha Svanasana, variation This version of Down Dog will help unravel the tightness in your shoulders and upper back that can make straightening your elbows in Urdhva Dhanurasana difficult. To begin, bring your sticky mat to a wall. Come onto all fours and place your forearms on your mat, shoulder-width apart. Place your hands on the wall so that your fingers turn away from each other and your thumbs point to the ceiling. Notice how the combination of these actions rotates your arm bones externally. Root down through your forearms, lift your knees, and draw your body into Downward-Facing Dog. Step your feet far enough away from your elbows that you can elongate through your shoulders. If your feet are too close to your elbows, you will feel boxed in, and your shoulders will press toward the wall. Instead, lengthen through your arms and make a single diagonal plane from your elbows to your hips. If you notice that the pose feels mild, walk your feet toward your elbows until you feel a thorough stretch. Make sure that your shoulders don't move toward the wall as you step in. Now that you are positioned, focus on the actions of your upper body. Root down through your forearms and press your hands into the wall as you draw your shoulders away from the wall. Draw your hips upward toward the ceiling, and firm your thighs. Move the inner border of your shoulder blades away from your spine. If they narrow toward each other, you'll internally rotate you arms. But if you broaden, you'll get a much-needed stretch in your upper-back muscles. Without trying to change anything, observe the location and intensity of the stretch in your shoulders and arms. Breathe into the sides of your rib cage and feel your upper body expand. After 8 to 10 breaths, bring your knees to the floor and enjoy the ease of Balasana (Child's Pose).

Chair Shoulder Stretch The feeling of space and freedom in your shoulders that Chair Shoulder Stretch elicits makes rounding up the props well worth the time. Place the back of a chair against a wall. Fold your sticky mat in quarters and set it on the chair seat. Place a blanket on the floor two to three feet in front of the chair. Kneel down, and place your elbows shoulder-width apart on the front edge of the seat (on the folded mat). Hold a block between the base of your palms to keep your hands separated. Slowly walk your knees away from the chair until they are on the folded blanket and your shoulders are parallel with the chair seat. See that your pelvis and lower back are in neutral. Don't let the abdomen sink toward the floor, allowing too much curve in your lower back. Lengthen your tailbone and dome your abdomen so that the front rim of your pelvis is parallel to the floor. Now that your pelvis and lower back are neutral, you will feel a stretch in your shoulders and arms. Deepen this sensation by rooting your elbows down into the chair and gently squeezing the block between your hands. Lengthen your elbows toward the wall and draw the inner border of your shoulder blades toward your tailbone. These actions are subtle and won't amount to much actual movement. They will, however, deepen the stretch and inform your body of the nuances of the pose. Breathe into the sides of your rib cage and feel the expansiveness of your upper body. After 8 to 10 breaths, walk your knees toward the chair (keeping your elbows on the chair), and lift your shoulders away from the floor. Once all of your weight is off your shoulders, sit back on your heels and take your forearms off the chair.

Urdhva Dhanurasana Now you're ready to practice Urdhva Dhanurasana (Wheel or Upward Bow Pose) with more awareness and ease. To begin, lie back, bend your knees, and place your feet close to your hips. Bring your hands to the floor next to your ears, shoulder-width apart. Steady your breath. Inhale and lift onto the top of your head. Pause here, preparing the initial actions of the pose: Draw your elbows in toward the midline until they're parallel to each other, gently press the top of the head into the floor, engage your back muscles, and root down through the base of your big toes. Now that you're well aligned, lift up on an exhale by extending strongly through your arms and legs. Bring your awareness to your thighs and hips, focusing on the actions that you developed in the preparatory poses. As you did in King Arthur's Pose and Bridge Pose, lengthen your hip flexors by drawing your tailbone toward the back of your knees. This movement—though difficult in the midst of Urdhva Dhanurasana—will help elongate your lower back and prevent it from compressing. Complement this work by gently spiraling your thighbones in (while keeping your thighs parallel) and rooting down through the four corners of each foot. Next, shift your focus to your spine and torso. Remember, a healthy backbend is one in which the sensations are well distributed and you're playing your edge without overworking. Just as you did in Cobra Pose and Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana, notice if your lower, middle, and upper back each has a similar quality of sensation. Make small adjustments until your whole torso feels equally engaged. Continue deepening your pose by re-creating the external rotation in the arm bones that you cultivated in the Down-Dog variation and the Chair Shoulder Stretch. Keep weight on the bases of your index fingers. Lengthen through your arms strongly and press your hands into the floor. Although this pose takes a fair amount of work, practice being nonaggressive. Cultivate patience and acceptance where you are as you wait for your body to open. Continue breathing deeply for 8 to 10 breaths before lowering to the floor. Take time to savor the sensations after the posture.

Why we do Backbends

Whether they come naturally or not, backbends are well worth your effort. Here are a few reasons why:

• They stretch and strengthen: Backbends stretch the entire length of your front body and strengthen your back, arms, and legs. This adds up to better posture. The stress of sitting and of doing day-to-day tasks hunch you forward; when done well, backbends open the upper back and chest, and stabilize the shoulders so that your posture feels integrated.
• They help you breathe: Since backbends stretch your breathing apparatus—the diaphragm, the lungs, and the intercostal muscles between each rib—they can help you breathe deeper in daily life.
• They lift you up: Energetically, backbends are uplifting, stimulating poses. If your energy feels down or low, a backbend practice can shift your energy in a positive direction.
• They empower you: Backbends help you connect to the mysterious intricacies of your back body, an area that is usually neglected—out of sight, out of mind. Learning more about your body and its abilities is always confidence boosting. When you press up into your first Wheel or you balance in Scorpion Pose, you will undoubtedly feel empowered.
• The key to enjoying all of these benefits is to seek a pose that suits your body—you'll know you've succeeded if you feel clear, open, grounded, and pain free after practice.

Andrea Ferretti is Yoga Journal's deputy editor. Jason Crandell lives in San Francisco and teaches yoga around the world.

Tension can be a pain in the neck. Master these gentle moves to create lasting ease.

By Barbara Benagh

By the time Tatiana Makoukhina came to my workshop last spring on easing tension in the neck, shoulders, and upper back, she'd been suffering from chronic pain for more than a decade. In the early '90s, as a single mom newly arrived from Russia, Tatiana worried constantly about whether she could make a new life in America with her daughter. She put in long hours as a hotel cleaner—the only job she could find—and felt she could never relax, never stop working and planning. Her back and neck were constantly rigid with tension, she suffered severe migraines, and then she herniated a disk in her lower back lifting a heavy mattress.

Despite her persistent discomfort, Tatiana worked hard to manage her pain and improve her health. Athletic in her childhood—she had loved gymnastics, volleyball, and dancing—she began running and exercising again. Surgery for her disk injury helped with her lower back pain, and her migraines eased once she began practicing yoga regularly in 2002. Still, nothing seemed to banish the tightness, aches, and occasional stabbing pain in her shoulders and neck.

Tatiana certainly isn't unique: We all live in a world filled with anxiety. We race through hectic days and fall into bed exhausted; we fret over our bills, our kids, our jobs and the state of the planet, too. It doesn't help that many of us have lives skewed toward the sedentary, with too many hours spent hunkered down behind a computer or steering wheel. Our stress often winds up stored in clenched necks, shoulders, and backs-which eventually weakens our muscles, strains our joints, and limits our range of motion. The tension hangs heavy on our necks and shoulders, as unwelcome as a winter coat on a summer day.

It doesn't have to be this way, of course. The shoulder girdle is designed so your arms, neck, and shoulders can move freely and easily. Even if you have a history of injuries or have suffered from chronic tension for years, the approach I've developed can help you learn to soften your neck and shoulder muscles and restore ease and freedom.

When I ran into Tatiana a few weeks after the workshop, she was thrilled with her progress. Not only had the workshop taken away her pain but, even better, she'd been able to stay pain-free by including 5 to 10 minutes of my exercises in her daily hour of yoga. Her back, shoulders, and neck were feeling more relaxed than she'd ever imagined possible.

Do by Undoing

I developed my approach to relieving neck and shoulder tension the hard way. At 17, I was a passenger in a dramatic car wreck. My sister had cajoled and pleaded until I agreed to go on a double date with a boy I had absolutely no interest in. So I was pouting when I got in the car, and my date responded by speeding down the gravel road and missing a curve. I was thrown out of the car and vividly remember clinging to the Volkswagen's window frame as we flipped through the air. Fortunately, I lost my grip on the car and a bush broke my fall.

I recovered from the concussion, lacerations, and broken bones within a few months, but I ended up with a shortened left collarbone. Over time, that structural imbalance pulled my left shoulder forward, compressing my neck and eventually causing two of my neck vertebrae to fuse.

In my early 20s I began studying yoga, hoping to regain some of the fitness I'd enjoyed before my accident. I loved yoga immediately, but as my expertise grew and I progressed toward more demanding poses, my neck and shoulder problems restricted me and made me vulnerable to injury. My teachers noticed my imbalances, and with their help my alignment improved. But I still got hurt frequently, and much of the time my neck and upper back muscles were tense, achy, and tired.

I soon realized that my chronically tight muscles felt at their best right after a massage—relaxed and free of their accustomed tension. I began to think that if massage could release my patterns of chronic contraction, I should be able to find a way to practice yoga that could give me the same relief.

Fortunately, my search quickly led me to Angela Farmer, a teacher whose approach to yoga was much more internally focused, intuitive, and patient than what I'd been taught. I came to think of her style as "the undoing process"—"undoing" not just because it undid tension, but also because it focused less on actively changing your body than on establishing a compassionate dialogue with it, inviting health and ease into it and then watching, waiting, and allowing change to come.

Savoring how light and calm I felt after this kind of practice, I decided to experiment with ways to refine the undoing process. I discovered that long holds of passive reclining poses, often with blankets, bolsters, or other props, were key to releasing my tension. As I learned to relax in these poses, I began making the exercises more active, using muscular action to increase traction on one stiff area while maintaining an overall focus on release and relaxation. Finally, I worked to integrate these feelings of freedom and ease into my whole yoga practice; in every pose, I focused on practicing with the least tension and effort and the greatest comfort possible. This three-step approach is the core of my program for releasing tension in the neck, shoulders, and upper back.

Learn to Let Go

Passive relaxation exercises are the core of my program. Just about anyone can benefit from them, even those who've never done a single asana. These poses give you a taste of ease and comfort, a touchstone experience you can refer to again and again as you progress into more active exercises and challenging yoga poses.

Relaxing deeply is a sanctuary, yet few of us allow ourselves to enter it. It feels so good that you'd think it would come easily, but many of us are so accustomed to tension that we have to relearn the natural process of letting go.

The first step is simply lying down on your back on a firm, comfortable surface and letting yourself rest. Almost certainly, you'll feel your muscles naturally releasing tension because they no longer have to work to hold you upright. You may notice you spontaneously let out a sigh of relief.

To relax more deeply, though, you have to consciously build on these natural responses. The secret to doing this is to focus on the movement of the breath in your body, using it to uncover and melt away tension.

Begin by tuning in to your breath. Pick up its rhythm, letting your muscles relax into and move with its gentle rise and fall. Throughout your practice, let this rhythm hold your attention. Feel how your breath creates an effortless expansion and contraction. Also notice any places in your body that seem tense or immobile or unresponsive to the ebb and flow of your breathing. To help them release, imagine saturating these tight, dull areas with the easy rhythm of your breath; if that doesn't work, imagine your breath originating deep within your tense places.

Bringing your attention to your contracted spots will probably help them release. But if you're like most people, you'll also discover tension that's stubbornly resistant to letting go. When that happens, remember to be patient and curious.

Chronically clenched muscles can feel tender, sore, rock hard, numb—or some combination of these sensations. Let your awareness drop deeper and deeper into each tight area, getting to know its specific character. With your breath, ask your muscles to slowly shift from tension to release, from density to expansion, from hard to soft.

Once you've experimented with this undoing process, apply it in some simple reclining positions like the Neck Blanket Stretch and the Arm-under-Back Stretch. These positions use body weight, position, and basic props to create gentle traction on classic neck and shoulder hot spots.

As you explore these passive exercises, don't expect your tensions to melt away instantly. To undo your chronic patterns of holding, you have to learn to focus completely on letting go, and that takes time. Your undoing skills will mature with practice. The more often and more deeply you relax, the deeper your breath will penetrate, and the more subtle your awareness will become.

By starting the undoing process, you've begun a conversation with the residue your past has left behind in your body. Not only can the process lead you to much greater comfort, but it can also be profoundly contemplative and rich with insight. As you relax, you may discover emotions and memories that seem to have been locked within your tension. Years after my accident, I uncovered a surprising amount of anger at my sister for pushing me to go on that fateful date. The undoing process has led me to unexpected stores of positive feelings, too; when I began to practice again after a nearly fatal asthma attack, I found myself flooded with joy and gratitude.

As you continue to release chronic muscular holding, you'll sense that contraction creates subtle vibrations of mental unease, and as these dissipate, you'll discover that easing tension from your neck and shoulders calms your mind, too.

Tame Tension with Traction

Just as I did at first, you need to give yourself plenty of time to become familiar with the undoing process in the simple passive poses. Then begin to explore the more active exercises I call Arm-Across-Chest Stretch, Standing Child's Pose, and Easy Neck Release. In these exercises, you use a little muscular energy to create a bit more traction than you can achieve in the passive poses. But you should infuse these exercises with the same intention that informs the passive ones: Undo tension by finding fluid movement guided by your breath.

In these more active exercises, challenge your concentration by stretching right to the edge of discomfort and then use your undoing skills to release your muscles' resistance. Move slowly and gently, giving your muscles time to assimilate the stretch. If you work too hard or move too quickly, you can create more contraction or strain your muscles. But if you're patient and let yourself be guided by your breath, you can usually trust your intuition about how intense a stretch you can handle.

All three of these poses help you learn to separate and isolate the movements of your head, neck, shoulders, arms, and ribs instead of moving them as one stiff unit. In each exercise, explore how your exhalations can ease away your tension. Every few breaths, you may feel an urge to make a small adjustment in your position to create greater ease, expansion, and vitality. Be sure to make these changes consciously and slowly. This gentle, mindful work will prepare you for continuing to release tension even as you move into increasingly challenging asanas.

Work Hard, Stay Soft

When I began exploring the undoing process, I found that upper body tension usually sneaked back into my practice as soon as I attempted a complex or difficult asana. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. When we try challenging poses, we often engage not only the muscles that need to work hard, but also others that don't contribute to the pose at all. If you struggle to lift into an arm balance like Bakasana (Crane Pose), you may find yourself tightening your throat and grunting and straining. If backbends challenge you, it's easy to end up hunching your shoulders and compressing your neck. But engaging muscles that don't need to work never helps a pose. The excess tension only tires you, stifles the free flow of breath and energy, and makes you more vulnerable to injury.

Yet paradoxically, poses in which it's difficult to maintain ease in your upper torso muscles—twists and backbends, for example—can be the ones that eventually bring the most openness and freedom to your neck, shoulders, and upper back. The secret to making these poses your allies is the same mindful approach you used in the passive and mildly active poses: Move slowly and patiently, making the fluid rhythm of your breath your focus and relying on your awareness of sensation to recognize and undo the excess tension.

Twists like Parivrtta Prasarita Padottanasana (Revolved Wide-Legged Standing Forward Bend) and Heart like a Wheel and backbends like Kneeling Dog, Sphinx Pose, Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose), and Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog Pose) require strong muscle action in your upper torso, so you need to keep softness in your muscles even as they work hard. Softness isn't weakness; if your muscles are hard, you're sacrificing the subtle breath-driven movement that helps you distinguish between strong engagement and strain. Your active muscles need to be soft enough to allow these movements as well as the subtle ripples that reverberate through you as other muscles release.

As you explore more active poses, allow the large peripheral muscles to soften enough that you feel your support coming from deeper within. Imagine that you're a flower being opened by your breath. Staying in touch with your breath's inner rhythm lets sensation guide you to areas that are stuck or in pain. When you find such a place, modify the outer form of your pose so you can focus on its inner essence. If your shoulder feels contorted and contracted when you try to reach for the sky in a standing pose like Parivrtta Prasarita, for instance, rest your hand on your hip instead. If your neck hurts when you try to turn your head, let your head hang a bit, experimenting with different positions until you find one that allows you to release the pain and tension. You can slowly work your way toward the full expression of any pose if you're patient and grant the same value to the inner expansiveness of a pose—from which comfort is born—that you give the pose's outer structure.

Practicing with this inner focus can make painful neck, shoulder, and upper back tension a thing of the past. Tightness in your upper body may return from time to time—with my shortened left collarbone and fused vertebrae, I'm still prone to it—but with these tools you can loosen it before it becomes debilitating.

Moreover, the undoing process can transform your yoga. After this kind of practice, you'll not only feel as though you've gotten great exercise, but also as though you've had a good massage. Using this approach, you can move toward any pose in a way that leaves you feeling relaxed, light, energized, and radiant.

Barbara Benagh has taught yoga for 30 years. She lives in Boston and cofounded the Cambridge studio Yoga 301. Her website is www.yogastudio.org.

Connect with nature and enjoy being challenged by the elements when you take your practice outside.

By Lauren Ladoceour

Imagine your hands cushioned by the soft loam under a grove of pine trees, your feet resting gently against a sturdy tree, as you revel in the strength and beauty of an outdoor Handstand. Then, ouch! Your finger presses into a sharp pebble you hadn't seen.

Practicing in the great outdoors is exhilarating, but it usually presents its fair share of challenges: changeable weather, bugs, uneven terrain. "When you're outdoors, the surface can be slippery, or it can be moving if you're on sand, but that's the real world," says Twee Merrigan, a Prana Flow Yoga teacher who is based in New York City but spends many weeks of the year practicing outside in remote and exotic settings. "It isn't always a perfect wood floor with incense and a teacher. Outside the yoga studio, if a challenge comes up, what are you going to do? Freak out? Instead of waiting for someone to tell you what to do, you figure it out for yourself," she says.

Which is why an outdoor practice can be a resource for nourishing your creativity and resilience."We were in India, and ants were crawling all over my mat and feet," recalls Merrigan. "I made a choice to respect them, focus enough to step around them, change my practice a little for them. If they're red ants, OK, you might want to move your mat. But generally you can just let them be. They'll crawl off, and you'll be OK."

Adopting an attitude of curiosity is the first step to enjoying a practice out of doors. Gillian Kapteyn Comstock, a yoga teacher who leads yoga-in-nature workshops at the Metta Earth Institute in Lincoln, Vermont, suggests exploring your environment with all five of your senses. "Experience soft grass or warm sand underfoot," says Comstock, who wrote the outdoor asana instructions featured here. "Feel the texture of a boulder with your hands in Half Downward-Facing Dog Pose, or the rough tree bark against an extended arm in Triangle Pose."

Then, try to let go of your ideas about what your yoga practice should look or feel like, and see what you encounter. "Give yourself permission to move from spot to spot to find the natural props you need," Comstock suggests. "Think of nature as a yoga partner, and suddenly a whole world of props opens up."

Observe the natural world: the smell of the air, the feel of the wind, the sound of the birds, the shifting shadows, and your ever-changing feelings of eagerness, happiness, pride, vulnerability, strength, exhaustion—whatever arises. Notice your reaction to it all.

Finally, let yourself be spontaneous and have fun. "I'll decide to go for a walk on the beach, and—I can't help myself—the walk turns into a 45-minute practice of free-flowing vinyasa yoga," Merrigan says. "Yoga in the outdoors is doing what's calling you. Anytime I'm in an open field, I go into arm balancing poses. The yoga doesn't even have to be advanced postures. I might be in Half Lotus with a mudra. Or doing an Earth salute, by laying on my belly on the grass. Or break into chanting or pranayama. There's no set program—just taking a breath and seeing what inspires you right now."

Instruction by Gillian Kapteyn Comstock

Rock Solid: Standing Poses

From head to toe, standing poses such as Utthita Trikonasana (Triangle Pose), Virabhadrasana (Warrior Pose), Utkatasana (Chair Pose), and Tadasana (Mountain Pose) empower you to be present and engaged in the world, poised for whatever calls. No matter where you are in nature, the ground is probably uneven and the weather is changeable. On top of these distractions, the usual studio props that keep you balanced and aligned are absent. The challenge here is to stay in the pose mindfully in changing conditions.

Tadasana (Mountain Pose) Stand with your feet hip-distance apart and parallel. Spread your toes, and exhale as you ground the four corners of each foot, feeling your weight press down into the earth. Inhale and draw energy up your legs by lifting the quadriceps. After your next inhalation, retain the breath briefly as you gently squeeze your perineum and engage your core. Exhale and draw your tailbone down slightly as you lift up out of your waist. Inhale again and allow the chest to open and the collarbones to widen. Let the breath rise up through the neck with a gentle lift, free of tension. Exhale and roll your shoulders back and down. For this variation of Tadasana, you'll inhale and bring the arms overhead, palms shoulder-width apart and facing each other.

Find a point in the landscape at eye level and steadily gaze there while you use your peripheral vision to notice the light, ground, clouds, and whatever else is in your environment. Take it all in with a soft, inclusive view. Next, imagine everything that can't be seen with the eyes at the moment. You may sense things that you might not have initially noticed. Finally, concentrate on your inner landscape, scanning the body for sensations.

To come out of the pose, exhale and lower the arms to a T, pause, and release them to your sides. Relax, close your eyes, scan inwardly, and notice the effects of the practice. Open your eyes, and simply witness your experience.

Catch the Wind: Balancing Poses

Lift up into in Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose), Garudasana (Eagle Pose), Bakasana (Crow Pose), or Vrksasana (Tree Pose) outside among birds, swaying branches, and crashing waves, and you'll soon notice all of the movements that can interrupt your concentration and cause you to fall out of a pose. How do you steady yourself when you're surrounded by so much motion? Rooting down into the earth and keeping a steady gaze certainly helps. But it's your breath that will best steady the mind and help you rise high. "By consciously breathing, a whole world of awareness begins to open up," Comstock says. "Yogic breathing creates space for listening to the sounds of nature and noticing sensations."

Through Ujjayi Pranayama (Victorious Breath), you can call forth the sound of the wind, the very element that lends the sense of flight to balancing poses. The sound of air moving through the back of the throat may also help you concentrate and stay present. A steady mind, after all, encourages steadiness and balance in the body. So in preparation for a balancing pose, practice Ujjayi by contracting the back of your throat slightly. Imagine you're fogging a bathroom mirror with your breath, and let out a soft "ha" sound that begins in your mouth and comes through your nostrils. When your breath starts to sound like wind in the trees or ocean waves, you've got it. You're ready for takeoff.

Vrksasana (Tree Pose) Begin in Mountain Pose. Strongly ground the right foot and establish steady Ujjayi breath. Focus your drishti (gaze). With awareness, inhale, bend your left knee, and place the sole of your left foot, toes pointing down, on the inner right thigh. In the beginning, the foot can rest wherever you can most easily find your balance. Exhale and turn the left knee out so that it is in the same plane as the front body. On an inhalation, bring the hands to Anjali Mudra (Salutation Seal) at the heart center. After 5 breaths, exhale as you bring the hands with palms together down the midline and release the foot. Repeat on the other side. Relax and close your eyes for a moment. When you open your eyes, let your awareness include the many things in nature that balance—a bird's nest, stacked rocks—and simply observe.

Down Play: Inversions

Whether you're on sand, a grassy knoll, or a rough forest floor, the ground is sure to be a far cry from a studio's flat wood floors. Even the walls, mats, and props on which you often depend for many inversions are noticeably absent. I've found the best—and most fun—thing to do in these situations is to remind myself to not be so serious about my practice and instead take the opportunity to play with the slanted ground and experiment with using large rocks and trees for props. Did you ever turn cartwheels on the beach or do headstands on the grass as a kid? It's the practice of playful ingenuity that makes inversions like Salamba Sirsasana (Supported Headstand), Salamba Sarvangasana (Supported Shoulderstand), Setu Banda Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose), and Adho Mukha Svanasana(Downward-Facing Dog Pose) possible outside.

Most inversions take the body into adventurous positions. So before beginning, consider safety. For example, if you tumble, are there any hard or sharp objects you might fall onto? Commit to listening to your body with the utmost gentleness. Then let your mind relax and tune in to your childlike nature. Is there a tree to support you as a wall would, a soft spot in a meadow for your head, a rock to lay your back body over, or a sandy dune to press into? Make a pose up and add improvisational play to your practice. Maybe you'll find yourself kicking up into Handstand on a sandy dune or letting your feet lean against a tree trunk in Headstand. The fun of the practice is being as creative as nature.

Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose) Of all the inversions, this pose is perhaps the easiest one to playfully create structural variations and modifications to in nature. Try it on a sloping beach, stand on a fallen log, or put hands and feet on boulders and stumps. The perfection of the pose is not in the classic alignment, but rather it is in the dynamic play of the core with the extended limbs. So find what fascinates you in the landscape.

Begin in Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend). On an inhalation, reach out and walk your hands forward until the four corners of each foot and hand come in contact with the ground, boulder, slope, or tree you've chosen as a prop, consciously adapting the classical positions of the hands shoulder-width apart and parallel and the feet hip-distance apart and also parallel. Exhale and spread your fingers and toes evenly, which will help stabilize the posture.

When you feel grounded, inhale as you press the buttocks upward, and exhale as you extend the arms and legs. Continuing to breathe deeply, alternate rocking the left and right heels. Play with the inhalations and exhalations as you allow the head to drop down between the arms, and draw up the quadriceps. The shifting and adjusting of your body's play with the earth depend on your ability to breathe consciously. Breath by breath, make the micromovements that keep you connected to your inner sensations.

Lengthen the arms and lift out of the shoulders while continuing to press the heels down. Breathe deep into the abdomen, and then exhale, lifting the belly gently. Feel the dynamic opposition of the hands and heels pressing down, while simultaneously reaching up with the buttocks. And when you've completed your play, exhale and walk your hands back to a standing forward bend. Rest there for a moment, inhale, and unfurl yourself vertebra by vertebra back to standing. Rest and witness the world right side up again.

Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose) Begin with your legs extended in Dandasana (Staff Pose). For this variation, keep the left leg straight and active and the left foot flexed. Inhale, bend the right knee, and exhale, placing the right foot on the outside of the left knee. Keep the right knee pointed straight up and the right foot pressed firmly into the ground. On an exhalation, rest the right palm on the ground next to the right hip. Inhale and hook the left elbow on the outside of the right knee.

To deepen the twist, inhale fully, lift the spine, and exhale as you press the left elbow into the knee and turn right. Let the twist originate in the belly as you breathe. Hold the pose for 5 breaths and tune in to the currents of energy moving through your body. Exhale as you unwind the posture, and then twist in the other direction briefly as a counterpose. Pause in Staff Pose, and notice if there is an increase in flow of energy. Repeat on the other side.

Balasana (Child's Pose) Begin by kneeling on your hands and knees, with your knees hip-distance apart and parallel, and your big toes touching. Inhale and gaze softly at the earth before you. Exhale, and extend back so that the buttocks touch or move down toward the heels, the torso rests between the thighs, and the forehead sinks into the earth. Bring your arms along your sides and extend them out behind the buttocks. Turn the palms up. Inhale and lengthen your spine by extending your neck forward, then exhale and reach the tailbone backward. Allow gravity to pull the weight of the torso down, and feel your back widening and expanding. Breathe deeply and slowly for 5 to 10 breaths or more, completely letting go and resting on the earth.

When you're ready to come out of the pose, inhale, bring your torso up slowly until you're in a seated kneeling position, and rest your hands on your thighs. Keep your eyes closed for a few breaths, and then gently open them to observe your connection to the earth.

Back to Earth: Forward Bends

Forward bends like Janu Sirsasana (Head-of-Knee Pose), Ankle-to-Knee Pose, Balasana (Child's Pose), and especially a supine asana like Savasana (Corpse Pose) let you sink deep into the quiet of the earth. Outdoors, that means you'll be sinking into sand, grass, stone, or even mud. You might have twigs on your shirt or sand in your hair, but the moments of feeling the quiet vibration of the earth will surely make up for it. So choose a spot that feels inviting, and relax into any of these poses.

When practicing forward bends in nature, try turning your face downward and close your eyes. Imagine that you can see into the layers of stone and soil. Allow your senses to soften, and let the darkness behind your eyelids fill your consciousness. There's nowhere to go, nothing to do. Just be. Ideally, the meditation will take you down into pure space and empty the mind. More important, this deep listening to the earth is a way for you to commune with nature.

Nature's Spin: Twists

Twists are everywhere in nature: a vine wrapped around a tree, a river whirlpool, a snail's shell. In yoga asana, twists such as Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose), Bharadvajasana (Bharadvaja's Twist), Jathara Parivartanasana (Revolved Abdomen Pose), and Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) curl you in closer to your center. In addition to revitalizing the spine, they are thought to invigorate the interior organs of the body by increasing blood circulation there.

Many twists are done while you're seated or lying on the ground for several still moments. During this time, the mind can wander to the damp grass under your bottom, the itchy twig tickling your leg, or the sun in your eyes. Remember to breathe and close your eyes as you twist so that the rich sensations outside and inside have a chance to mix into your awareness.

Lauren Ladoceour is Yoga Journal's associate editor.