Hello Allison,
This is super easy to fix. When you come up from your left hand side Half Moon:
>> Bend your arms a little. This will soften your neck. The arms only need bend enough to feel your shoulders move down and your neck lengthen. You can feel how everything is free there. Waiver: If you have a sore neck then you will need to tell me so we can work on that because other contingencies apply.
>> Keep your arms bent while you drop your backwards.
>> Look backward. The tendency for people who have issues with this pose is to look at the ceiling or the hands, or worst of all – and because of fear – forward. This strains the neck.
>> When your head is safely back and you are looking in the right direction (!) first make sure legs are locked, then push the hips forward, then inhale and lengthen your torso and lengthen the arms (still with head back).
>> Then go into your backbend as you exhale.
While you’re going into and while you’re in the pose you will visualise tracing that line backward across the ceiling with your fingers. Where many get caught is by following the fingers with their eyes. Just imagine those fingers tracing that arc as you look backward (not up).
When you’ve managed to go back as far as you can and you feel any resistance in the neck, simply stop, bend the arms for a moment as you feel your neck relax again, lengthen the arms gently and continue on your path.
Come back and tell the world you did it! Hehehe :cheese:
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂
