Position of the head and neck during pranayama

Hello John

Yep, there sure are a lot of interpretations of every pose! 😉

It is definitely much better and safer to keep the back totally straight through this breathing exercise. It is really only the neck that bends. Keeping the knees locked especially hard on the exhale will guard against that tendency to lean back or push the hips forward.

One little tip I would like to offer: when you inhale you are loosening up everything trying to get very tall and long. If your legs needs a little break from being completely locked out to just being firmly engaged, then on the inhale is the time to do that. It is extremely difficult to keep 100% leg lock for the entire Pranayama exercise. Engaged and firm is possible.

Just before you exhale, tuck your tailbone under to lengthen your lower back and make your entire back straight, lock your legs as hard as you can and complete your breath cycle. There is a straight line from the back of your heels through your strong legs and back right up to the bend in your neck.

As you mention, shoulder relaxation is also key. Thanks for your question.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Jesi

Thanks for posting! I took a look at the photo – well I think I was looking at the photo to which you are referring and I can see her thumbs interlocked. You are talking about the top photo aren’t you?

Yes I agree with Bikram (of course!): when you bring your elbows together at the end of the exhalation your thumbs should be crossed. I certainly couldn’t physically keep my thumbs crossed with my arms up near my ears. 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi again!

So which pose are you referring to because the arms don’t go above the head in Pranayama. Are you perhaps referring to Half Moon?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

:cheese:
It’s all in the wording isn’t it?

When you said arms over you head I imagined straight arms over your head rather than just ‘elbows up’. 😆

Now I also realize that you were looking at the photos on my other website quickfityoga.

Is it at all possible that your adjustment was to cross your thumbs when your elbows were together either at the beginning of the exercise or at the end of an exhale?

The most important thing is that you keep your fingers completely interwoven right down to the ‘webbing’. I am pretty sure that EVERYONE (without injury) can do that. But as you say, with differently proportioned hands the thumbs can behave differently across the board.

For example if I keep my thumbs crossed the whole time then my elbows barely get to the height of my shoulders (my arms get to a horizontal position). And if I try to get them up further then my shoulders rise up and cause cramping. This goes against the whole aim of the pose. I don’t have short thumbs but I have very long hands so there is no way to keep them crossed.

I suggest you start with crossed thumbs at the beginning of the exercise and then keep your fingers interlocked. Then as your elbows come up, keep focus on the sensation of your fingers contacting at the base. There is a gentle force you need to apply to keep your hands together at these points. This will help you create the leverage in the movements of this pose particularly as you coordinate the movement of the head and arms in unison. That force will help you open your neck safely and with control (because of the pressure against the jaw) and will allow you to open up your shoulders.

When it comes to your thumbs, allow them to slide apart maintaining that finger contact I described. Most people can’t keep them touching, let alone crossed. Robert for example, can get his elbows up and his thumb tips will JUST overlap. There is no way at all I could do that.

They will slide apart to some degree for everybody (anatomical fact – but willing to be shown pictures that refutes it 😉 ) so on the exhale keep those finger bases together and allow the thumbs to slide back over each other to be definitely and actively crossed by the time you have finished your exhales.

Part of the aim of the exercise is to open the shoulders and the neck and build control and strength in the muscles. You can’t do that by limiting the travel of your arms by keeping your thumbs crossed. Try it!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Just before you exhale, tuck your tailbone under to lengthen your lower back and make your entire back straight, lock your legs as hard as you can and complete your breath cycle. There is a straight line from the back of your heels through your strong legs and back right up to the bend in your neck.

As you mention, shoulder relaxation is also key. Thanks for your question.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

I was hoping you could help to shed some light on this in further detail…

I have always had full-body joint flexibility limitations (for which yoga works wonders), where I am usually unable to execute seemingly basic instructions regarding the manipulation of certain body parts. “Tucking the tailbone” is one of these major areas of concern. Teachers have constantly implored me to tuck my tailbone and I expend tremendous (and unnecessary) energy trying to comply.

Would you mind explaining this simple action in a bit more detail? Like how would it look in a mirror?

Thank you so so much for all of your help!

Andrew

That definitely clears things up a bit…

While no instructor has ever said I have a “marked lumbar curvature”, they do tell me all the time that the natural position of my hips is a bit peculiar…

In my attempts to “tuck my tailbone under” I find my belly protruding far forward. By constantly making an effort to suck in my lower gut at the same time I think I can approach something close to a stabilized spine like we’re looking for in Pranayama exhale.

In a natural sitting position, my lower back arches backwards noticeably making poses like Paschimottanasana extremely difficult, unnatural, and generally weird-looking. When I visited a sports medicine specialist he said that my tailbone just naturally rests in an unusual position.

I think the most trouble I have is with forward bends as a result. Trying to maintain a semi-straight back in something like Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose seems nearly impossible given my physiological makeup…

Yeah I didn’t really explain that too clearly.

My lower back especially seems to have a natural forward curve to it when I sit on the ground – the opposite of an “arched” back if that makes sense. For the end of the floor series, when we are on our behinds, my natural position is for my entire back to be pretty rounded.

It seems I have to really make a concerted effort to extend and lengthen my back and pull my chest forward in poses like Paschimottanasana to help counterbalance this.

I know this post was originally about Pranayama but I think understanding how my hips and back interact together in a pose like Paschimottanasana helps to elucidate things for me a bit.

Hi Senin

(Nice to ‘see’ you. Haven’t seen you for a while! :)) Well, whether this particular pranayama exercise is dangerous or beneficial does depend on the technique taught and used. If it’s feeling dangerous then it’s possible that the technique has not been explained well enough. In most cases, it should feel safe and even therapeutic. It can even make a sore neck feel better with noticeably better feeling by the end of the first (or second) set. (Waiver: There are some sore neck conditions – the more acute ones – where the technique needs modification.)

How is it for you?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂