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Yoga: Backbends & Arm Balances

19 questions · Health & Medicine

Backbends and inversions are yoga's showpieces: the head hangs below the heart, the chest opens wider than everyday life would suggest, and suddenly the arms carry the whole body. This pack walks through that world in nineteen stations. It begins kneeling with the two Thunderbolt forms, whose torso lays back over the folded legs, builds through One-Legged Camel and Bridge, the Inverted Staff and the One-Legged Wheel, up to curiosities like a bridge resting only on tiptoes and the crown of the head. The inversions appear in their variations: Headstand and Shoulderstand with lotus or bound-angle legs, the Unsupported Shoulderstand without any helping hands, plus the Stretched-Out Scorpion on the floor and the curled Inverted Tortoise. And because yoga is also strength, the arm balances close the set: Flying Pigeon, Sage Koundinya with scissored legs, the Eagle-Legs Handstand and the preparation for Eight-Angle Pose. Looking closely pays off twice here: many of these poses differ from their famous base forms only in what the legs are doing.

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10 of 19 questions with answers

Which yoga pose is this?

Yoga pose

Foto: Mr. Yoga · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Graceful Thunderbolt

From kneeling, the head lowers backward toward the floor: the thighs hold everything.

Yoga pose

Foto: Mr. Yoga · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Thunderbolt Pose

The upright kneel on the heels: the base form of the Thunderbolt and a classic meditation seat.

Yoga pose

Foto: Mr. Yoga · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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One-Legged Camel

The camel backbend with one leg climbing straight up.

Yoga pose

Foto: Mr. Yoga · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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One-Legged Bridge

The shoulder bridge with one leg extended toward the ceiling.

Yoga pose

Foto: Mr. Yoga · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Inverted Staff

A deep backbend on the forearms, the head resting between the elbows.

Yoga pose

Foto: Mr. Yoga · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Tiptoe Bridge

A bridge resting only on the tiptoes and the crown of the head.

Yoga pose

Foto: Mr. Yoga · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Backbend to the Heels

On tiptoes the torso bends back until the hands reach the heels.

Yoga pose

Foto: Mr. Yoga · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Stretched-Out Scorpion

The floor version of the Scorpion: chest down, the legs curling forward over the back.

Yoga pose

Foto: Mr. Yoga · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Tiptoe Pigeon

A kneeling backbend on tiptoes with one arm reaching up.

Yoga pose

Foto: Mr. Yoga · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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One-Legged Wheel

Upward-facing wheel with one leg lifting straight up.

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