We live in a world filled with back-contracting activities. We hunch over a computer to work, crunch our faces over our cell phone screens, and slouch on a couch to stream Netflix. This is why doing the opposite with your back is literally crucial to your spinal health… and why backbends in yoga are a practice that you should try to do as often as possible.
The upper back and shoulders tend to be the most ‘dead’ part of the body. Sitting for long hours, poor posture, and too much stress have a way of rounding the shoulders, collapsing the chest, and making the neck become tight and painful.
We very rarely do anything in our daily lives to open up this part of our body, and over years it becomes rigid. Back Opening yoga work by drawing your shoulder blades together and forward, so that your postural framework can better support our organs.