Yoga Position of the Month – August – Half Cat Pose

August 02nd, 2017

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For looking good in your Summer clothes there’s nothing better than improving your posture.  And it’s worth spending some time on your upper back and shoulders.  The upper back or thoracic spine area is often tight and by improving flexibility in this area your breathing will improve too – especially useful if you’re a runner or cyclist!

 Benefits

• Improves co-ordination
• Lengthens and frees the upper spine
• Expands the rib cage
• Deepens the breath

 

How to do it

The difference between full cat and half cat is that the movement is focussed in the upper back.  Keep your lower back flat – this is the area most of us tend to over-work, so for this posture we are keeping it still.

• Begin in an all-fours position, hands under shoulders, knees under your hips
• Breathe out first
• As you breathe in, lift your head gently forward and up, rolling your shoulders back
• Remember to keep your lower back flat and still
• Avoid putting pressure onto the back of your neck – keep it long
• As you breathe out, lower head and tuck it under and feel your upper back gently arching
• Try to feel the movement like a wave, travelling along the upper spine as you breathe in and out
• Repeat 3 or 4 times and focus on working with focus so that your breath and your movement last for the same length of time
• Kneel back and relax when you finish

 

Things to watch

 

• Work gently and develop a sensitive approach to the posture
• Remain focussed so that you can co-ordinate breathing and movement
• Ensure your weight is light on your wrists – bend the arms slightly if this helps
• If you feel pressure in your wrists, rest on your forearms instead or place your hands on small blocks and allow the fingers to relax over the edge of the blocks

 

Here is a link for more info about the posture including contra-indications: http://www.yogajournal.com/pose/cat-pose/

 

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