Backbends Safely: From Bridge Pose to Wheel

In one of my heart chakra classes, I announced that we were about to take “the biggest heart opener there is in our yoga practice, camel pose.” Then I heard myself and corrected it. Wheel pose. Wheel is the big one.

It’s also the one I see people rush. Wheel looks like a back pose, so it’s easy to think your back is the only thing that has to be ready. But backbends aren’t limited to your back. To get up into wheel safely, you need to open more than that:

Your shoulders.
Your chest.
Your hip flexors.

And you need some real strength and power in your legs. So this is how I build toward it, starting from bridge.

Yoga for your back, 60 minute class, woman in a backbend on a lawn

Warm up the front of your body first

I like to start backbend classes on my back, over a block. Place the block along your middle upper back, with the base of the block at the bottom of your shoulder blades, and lie back over it. If your block is tall, rest your head on a second, smaller block. If you only have a small one, put it between your shoulder blades and let your head rest on the floor. Then just breathe there, with your arms alongside you and your palms up. It’s a nice gentle backbend and chest opener.

From there, the rest of the practice is about opening your shoulders and hip flexors before we ask anything big of your spine. In my backbend classes, chest expansions and camel pose come well before wheel.

Bridge pose: your foundation

Bridge is where wheel starts, so it’s worth getting right.

Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor and your heels drawn in toward your hips. Rest your hands alongside your body. Press into your heels and lift your hips up off the floor.

A few cues I repeat:

**Knees in line with your hips, in line with your ankles.** Don’t let them splay out.
**Keep your chin away from your chest.** No crunching of your neck.
**Use your glutes.** Try clenching them and lifting your hips a little higher. You should feel your legs and glutes working.

To warm up, roll up one vertebra at a time into bridge as you breathe in, then roll down. Do that a few times before you hold it.

If you’d like to stay longer, take a supported bridge. Lift your hips and slide a block under your sacrum, the flat bony part at the base of your spine, not your low back. Then rest your weight on it. If you want more opening, you can take your hands underneath you, interlace your fingers and roll onto the outer edges of your shoulders.

One of my favorite things about bridge: you can peek down and watch your belly rise and fall with your breath. It’s a really good check on how smooth your breathing is.

Wheel pose, step by step

When bridge feels strong and your shoulders feel open, you can try wheel. You always have options, though. Bridge or camel are both perfectly good backbends if wheel isn’t for you today.

Lie on your back with your heels drawn in toward your hips, feet in line with your hips.
Flip your hands up and over by your ears, fingers pointing toward your heels. Your elbows point up toward the ceiling.
Press into your hands and feet and lift your hips.
Very lightly press up onto the crown of your head. Not a lot of weight there.
Draw your elbows in and keep your knees in.
Use the strength of your arms and start to straighten them.

That crown of the head step is the one I want you to take slowly. You are not going to plop onto the crown of your head. You’re going to gently place it on the floor. Then you draw your elbows in, so they don’t wing out, and press up from there.

The knee problem (and a block)

Oftentimes when we come into wheel, our knees start to splay out and our inner thighs check out. A block between your thighs is a great reminder to keep your knees in line with your heels and your hips. Squeeze it the whole time you’re up.

If your legs start to shake a little, that’s a good sign. It means you’re using your muscles.

Coming down

This is the other half of doing wheel safely. Slowly lower down onto the crown of your head, again without plopping. Then roll down one vertebra at a time.

Once you’re down, let your knees rest toward one another and take a few breaths. Then I’ll usually have you draw your knees into your chest and make some slow circles, or take a happy baby, to release your low back.

Notice how you feel afterward

Wheel is a huge heart opener. After you come down you might feel a lot of energy swirling around in your chest, or be a little winded. People can even have an emotional release in big backbends like this. When we really open the chest, it can feel like a vulnerable position. That’s normal. Come back to your breath.

And at any point in any backbend, if you feel discomfort or crunching in your low back, come out of it or lower down. Your backbend doesn’t need to look like anyone else’s.

Practice it with me

Yoga for your Back: Strong & Flexible (1h 0m 17s). The block warm up and camel, then wheel with a block between your thighs.
Full Body Deep Stretch Basics (1h 6m 17s). Bridge and supported bridge, with options for wheel or camel.
Shoulder Strength & Flexibility (58m 10s). Shoulder work first, then your choice of backbend to finish.
Spine Strength, Flexibility & Alignment (1h 3m 42s). Three backbends to close class, ending in wheel.
Heart Opening Yoga Class (1h 3m 15s). A whole practice for the front and back of your heart center.
Heart Chakra Yoga Class (1h 11m 28s). Lots of wild things on the way to wheel. It’s part of my free 7-week chakra experience.

If you’d like someone to look at your bridge before you try wheel, come practice with me at our spring and November retreats in Nosara. And if you’ve ever wanted to learn to teach poses like this, take a look at our yoga teacher training in Costa Rica.