Ask a Yoga Teacher: Camel Pose/Ustrasana

#3 in the series–Ask your questions and I will answer them!

Camel pose, or Ustrasana, is a challenging back bending pose. I struggled with it when I first started practicing yoga as I didn’t fully understand the nature of the pose. If you think the point of it is to put your hands on your feet, like I did, you might compress the lower back in an attempt to get the hands down. This will most likely end in injury. In this post I will break down Camel pose, plus give warm up poses, so that you can find Camel pose in the body that you have, without risking injury.

Like with every yoga pose you practice, please listen to your body. If it hurts, back off. Yoga should not cause pain, and if you feel pain, you are not in the correct position for your body. “No pain, no gain” doesn’t exist while practicing yoga. Your body is the boss, please listen to it.

Have You Ever Wondered What it Means to “Listen to Your Body?”

Warming up

As I discussed in the first Ask a Yoga Teacher post on Dancer’s pose, backbending needs to happen in the Thoracic spine (where the ribs attach), not the lumbar spine (lower back). Getting the spine warmed up ahead of time will make Camel pose feel better in your body.

Cat and Cow

Moving back and forth between Cat and Cow pose is one of the best ways to warm up the spine. I go over 3 ways to practice Cat and Cow in the video below (please ignore the sound of my dog scratching on the door in the background).

An important aspect of these poses is to move sequentially through the spine (which I emphasize in the video), from the pelvis to the head, while connecting the breath to the movement.

Bridge pose

Bridge pose is Camel pose, with the floor in a different position. Instead of kneeling on the floor, the feet and shoulders are on the floor, but the pose is essentially the same otherwise. I go over Bridge pose in the video below.

Camel pose

Once you’ve warmed up the spine, abdominals, and glutes with Cat, Cow, and Bridge poses (plus any of the poses from the Dancer’s pose post), you are ready to try Camel pose. I will guide you through different variations, working our way to the full version of the pose.

Feel free to stay with any of the variations, as you will get all the benefits of Camel pose no matter where you place your hands. The more flexible your spine, the closer your hands can move toward your feet. If you feel any discomfort in the lower back, stop immediately and return to the previous variation. You only have one spine, please treat it with kindness.

Camel Variation #1

Come to kneel with your hips stacked over your knees, toes tucked under. If this position bothers your toes, feel free to point the toes instead, lengthening the tops of the ankles along the floor.

Make fists with your hands and place them on the back of the pelvis, below your lower back. Your fists should connect with the bones of the pelvis rather than the muscles of your lower back. Alternatively, you can place your palms on your back, fingertips pointing upward toward your head, the heels of your hands reaching toward your tailbone. This will be a big wrist stretch, so choose your hand position according to what feels best for your body.

It can be helpful, especially when starting out, to do this pose facing a wall. You’ll really feel the legs and glutes engage when you do this. Kneel facing the wall, pressing your hips against the wall, then lift your chest upward toward the ceiling, peeling it away from the wall. It might not move that far away from the wall, and that’s fine. Feel the pelvic floor lifting as you engage the lower abdominals and glutes. Stay a couple of breaths, then move away from the wall.

Away from the wall, press your hips against an imaginary wall, engaging your glutes and lengthening your tailbone toward your knees, just like in Bridge pose. Activate the pelvic floor and lower abdominals. Squeeze your shoulder blades toward each other and lift your chest toward the ceiling, moving your ribcage upward, away from your pelvis. As you lift your chest, you will find an upper back backbend (thoracic spine). Imagine going up and over a giant beach ball behind you.

Try to keep your head in line with your spine, please don’t collapse your neck. Often times dropping your head back will cause dizziness, as it causes compression in the small vertebrae of the neck. It’s safer for the neck to stay in line with the spine. The more thoracic bend you have, the more you will look toward the ceiling, but that’s not the goal. You can also drop your chin forward toward yours chest if you lack the neck strength to hold your head in this position. You only have one neck…

Stay here for 3-5 breaths, then point your toes and sit on your heels. Don’t rest in Child’s pose until you are fully done practicing Camel pose. We’ll get there, I promise.

Camel Variation #2

If you are ready to bend a little deeper and have the spinal mobility, place a block vertically on the outside of each of your ankles. All the Variation #1 rules apply (engage glutes, pelvic floor, lower abdominals). Press your chest toward the ceiling, creating your upper back backbend, going up and over the imaginary beach ball.

Place your hands on the blocks, squeezing your shoulder blades toward each other, fingertips aiming toward your feet. Your elbow creases should aim outward (please don’t hyperextend your elbows like I am doing in the photo—SMH). If you feel any discomfort in your lower back, go back to variation #1.

Stay 3-5 breaths, then sit on your heels. Don’t rest in Child’s pose until you are fully done practicing Camel. We’re almost there…

Camel pose/Ustrasana

This final version of the pose requires the most backbending, and can either be done the like the photo at the top of the page with the toes tucked under, or like this photo, with the toes pointed. Flexing the feet with toes tucked under makes the feet a little easier to reach, and could be a way to place your hands lower than the blocks (depending on how long your feet are). Pointing the toes requires more of a back bend.

Remember, you only have one spine, and as you age it becomes less resilient. In any back bending pose, you never want to force the bend, or bend in the lumbar spine. You are trying to stabilize the lumbar spine (by engaging the lower abdominals and glutes) while creating the back bend in the middle and upper back, where the ribs are.

Begin like the previous variations, press your hips against that imaginary wall (engage pelvic floor, glutes, lower abdominals) and move the chest up to go back over the imaginary beach ball. Your feet will find your feet, elbow creases aiming outward, squeezing your shoulder blades together.

Hold 3-5 breaths, then release into Child’s pose (FINALLY!!) and lengthen your spine into a gentle forward bend. Stay in Child’s pose as long as you like.

I hope that helps! Please ask questions in the comments. If you have a yoga pose that you’d like me to break down, please make your request and I will do my best to answer it. Ask a Yoga Teacher comes out on the first Saturday of each month, and I take requests! Next month will be Plow pose with modifications.