There are at least two instances when we raise the gaze during a typical sun salute: (1) we look up at the hands as we lift them overhead, and (2) we look up again during the back-bending part of the sequence, whether we take cobra or upward facing dog. While there’s something lovely about raising our sights, and looking up optimistically, we can be tempted, in a moment of inattention, to also toss the head back with reckless abandon.
Now, you don’t need me to tell you that tossing the head around with reckless abandon is a bad idea. If you haven’t been following the debate sparked by the “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” article published in January of this year, all you need to do is Google “neck + hyperextension” to understand the contours of the issue. The delicate structures of the neck demand respect. Enough said.
So how to respect the neck while saluting the sun? Here are some tips for keeping the head and neck integrated and aligned with the rest of the spine:
Avoid the kinky stuff. Imagine the neck originates down low around the heart region; as you look up, create a graceful arc from heart to crown of head so the neck doesn’t kink.
Make space. Imagine you have an eye at the base of your skull; when you look up, keep that eye open by lifting the base of the skull away from the top of the neck.
Look down your nose at neck pain. If all else fails, try shifting your gaze down the nose towards the ground as you lift into cobra and upward facing dog. Once you establish a new normal in the body, you can lift the eyes again.
Additionally, try the YTU Quick Fix for Neck videos to reestablish balance and stability to this important set of structures.
I like the idea of imagining an eye at the base of your skull. I haven’t looked up during my practice for a long time because of what I’ve done to my neck in prior years (ummm…. by tossing it around!). After reading this article, I practiced the eye at the base of the skull idea and liked how it felt. Thank you!
Thank you for the reminder, I too like the idea of seeing an eye at the base of your skull, it definitely talks to me. It is so easy to get carried away and tweak your neck in yoga classes, any extra bit of caution helps!
These are wonderful tips and agree hyperextension of the neck is easy to do in sun salutations if we are not aware. focusing your gaze with looking towards your nose in bujangasana and upward facing dog while heart is lifted also helps the concept of lengthening the spine and creating flexion in the thoracic spine and keeping the neck in a more anataomically correct neutral position to pervent the cervical spine from translating anteriorly when in chest opening poses such as upward dog and cobra. Thanks again!
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This is such an important point! Most people I see in class do hyperextend their cervical spine during sun salutations. I like to imagine the sun having “limbs” that depress the shoulders to open the heart and pull the head in extension 45 degrees towards the sun.
Helpful to remind students the goal is “to create space” in the cervical spine, not to jam the neck. Thus a slight 45 degree lift/gaze is all that’s required.
Yes, YuMee, so true! I immediately lifted the base of my skull while sitting as I read your blog; and wow what a difference. I will keep this awareness in many poses, performing it gently, of course.
Namaste
SO Smart. your 2 sentences of cues; ” Avoid the kinky stuff. Imagine the neck originates down low around the heart region; as you look up, create a graceful arc from heart to crown of head so the neck doesn’t kink.” and: “Make space. Imagine you have an eye at the base of your skull; when you look up, keep that eye open by lifting the base of the skull away from the top of the neck” . … are so descriptive and easy to visualize…Im doing it right now!
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super cue to imagine the eye at the base of the skull.
this is also a wonderful awareness to carry with us off the mat as we work to counteract the head forward position many of us use as we walk around the world. the drawing back of the base of the skull keeps the waves of the spine alive and well.
Imagine the neck originates down low around the heart region is an excellent cue to encourage your students to lift first their ribs then chest then gaze in a back extension. I always cue my students to keep their neck inline with their spine so if they can lift through the thoracic region then their head can lift higher without jamming their neck. In addition, shoulder blades gliding down the back will encourage them to lift with a long neck.