Practice: Full Camel

The "Practice" posts are about progress and learning. The pictures and analysis of my own practice help me find areas that need improvement. 

Anyone who has practiced some of this pose knows it can be tough to assess your own progress while trying to bend your body and turn your face to the floor. 

The first thing that is different from regular Camel is that Full Camel is unsupported, so no hands on the lower back or hips. Quite the contrary really. Hands come in front of the legs, eventually the knees like a bowstring.

Once I can see my toes behind me, I stretch my arms over my head to grab onto them. I lower my head until it touches the floor. My elbows come to the floor, weight on the elbows not the head. Then I slowly walk my hands toward my ankles and my head into the bowl of my feet.

Once my head is on my feet and my hands gripping my ankles, I stay here and breathe. It is an intense front side stretch, especially in the upper torso for me. I have to improve the arch in my upper thoracic spine. You can see in the pictures that the area between my sternum and throat is not bending much.