Backbend Workshop: Unfold your Spine - All Levels
September 28, 2025 •
9:00 am - 11:00 am
Triangle Shala 10207-A Chapel Hill Road Morrisville NC 27560
Lucie Guertault
Lucie joined Ashtanga Yoga School of Raleigh (AYS) in 2019 after trying out different yoga classes. She quickly experienced the benefits of a consistent Ashtanga yoga practice both on and off the mat. She appreciates the discipline, mental clarity and hard-work mindset that she gains from her early morning practices. Probably influenced by her job as a University Professor in Engineering, she enjoys the process of researching challenging poses and coming up with strategies to improve. She is also a fervent Pranayama practitioner and enjoys reading everything yoga related.
She completed the 200hr AYS Raleigh apprenticeship in January 2024 and has been teaching mysore and led classes ever since.
Description
Join us for a heart-opening morning as we dive into the energizing and transformative world of backbends. Whether you’re new to backbending or looking to deepen your practice, this workshop will guide you in exploring these invigorating poses with greater awareness, strength, and ease.
Backbends offer a beautiful balance of expansion and grounding. In this two-hour session, we'll focus on safely opening the front body—the heart, shoulders, and hip flexors—while also building strength in the back body to create stability and long-term sustainability in spinal extension.
You’ll learn:
How to prepare your body for backbends through smart sequencing and key preparatory movements
Important anatomical principles that support safe and healthy backbending
Modifications and variations for different bodies and experience levels
Together, we’ll explore foundational and intermediate poses including:
🐕 Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog)
🦗 Shalabasana (Locust Pose)
🏹 Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)
🐪 Ustrasana (Camel Pose)
🌈 Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow / Wheel Pose)
This workshop is open to all levels. Whether you're learning the basics or refining your form, you'll receive individualized attention and tools to safely progress your practice.
✨ Come with curiosity, leave with an open heart and a strengthened spine.
Backbends offer a beautiful balance of expansion and grounding. In this two-hour session, we'll focus on safely opening the front body—the heart, shoulders, and hip flexors—while also building strength in the back body to create stability and long-term sustainability in spinal extension.
You’ll learn:
How to prepare your body for backbends through smart sequencing and key preparatory movements
Important anatomical principles that support safe and healthy backbending
Modifications and variations for different bodies and experience levels
Together, we’ll explore foundational and intermediate poses including:
🐕 Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog)
🦗 Shalabasana (Locust Pose)
🏹 Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)
🐪 Ustrasana (Camel Pose)
🌈 Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow / Wheel Pose)
This workshop is open to all levels. Whether you're learning the basics or refining your form, you'll receive individualized attention and tools to safely progress your practice.
✨ Come with curiosity, leave with an open heart and a strengthened spine.