backbending

In order to stay flexible, I do 25 – 50 backbends like this every day. When I began doing backbends 3 years ago, I wasn’t nearly this flexible, (I couldn’t even do full camel pose) and I had to modify my posture because my shoulders were so tight. I trained with a coach so that my technique was correct, which is so important when you are doing high repetitions of anything. I do not recommend doing these without a skilled coach. You have to make sure that you are the appropriate distance from the wall for your flexibility, that your feet stay absolutely parallel and in one line, and that your thighs, knees and feet stay parallel. It is common that the knees and toes will open up in the beginning. You can use straps to help you correct this. I just used focus and a mirror to correct my alignment, and still focus on my legs going in and out of my backbends. Breath is also extremely important. You should never hold your breath as this tightens the front-side body and creates too much pneumatic pressure in the chest. You should have full lungs going in to the posture and then relax the stomach and keep the breath sustained and the ribs sticking out while in the posture. The idea is to expand the front of the spine equally from top to botton, to open the front of the body, hips and shoulders, from the inside-out.
The first thing most of us need to open up is our shoulders, which I do by pushing against the wall part way down and locking the elbows and knees. Do not rush this step as this is where you will really start to gain flexibility in your shoulder girdle. Once the pelvis and shoulders open up, you will automatically go all the way down, and in control of your muscles.
Once you master the backbend you can begin to introduce some variations depending on your coach or your intuition. Eventually you can do these easily without the wall, (I always like to do the first 25 against the wall, and then finish “free-standing”).
Good luck!