Camel pose is an energizing upright kneeling position that provides a deep stretch throughout your body and provides relief to your lower back. The Sanskrit word for Camel pose is “Ustrasana”, which comes from the words “ustra” meaning camel, and “asana” meaning pose. This posture dates back thousands of years and has been found in ancient yogic texts such as the Sritattvanidhi. Today, you will find Camel pose or Ustrasana in Ashtanga, Iyengar, Hatha and Bikram yoga practices.
Despite looking simple, this yoga pose can be challenging both mentally and physically. It is a heart-opening posture that requires a deep backbend. However, even if you can’t make it into the classic Camel pose, there are variations for beginners so you can tailor your practice to whenever you are in your journey.
Camel pose is a heart-opening backbend that provides a deep stretch throughout the entire front section of your body including your chest, rib cage, shoulders, abdomen, quadriceps, and hip flexors. It is a great posture for people with a sedentary lifestyle, as it can relieve tension in your lower back and increase flexibility in your spine by providing a bend that is the opposite of slouching at your desk all day.
People of all fitness levels will benefit from backbends like Camel pose. Poses like this stimulate the spinal cord, leading to optimal nervous system function and overall health and vitality.
To reap the health benefits of Camel pose, start with a neutral position and slowly make your way into the posture by following these steps.
If you are practising with others, never compare yourself. Everyone’s body and yogic journey is different.
Camel pose is an intense backbend that relies on the strength of your front side to control the posture as gravity pulls you to the ground. Never force yourself into a position: always go slowly and do what is comfortable for you.
If you are new to this posture and you can’t reach the heels of your feet, place blocks on either side of your feet or ankles. Otherwise, keep your hands on your hips or placed on your lower back with your fingers facing down. Experiment with what feels good for you.
Opening your chest is one of the main reasons we do this pose. If you are having a hard time keeping your shoulder blades together, consider adding a strap around your forearms. You can also add a strap around your thighs to stimulate the awareness of the internal rotation of the thighs.
Throughout the practice, notice if you have stopped breathing and resume it at a steady pace. It is common for new practitioners to hold their breath through challenging postures.
Another variation involves performing Camel pose against a wall. Start the pose facing the wall, with your knees up against it, then follow the step-by-step instructions to make your way into Camel pose. Once you have lifted your chest, push your thighs forward against the wall so you can feel how your hips should align in this position.
When you are comfortable with the full Camel pose, you can bring more movement into your yoga practice with a half-Camel pose variation. Once secure in your Camel pose, lift one arm to the ceiling so that each arm is placed in the opposite direction.
Then switch sides with each breath or hold each arm up for a few breaths at a time. To open your chest and shoulders further, cross your forearms and grip your opposite ankles.
Ustrasana is not only physically good for the body, it is also known as a posture that can provide incredible emotional and spiritual release on the mat.
Physically, Camel pose is designed to increase flexibility in the spine. It also improves digestion, energy levels, mobility and posture.
Camel pose stretches your chest, abdomen, quadriceps, and hip flexors, as well as strengthens your back muscles, hamstrings, and glutes. This posture improves circulation, nervous system function, and blood pressure.
Camel pose is linked directly to your heart chakra. As it is a heart-opening posture, you might feel emotions, anxieties, and slight discomfort swell up within you as you open up your heart centre. However, by moving through it you can achieve mental and emotional clarity to take with you off the mat.
The heart centre is related to self love, love for others and feelings of kindness and compassion. By stimulating your heart centre with heart-opening yoga poses like Camel pose, you will be able to let more love in and move towards a place of belonging, where you can give and receive love with ease.
In a safe and healing space, heart-opening poses can take you out of your comfort zone. It is not uncommon for people to experience emotion or tears when moving through this posture, so if this happens to you, be gentle with yourself and let yourself move past this emotional block. Practicing yoga is much more than just asanas, after all.
Always warm up before attempting Ustrasana. Sun salutations are a great way to gently lengthen and strengthen the main muscle groups in your body.
Camel pose is considered an intermediate level yoga pose. If you are preparing to start practising Camel pose, it is helpful to start with gentler backbends and front stretches to prepare your upper and lower body for this pose.
Reclining Hero pose gives the front of the body a deep stretch and opens the hip flexors. To start, move into a seated hero pose with your body in an upright kneeling position and your sitting bones on the ground between your knees. If this is too much on your knees, sit on a block. Then slowly lower your upper body onto your back to deepen the stretch in your thighs. If it is too much to lie directly on your yoga mat, then lie back on a bolster.
This chest-opening posture is performed by lying on your stomach with your toes pointed and then lifting your chest with your elbows pointing towards the back of the room, slightly bent. With this yoga pose, you’ll squeeze your shoulders together, lift your hips, and open your chest with a gentle backbend to prepare for Camel pose.
Bridge pose has similar benefits to Camel pose. To perform it, lie on your back and bend your knees at a 90-degree angle at hip width apart. Slowly lift the back of your thighs and your glutes off the yoga mat and clasp your hands together on the floor to squeeze your shoulder blades together. You will be more than half way to achieving Camel pose at this point.
In backbends, the core needs to be activated to protect the lower back. Perform this ab-strengthening yoga pose by sitting on your mat with your legs out in front of you and your back straight, then lift your legs and recline at a 45-degree angle with your arms straight alongside your body. Breathe through the exercise.
As with any posture, if you push yourself too far you could end up with an injury. Pay attention to how your body feels throughout your practice. If you feel any pinching or discomfort in your lower back or neck, then come out of your pose slowly. Never collapse onto your lower back if you feel yourself collapsing into the posture.
Don’t perform Camel pose if you have a neck injury. If you have stiffness in your neck, keep the chin tucked in towards the chest or follow the recommendations of a healthcare professional. If you are experiencing back pain, talk to your doctor before attempting this pose.
It is always best to learn this pose and other deeper backbends with your yoga teachers before attempting them on your own. At the end of your practice, take some time in savasana or “corpse pose” to rest your body and relax your mind. Remember that everyone is a beginner at the start, and you won’t be there forever.
If you have mastered Camel pose or you love deeper backbends and you are looking for another challenge, try one of the poses below.
This advanced inversion combines a balancing forearm stand with a deep backbend. For it, you’ll need sufficient shoulder and core strength. To start, find your way into a forearm stand, then bend your knees so they are shoulder width apart, and guide your feet towards your head.
Wheel pose is a total body stretch. It consists of lifting your body off the ground, so you are on all fours with your ribcage and pubic bone pushing up towards the ceiling. It requires a degree of strength and spinal flexibility but is extremely rewarding and invigorating when it is achieved.
Counter poses are advised to help balance your body after a particular posture.
This yoga pose is great for relaxation and gently stretches your thighs, hips, and ankles, as well as lengthening your spine. The bend is opposite to what you experience in Camel pose. Your knees will be bent, with your forehead on the mat and your arms out in front or along the length of your body next to your heels. Relax into this posture with your eyes closed.
Happy Baby pose consists of lying on your back with your thighs hugged in towards your armpits, your knees bent so your shins are at right angles to your thighs, and your hands holding the outer edges of your feet. Feel free to rock gently back and forth. This pose will open your chest and stretch your hamstrings, thigh, and groin.
Committing to your practice is one of the best ways to deepen it. Practicing Ustrasana daily, along with other poses, will keep your body supple and your mind clear. Explore the other 7 limbs of yoga (or our 7 Fs) and invest in yourself by signing up for regular classes.
Through regular participation and commitment to your own health and wellbeing, you will experience moments of peace, joy, acceptance, introspection, and gratitude. You’ll also be rewarded with tips and tools to help you navigate life in a richer, more abundant, empowered way.
Explore Yoga Seven’s online and in-person memberships to never lose sight of your practice. You’ll also have access to an on-demand video library from anywhere, on any device, wherever and whenever you want.
Margo teaches Hatha yoga with a strong mat Pilates influence. She has found that combining these mind-body practices offers a pathway to maintain an optimal level of wellness:
Yoga focuses on static strength, balance and flexibility, beginning each practice with breath work and completing the practice in deep relaxation.
Pilates concentrates on strengthening the body with an emphasis on the core.
Whether her classes are a mix of yoga or mat Pilates, or whether they are one or the other, Margo delivers an experience offering movement for the whole body, with options for beginner to advanced students. Her classes contain reliable yet dynamic sequences that encourage mobility and strength, as well as providing physical and mental tension release, leaving you feeling relaxed and clear for the day ahead.
Jesse has a wide and varied background in different lineages of yoga, having studied for over 10 years under many different teachers. He has over 700 hours of Yoga Alliance training and has travelled extensively, teaching and studying in Canada, Costa Rica, Morocco, India, and Sri Lanka and studying traditional Thai massage and meditation in Thailand.
Jesse believes that yoga is for everyone and aims to meet participants and their practice in the present moment, providing modifications for beginners as well as challenges and precision refinements for more experienced practitioners.
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Angie completed an RYT200 program at Kula studio in Oakville. Angie guides mindful movement with emphasis on breath and alignment, and encourages development of body-mind awareness, by drawing inwards during the practice and observing the activities of the mind and sensations in the body. Angie guides meditations inspired by eastern traditions, in particular Buddhism and Classical Tantra. May we practice yoga out of love of ourselves, in order to find the truth for the benefit of all beings!
Tommy started practicing yoga in the late 2000s as a complement to his triathlon training. He would eventually ascend to racing as a professional before a career-ending head injury in 2014. As a yoga teacher. Tommy combines his years of athletic training, coaching and meditation into all of his classes. He specializes in teaching vinyasa, hatha and yin for athletes for strength, performance efficiency, injury prevention, and recovery enhancement, as well as meditation to adjust their training and racing mindset. He enjoys teaching all levels and abilities and creates fun and dynamic asana sequences to challenge and help you deepen your personal practice.
Ginty finally listened to her doctors and started practicing yoga when a studio opened up just 100 steps from her home. Her aim was simple—to keep her body moving in spite of the natural effects of aging—but she fell in love with the discipline and opportunities for self discovery inherent in the practice. When an opportunity came to co-found Yoga Seven in 2014, she leaped at the chance of learning about the business of yoga as well. Coming late to the party (at the age of 63), she took her RYT-200 at the Jesse Barlow School of Yoga in Sri Lanka and continues to learn in both the practice and the business. Off the mat, she is involved in many ways with community theatre, and takes a strong interest in weird shoes, diet, and alternative medicine/therapies. In her “spare time” she enjoys gardening and cooking.
Stephanie DeBou is a Toronto/Mississauga based Yoga and Meditation Teacher. She has studied under a number of revered Toronto and International teachers, completing 500 hrs of yoga teacher training at Octopus Garden Yoga Studio. In addition, she has taken many specialized teacher trainings including Restorative Yoga and Functional Movement. Her studies have taken her from Vancouver to Thailand to India to deepen her yoga and meditation practice and knowledge. As a movement and a meditation teacher, she likes to explore the shifting spaces between stillness. Stephanie is passionate about teaching movement that can be a meditation unto itself, and meditations that identify the subtle shifts of the mind and body. She guides her sits and classes with lighthearted compassion and clarity, inviting all to explore the deeper aspects of their mind and body experience.
Yolande is quick to dispel the myth that yoga is only for the young, the strong and the flexible among us… she believes this couldn’t be further from the truth, and that the practice of yoga can provide a gentle and healing path to movement for anybody…or any body, no matter the age, shape or size.
Yolande believes our bodies deserve love and respect, no matter what shape they happen to be in! Human beings were meant to move and yoga is a gentle and loving way to do just that.
Yolande personally discovered yoga after losing a loved one more than a decade ago; it was on her mat that she was able to process her grief, calm her mind, and strengthen her body. She fell in love with the practice and decided to become a teacher. Yoga has transformed her life and nothing makes her happier than sharing it with others!
Claudette has been practicing yoga since 2006 and has been a certified teacher since 2014. She has always been passionate about fitness—an important part of her life that makes her feel better both physically and mentally. Her love of yoga began when she discovered that fitness was not all about cardio and strength. Her body was letting her know that it needed something else to balance things out, so she decided to try a yoga class to increase her flexibility. At first, she I thought “Ok, I enjoyed that but I’m not sure I was doing the poses right or breathing at the right time.” But as soon as she let go of the worry of doing it right, she shifted into just moving into what felt good and was hooked. Her training and certifications include Power Yoga Canada Teacher Training , Baptiste Level 1, Baptiste Level 2, Art of Assisting, Corporate and Private Teacher training, and Restorative Teacher training. She loves to share the benefits that yoga has to offer, both on and off the mat.
Jen’s yoga journey began in 2007 when she was looking for a space to slow down, breathe, and move. One hot yoga class later and she was hooked! Teaching since 2010, yoga has unlocked her power not only in her physical life but in her personal life as well, giving her the self-confidence to walk through life’s ups and downs. As a high school teacher, it has always been her passion to motivate and encourage others, and when she found yoga, she found exactly what she was looking for. Not only does she love the natural endorphins gained from the practice, she also loves the revived sense of happiness, peace, and strength she feels after every class. Through a combination or movement, intention, and music, Jen will create an experience that will leave you feeling strong, motivated and ready to take on the world!
Dave Grohl of Nirvana and The Foo Fighters once said “One of the great things about music is that you can sing a song to 85,000 people and they’ll sing it back for 85,000 different reasons.” It’s no less true for yoga…
All of us find our mats for a reason — or reasons — uniquely our own and those reasons are just as likely to change and grow as our practice does the same. That’s the beauty of yoga for me in a nutshell. I found my mat through injury, but as my practice evolved, so did the reason that I wanted to practice and then, eventually, teach. If I can find a daily practice after fourteen knee surgeries and an ankle reconstruction, then anyone can too.
I honestly believe that there is a yoga practice for everyone no matter your physical challenges or abilities. Let’s work on finding a practice that meets your needs and allows you to grow into greater challenge at your own pace, with a practice that is led, but still uniquely your own.
Sara empowers people to improve their physical & spiritual health. Her fluid classes focus on connecting breath and movement. Sara has a strong focus on alignment and functional core integration. She developed a keen interest in food & health as a teenager and has been eager to learn ever since. In 2006 Sara began teaching high school level nutrition. Next she took her 70 hour Pilates teacher training in 2008. After developing some severe allergies, Sara turned to yoga to help manage stress and her condition. To deepen her practice, she completed her 200 hour Hatha Yoga teacher certification in 2017 and began teaching yoga that summer. Sara is a life-long learner and continues to build her repertoire of exercises, modifications and therapeutics. She is a creative & enthusiastic teacher who loves wellness and nature!
The secret for Joanne, in getting through some really tough times, dealing with stress, and staying healthy, has been yoga. The studio became a saving grace for her – it gave her a place to go every day and that sense of community and belonging that she was missing – it became her home away from home. In addition to challenging her body and the fitness benefits, it was the sense of community and friendships, and the sense of mindfulness that allowed her to focus and brought her back to life. Inspired by what she had experienced and with the encouragement of her teachers, Joanne completed her RYT-200 certification in 2013. Joanne is grateful to her teachers who have influenced her attention to proper alignment, playfulness and honouring your own body. She has a devoted practice and passion for yoga that continues to grow and expand. Yoga had the power to transform Joanne’s life and beliefs and sharing yoga has become one of her greatest joys.
Joanne realized her life-long dream of becoming an entrepreneur when she co-founded Yoga Seven in March 2014. Prior to embarking on her first entrepreneurial venture, Joanne enjoyed a successful career in working in the finance, media, and entertainment industries. A long-time health and wellness enthusiast, she graduated with a Kinesiology degree from the University of Western. Joanne achieved another life-long dream when she completed her MBA in 2015 at the Kellogg-Schulich School of Business where she had the opportunity to study in Toronto, Chicago, Brazil, Germany and China. Off the mat, she can be found spending time with her family, swimming, and baking … pies are her specialty!