Improvements to Curved Back while sitting on Heels and trying to get Back aligned with floor?

Question

You sit on top of heels. You try to get back to the floor straight while bending backwards. A picture is here. The ideal position has the lumbar spine almost touching the floor, specifically the vertebrae such as L4-T7 closer to ground. Anatomically, this is related to muscle chains connecting psoas, hip flexors, back muscles and tight hamstrings.

How can you improve the sitting on heels position with backwards bend?

1. What is the name of this position? Its yoga name? Its fitness term?

2. How to improve the position?

3. Is the anatomic analysis correct about hip flexors, psoas, back and hamstrings? How to find more specific muscles?

Answer 1

The position is pretty extensive on the knees. This video suggests to use a block under the hip not to damage the knees here where the practioner sits inbetween the heels (not on top of the heels). However, there are many different varieties to the position such as internal thights wide and sitting on heels here and sitting on heels with thighs side-by-side here.

For the enumarate list, I would say:

1. Reclining Hero or Supta Virasana that has easier version called thunderbolt, seiza or Vajrasana

2. Improving the flexibility all over the body is important such as hamstrings but also muscles around the shoulder scuff. Tight hamstrings and tight muscles particularly on the front-side torso can make excessive strain on the back such as here. So stopping activity causing the tightness can contribute improvement backbend. Also limiting training to times when body is healthy and receptive is crucial, things such as allergies and over-training can make ideal training damaging. Rapid growth during prenatal period can also be excessive to the body, a coverage here where legspan comparison between prenatal period and its postperiod: the pictures show how the proportions of body change from youth to adulthood, an important detail to understand. Also people mature in different space so the backbend must always be done with caution.

3. Wikipedia suggests that this improves "the extensor muscles of the leg and the deep psoas muscles that connect the legs to the trunk".