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I have been doing yoga for a while and I wondered if anyone had any tips about binding in twisting poses. I find it really hard to grab my figers/hands behind my back and if I do I am bent over much more than I am if I don't bind and it's difficult to breathe. I think my arms are too short . Can anyone give me tips how to do this. I don't feel like I'm progressing in this area at all!

Hi Jen - I'd be in favour of being able to breathe and having an aligned spine.

Plus if you bend over in order to get the grip... besides constricting your breathing, you'd 'scrunch' instead of twist, perhaps tilt your pelvis out of whack and probably twist in all the wrong places

In conclusion, twist comfortably , maybe using a strap when you can. Don't worry about the full grip; place your hands wherever is most beneficial for supporting the alignment of your spine in the twist you're doing. You may have to use a block or something, experiment, ask your teacher.
Concentrate on how it feels inside.

Also, some shoulder rotations and stretches, plus your chest openers and arm stretches.... essentially the other poses that work on the torso, shoulders and arms will in time help you naturally attain a state where you won't have to force yourself unnaturally into the twist.

Pushing boundaries Force

The full posture is the ideal I suppose but - function over form any day of the week.

Back me up people!!

Consider yourself backed up, Gomukha,
I really struggle in twists, but if you can't breathe you've gone way to far, so leave the extreme binding to those with rubber hips and stick to what's comfortable.
T/boy

I can only agree.
And interestingly, I had a similar experience in the last class I attended. In marichiasana everybody was trying so hard to bind the hands when the teacher said: if you compensate the twist by binding, it's a pure ego thing!
How humbling and spot on!

Binding - I DREAM of being able to bind I guess its not going to happen in this lifetime anyway.

Totally agree Viparita and the rest of you - Jen ask yourself, why is this important to you?

It's important because I feel like I've been doing yoga a while and I want to feel like I'm improving! This may not be very yogic, but it's the truth!!!