Pose of the week

Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow or Wheel pose)

Benefits

• Stretches the chest and lungs
• Strengthens the arms and wrists, legs, buttocks, abdomen, and spine
• Stimulates the thyroid and pituitary
• Increases energy and counteracts depression
• Therapeutic for asthma, back pain, infertility, and osteoporosis 

Contraindications and Cautions

• Back injury
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Diarrhea
• Headache
• Heart problems
• High or low blood pressure 

In some ways, Urdhva Dhanurasana is the most important and fundamental backbend. This pose is the culmination of the work done in introductory backbending poses, such as Ustrasana (Camel Pose), Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog), Salabhasana (Locust Pose), Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose), and Dhanurasana (Bow Pose). Urdhva Dhanurasana is also preparation for the more advanced backbends, such as Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana (Two-Legged Inverted Staff Pose), Kapotasana (Pigeon Pose), Vrschikasana (Scorpion Pose)...the list goes on...

I wouldn't suggest getting right out of bed and hoisting yourself up into Urdhva Dhanurasana. Your body needs some preparation to do backbends without straining your muscles, skeleton, and nervous system. Standing poses, Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog), Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand), and Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm Balance) are all effective for warming and opening your body for backbends. Follow these poses with some of the introductory backbends listed in the previous paragraph to create heat and mobility in your spine and open your chest and groins; then Urdhva Dhanurasana will come more readily. 

The best way to go about this is to incrementally create the backbending action of Urdhva Dhanurasana. In the freestanding backbends, the actions that lengthen the spine and open the chest require muscular effort, but you also need to learn to soften your front body so that it can open fully. Practicing setu bandha (Bridge Pose) can help you learn to perform some of the supporting actions of the back body, so is worth doing in preparation.

A little rush of excitement (and a little fear/dread) always runs through the room when I say that we're going to do Urdhva Dhanurasana. No matter how imposing any journey into the unknown seems, you always begin by taking the first step. The preparatory work you do before constitutes more than just a step or two toward Urdhva Dhanurasana so you are already well on your way!

Lie on your back with your feet parallel, hip-width apart, and near your buttocks. Bend your elbows and place your hands near your shoulders, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, fingers pointing toward your feet. Don't allow your elbows to splay out to the sides; keep them aligned with your hands or your arms won't be in line to support you when the time comes.

With an exhalation, lift your hips as you did in Setu Bandha and then lift your chest and head just off the floor. Let your head drop back and rest the crown of your head lightly on the floor. Press your palms, keeping the base of the thumb and the root of the index finger grounded, and lift your inner shoulder blades away from the back of your neck. You should not feel any compression in your neck. 

With your head on the floor, press your feet into the floor and lengthen your sacrum away from your lumbar spine. Stretch your outer thighs from your hips to your knees, keeping your knees hip-width apart (engage the inner thighs). At the same time, draw your triceps into your armpits, dig your shoulder blades deeply into your back ribs, and curl your chest open.  If this is enough for now come down. Listen to your back at all times!

With an exhalation, lift simultaneously from your tailbone and from your shoulder blades to push up into Urdhva Dhanurasana. Synchronize the movement of your hips and chest. Observe those places that are dull or slow to move. If your hips are reluctant to lift, you can work with your feet on blocks against the wall to open the groins more. If your chest is slow or difficult to lift, you can work with your hands on blocks placed squarely on the floor against the wall.

Or not. Those who can't lift into the pose often think it's because they aren't strong enough. That's not usually the case. More often, tightness in the upper back and/or shoulders is the culprit. If you can't lift up, continue to work on preparatory poses for a while and see what difference they make. But don't get to fixated on the final posture, work at your own speed and congratulate yourself for which ever stage you get to!

 

Follow with a twist.

image belongs to gosia janik