Bow Pose - Dhanurasana

by Yoga Journal

Dhanurasana

Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)

This pose is so called because it looks like an archer's bow, the torso and legs representing the body of the bow, and the arms the string.

(don-your-AHS-anna)
dhanu = bow

Step by Step

Lie on your belly with your hands alongside your torso, palms up. (You can lie on a folded blanket to pad the front of your torso and legs.) Exhale and bend your knees, bringing your heels as close as you can to your buttocks. Reach back with your hands and take hold of your ankles (but not the tops of the feet). Make sure your knees aren't wider than the width of your hips, and keep your knees hip width for the duration of the pose.

Inhale and strongly lift your heels away from your buttocks and, at the same time, lift your thighs away from the floor. This will have the effect of pulling your upper torso and head off the floor. Burrow the tailbone down toward the floor, and keep your back muscles soft. As you continue lifting the heels and thighs higher, press your shoulder blades firmly against your back to open your heart. Draw the tops of the shoulders away from your ears. Gaze forward.

With the belly pressed against the floor, breathing will be difficult. Breathe more into the back of your torso, and be sure not to stop breathing.

Stay in this pose anywhere from 20 to 30 seconds. Release as you exhale, and lie quietly for a few breaths. You can repeat the pose once or twice more.

One-legged balancing poses are difficult for me. Any hints outside of "just doing it"?

By Sudha Carolyn Lundeen

Since it sounds like you have been "just doing it" and are still having difficulty, let's use Tree Pose to address how to develop your one-legged balancing pose in gradual steps.

Begin by standing solidly on both feet. Press the crown of your head up towards the ceiling and pull your abdominal muscles in towards your spine. Draw your shoulders down and away from your ears. Anchor your gaze (drishti) softly on one spot on the floor or wall in front of you. Experiment to find the focal point that makes you feel most stable. Establish a smooth flowing Ujjayi breath.

Next, focus on grounding and steadying the body. Shift your weight onto the left leg and into the left foot. Then, lift the crown of your head up towards the ceiling. Gently draw the abdominal muscles in towards the spine, pointing the coccyx (tailbone) straight down toward the left heel. Lift the sternum.

When you are ready to take it up a notch, place the sole of your right foot next to your left ankle, keeping just a hint of weight on the right big toe and opening the bent right knee out to the side. Practice this until you feel confident here. Then draw the sole of your right foot up as high as possible on your inner left thigh. Press your foot and thigh into each other.

You can hold the raised foot in position with your right hand, extending the left arm out to the side at shoulder height. Or you can bring your hands directly into prayer position (Namaste) in front of your heart. Steady the eyes, breathe, and relax the mind. If you fall out, don't judge yourself. Invoke the "so what" attitude, refocus your gaze, ground yourself, and simply do it again.

If weak ankles, legs, or abdominal muscles are keeping you from balancing, building muscle tone will be very helpful in the long run. Standing postures such as Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II Pose) and Utthita Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) develop leg strength.

You can also work on core strength, stability, and spinal extension, in Tadasana (Mountain Pose), standing on the toes or on one foot. The key here, as in all basic balancing poses, is to be grounded in your feet and legs, steady and soft in your eye gaze and breath, engaged in your abdominals, and extended through the spine and neck.

Breathing in, rise up on your toes; breathing out, lower down. Gradually increase the time it takes you to breathe in and out so that you increase the time you are balancing up on your toes. When you are strong in this exercise, add single, alternate arm raises coordinated with your inhalation and exhalation and rising up and lowering down. Finally, do the exercise raising both arms at the same time.

To practice balancing on one foot in Tadasana, start by engaging the same alignment and focusing principles already described for balancing on two feet. Shift your weight over onto the right leg. Imagine the weight of your body melting down into your foot, going deep into the floor. Imagine your foot growing much much longer and wider, the force of gravity anchoring your stance. When you are ready, inhale and lift your left foot one inch off the floor. Pause. Exhaling, set it down. Repeat until that feels easy.

Then continue, lifting your foot a little higher, developing confidence and skill in small increments. When you wobble, check in and reestablish the alignment and focusing directions. If you fall out, so what! Take a full inhalation and a long exhalation, then start again. Be persistent. You'll get there and the world of balancing poses will open up to you. Don't be surprized if greater focus, concentration, and balance show up in other areas of your life we well.

Strike a yoga pose

@tampatrib.com

Published: June 6, 2009

Hyperventilating is not the only way to destress: try yoga.

"Yoga is not just a practice of poses, but of your breath work," says Pete Brill, a Dallas certified yoga instructor. "The practice of slow, controlled, rhythmic breathing helps bring down blood pressure, rest the heart, clear the mind, energize the body and relax the muscles. Combine this with some relaxing yoga poses, and peace and serenity are just around the corner.

Here are some poses to help ease stress: Do each one for a deep inhale and exhale of a minute or two, or longer.

Bridge pose

Designed to calm the brain, rejuvenate tired legs and relieve spinal tension. Lie on back with feet hip-width and flat on the ground. Press down with your feet; lift your glutes, hips, pelvis and back off the ground. Keeping arms flat, with shoulders on the floor, lock fingers under your glutes. Inhale and exhale.

Standing forward bend (at right)

Stretches hamstrings and relieves tension in hips and lower back. Stand straight, feet hip-distance apart. Exhale and bend, bringing crown of head toward ground. Stretch hamstrings, but not too tight. Put right hand on left elbow; release and switch.

Seated spinal twist

Aids digestion and opens up spine to release tightness and tension. Sit comfortably cross-legged. Inhale. Bring arms overhead and press palms together. As you exhale, twist to left. Reach left hand behind back to the ground. Put right hand on outside of left knee. Use it to leverage the twist to your left, taking your gaze over left shoulder. Repeat on the right side.

Salutation seal

Reduces anxiety and stress, calms the brain and clears the mind. Sit cross-legged. Relax shoulders back and down. Draw chin slightly toward chest. Bring palms together. Take 10 deep, rhythmic inhales and exhales.

Seated forward bend

Brings energy to the body, improves digestion and helps insomnia. Sit on floor, legs extended. As you inhale, bring arms overhead. As you exhale, reach up and out, slowly folding over your legs. Hold the position, making sure shoulders and neck are relaxed. Deeply inhale and exhale a few times. Inhale, slowly rising up to sitting position.

The Dallas Morning News

Heads-Up about Headaches

By YJ Staff

Conventional medicine treats headaches with aspirin or ibuprofen, but this only deals with the symptoms, not the causes. Tension headaches can be brought on by any number of problems, including bad posture, muscle fatigue, sinus infections, emotional turmoil, high blood pressure, and more. Some migraines, however, can be brought on by food allergies and chemical sensitivities, among other things. Headaches can be a sign of an underlying health condition, so if it is not a tension-type headache, seek professional medical help. If the headaches are of the tension variety, yoga surely can help. Body awareness can help predict the onset of a headache and stop it early in its course. The most common cause of headaches is the forward head position, with rounded shoulders, a curved upper back, and accompanying muscular tension. The first sign of a headache is often a tightening of the shoulders and neck. This contraction causes a reduction in blood flow to the vessels of the head, resulting in a headache.

Yoga poses that can be done at the desk or at home to relieve tension include Garudasana (Eagle Pose) arms to open the space between the shoulder blades, and Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose) arms to stretch the shoulders. Other poses to experiment with include Setu Bandha (Bridge Pose), Supta Baddha Konasana (Supine Bound Angle Pose), Supported Balasana (Child's Pose), Viparita Karani (Legs up the Wall Pose), and of course, Savasana (Corpse Pose), for total relaxation. In addition, Tomas Brofeldt, M.D., a doctor of emergency medicine with a special interest in headaches at the University of California's Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, recommends repeating the following simple exercises several times a day to prevent headaches:

Extend the arms out, parallel to the floor, palms down. Rotate the palms up. Pull the elbows in toward the torso as you bring the palms to the belly. This aligns the clavicles and scapulae, straightening the upper back.

Stand tall, extending the top of the head up. Pull the chin in with the eyes on the horizon, then bend the head forward. This stretches the back of the neck, adjusting the forward head position.

Sit tall on a chair, with the chin pulled in, and reach the right arm behind, taking the seat back with your hand. Lean the body away diagonally to the left, and with the chin tucked in and dropped, tilt the head left. Place the left hand on the right side of the head and pull gently to stretch. Repeat on the opposite side. A pulling sensation (sometimes uncomfortable in the beginning) should extend from the base of the skull down to the shoulder.