Social media is filled with impressive yoga poses that, let’s be honest, often resemble the shapes of pretzels. It’s often hard to imagine that your body could resemble any of these positions – or asanas – but with a lot of practice and patience, you can achieve the flexibility and stretches you desire, while also avoiding injuries. What’s important is to not put too much pressure on yourself to replicate the poses we see on Instagram but instead to tap into the rejuvenating effects that these poses have on the body when they are performed well over time. Sometimes this means practicing for months, if not years.
When it comes to aspirational Yoga postures, Urdvha Dhanurasana or ‘upward-facing bow pose’ as it is translated, is up there, along with hand-stands and Hanumanasana, otherwise known as the splits. These postures are often the stars of the show, tempting non-yogis onto the mat with promises of being able to bend and balance in a whole new way, and encouraging seasoned yoga practitioners to maintain a practice that makes these asanas accessible. Part of the traditional Ashtanga Yoga Primary sequence (where the posture is often referred to as ‘Chakrasana’, literally meaning ‘wheel pose’), Urdvha Dhanurasna is a challenging posture that requires both strength and flexibility, but patience and preparation too. A physical yoga practice offers us the opportunity to get to know our bodies in a different light and on a deeper level; it offers us a sense of inner and outer strength and empowerment, and it also offers us a lot of life lessons. If you’ve ever pushed yourself too hard into a posture, or attempted a challenging posture without preparing your body first, you’ll know that being patient, humble, and non-attached to the outcome are just some of the keys to being able to comfortably and confidently practice challenging yoga postures. Read on for five tips on working towards Urdvha Dhanurasna:
Start simple
Feeling confident in a challenging backbend requires us to feel comfortable in more relatively accessible postures first. Practice postures such as bridge pose, cobra, upward facing dog, Virasana, deep lunges, and Ustrasana (camel pose) and a supported reclined Virasana. These will all help to get your body and mind accustomed to backbends, and the challenge of opening tight hip flexor and chest muscles. Include these postures regularly in your practice, using props wherever you need – support underneath the back from a block or bolster can work like magic for opening the chest and heart space.
Consistency is key
A yoga practice once a week is a wonderful thing, but very often, we notice the real benefits when we’re consistent with a meditation practice or physical sequence. Whilst it’s not necessary to practice physical yoga postures every day (after all, meditation and simply practicing being present and peaceful in the world are forms of yoga!), if you can practice working towards an asana you’re aiming for three-to-five times a week, your body will start to adapt and change. How we spend the majority of our day can have an impact too; if you want to work towards a backbend, make sure you’re keeping your chest open and your spine tall throughout the day instead of hunching over your laptop. If your hip flexors are prone to gathering tension, try sitting on the floor to work, using bolsters to support you, or choosing to take a walking coffee break instead of sitting down for long periods of time.
Do the prep work
Preparation is key for any challenging posture, and other than staying consistent, there are some specifics we can include to help open and prepare the body for Urdvha Dhanuarasna. When you want to prepare a sequence to move towards a ‘peak posture’ like this, think about which parts of the body need to be lengthened or released, and which need to be strengthened or stabilised. For this posture, the wrists, shoulders, chest, abdomen, hip flexors, and thighs all need to be lengthened, whilst the spine needs to be mobilised to create an even, spacious arch, and the legs, arms and spinal muscles need to be strong. Make sure you warm up your wrists, practice with the help of props when needed, and think of the postures you can include in your sequence as you work towards Urdvha Dhanuarasana (hint: they were mentioned in tip #1!)
Breathe and be calm
Our breath is always communicating with our nervous system. When we breathe in a short and shallow way, it signals to the body and brain that something is wrong, and we begin to experience a stress response. When we’re stressed, our muscles are more tense, and whichever position we’re in is deemed as unsafe. If we can breathe in a calm, slow rhythm however, it’s like telling our nervous system everything is A-OK, and the posture we’re in is a safe place to be. When practicing your backbends, make sure you’re being mindful of your breathing, especially when approaching more challenging postures.
Practice non-attachment
Whilst the spiritual text the Yoga Sutras focuses primarily on the workings of the mind and the path to Samadhi or ‘bliss’, there are many verses that can give guidance on how we practice physically too. Verse 1.2 speaks of Abhyasa and Vairagya, a concept that teaches us about focussing on the moment at hand, and not what we might attain from it. Abhyasa refers to a consistent and diligent practice, that even when times get tough, we maintain a commitment to. Vairagya refers to ‘non-attachment’, and can even be translated as ‘dispassion’, implying that whether our practice is fruitful or not shouldn’t be our only concern. When we focus too much on the end ‘goal’, we miss the opportunity to be present for the journey, and everything we learn on the way. Don’t get caught up in the end result, but enjoy your practice and stay consistent.
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