BackYoga challenge week 6
The Chaturanga Dandasana helps tone the muscles of the arm and builds body strength
PremiumNEW DELHI :
We are inching closer to the goal of building a strong core. Over the past five weeks, we have done the Cat Stretch, the Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward-facing dog), the plank pose, the Navasana (boat pose) and its variation, Naukasana. It is important to do all the exercises, and not just one, because they help build strength.
Hopefully, your core strength would have improved significantly by now, and your arms and legs would have become stronger.
This week, we will do the Chaturanga Dandasana (four-limbed staff), which helps tone the arm muscles and builds overall strength by working on the shoulders, pectorals (chest) and latissimus dorsi muscle—the “broadest muscle of the back".
Chaturanga Dandasana
This is a very challenging posture. Warm up with all the exercises and asanas mentioned in the previous weeks. Do a few shoulder rotations. Place your fingertips on your shoulders and then rotate the elbows towards each other and away—inhaling as the elbows come together and exhaling as they move away from each other. Repeat 10-12 times in each direction.
To get into the Chaturanga Dandasana position, move from a downward-facing dog into a plank.
The shoulders should be in line with the wrists, fingertips pushing into the floor. The abdomen is engaged where the navel is pulling into the spine. Your hips are not dropping towards the floor but are parallel and in line with the whole body, forming a straight line. The thighs are also engaged, pushing up towards the ceiling and not dropping down to the floor. Your neck is in line with the spine. Look at a point on the floor. It helps to maintain drishti, a one-pointed gaze.
Take a few breaths here, inhaling and exhaling at equal intervals. Ensure that your shoulders are pulled back away from the ears and pointed straight forward, not drooping down.
Start lowering your body towards the floor, as if doing a push-up. The elbows should remain close to the body, and not move outwards. Try and lower yourself in a straight line, not dropping your chest, and keeping your buttocks up. The shoulders should not droop, but remain strong and lifted.
Lower until you are a few inches from the ground; take three-five breaths here, and then lower fully to the ground, completing the asana.
Maya Rao is a certified Ashtanga Yoga practitioner.
This is the sixth in the eight-part yoga challenge series. Click here for earlier stories.
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