Dhanurasana   
  • Beginner's Tip:
    • Sometimes beginners find it difficult to lift their thighs away from the floor. You can give your legs a little upward boost by lying with your thighs supported on a rolled-up blanket.
  • Modifications and props:
    • If it isn't possible for you to hold your ankles directly, wrap a strap around the fronts of your ankles and hold the free ends of the strap, keeping your arms fully extended.
  • Deepen the pose:
    • You can increase the challenge of Dhanurasana by performing the pose with your thighs, calves, and inner feet touching.
  • Partnering:
    • A partner can help you work on a preparation for Dhanurasana. Perform step 1 in the description above. Have your partner kneel on the floor behind you, with his inner knees bracing your outer knees. Inhale and lift your upper torso off the floor by pulling your heels away from your buttocks, but keep your thighs on the floor. Your partner should then take hold of the backs of your ankles. Hang your torso from your partner's support, but be sure that he doesn't pull you any deeper into the pose. When you're ready for more, lift yourself up. Your partner's presence is merely to support whatever lift you create on your own.
  • Info
    • 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.
  • Benefits:
    • Stretches the entire front of the body, ankles, thighs and groins, abdomen and chest, and throat, and deep hip flexors (psoas) .
    • Strengthens the back muscles
    • Improves posture .
    • Improves digestion.
    • Stimulates the organs of the abdomen and neck .
  • Therapeutic Applications:
    • Constipation .
    • Respiratory ailments .
    • Mild backache .
    • Fatigue
    • Anxiety .
    • Menstrual discomfort .
  • Contraindications and Cautions:
    • High or low blood pressure .
    • Migraine .
    • Insomnia
    • Serious lower-back or neck injury .
                   
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