Posture of the month: Urdhva Dhanruasana (Full Wheel Pose)
In November, we will focus on Urdhva Dhanurasana as our Posture of the Month - another deep backbend to continue our theme from the Dancer's Pose last month.
Urdhva Dhanurasana is the Sanskrit term for 'Upward Facing Bow' pose (from Urdhva: upward, Dhanu: bow and asana: posture), but commonly called Full Wheel Pose. You can also find it by the name 'Chakrasana'. (Chakra = Wheel)
As a big, wide heart opener, this posture has intense benefits, especially if you spending your days sitting hunched over in front of a computer, if you want to tackle stubborn belly fat, or simply and truly want to learn to open your heart more...
Symbolism and spiritual relevance
Practicing yoga, you have probably heard the word chakra (Sanskrit: wheel) before. In traditional Indian spiritual and healing systems, they are widely recognised as energy centres in your body. They are said to be slowly rotating in the locations where our nadis, the channels of prana (life force energy) meet in your bodies, e.g. the third eye, heart, sternum, sacrum etc…
But the wheel carries even more significance in India. Have you ever noticed that it forms the central part of the Indian flag? There, it represents the upholding of dharma (Divine law). In Buddhism, the “dharma wheel” symbolises the teachings of the Buddha as well as samsara (the never ending cycle of life).
Health Benefits of practicing Urdhva Dhanurasana
The Wheel activates your whole spine, along with your kidneys and endocrine system. This has a whole bunch of beneficial effects:
(1) Belly Fat: Too many of us have desk jobs these days, and with that comes bad posture. Sitting hunched over means that we accumulate extra belly fat, so postures that activate and stretch the abdomen are vital to counteract the negative effects of our sedentary lifestyle.
(2) Anxiety and fight/flight response: Practicing the Wheel helps lower your cortisol, which calms the nerves and reduces anxiety and a hyperactive fight/flight response. And who isn't dealing with those issues these days...?
(3) Stretching it out: Strengthens arms, shoulders, legs and chest
(4) Good for the spine: After sitting all day long, your spine will appreciate a deep stretch and bend, being able to fully lengthen and decompress.
(5) Depression and anxiety: All postures that place the head below the heart help improve those mental health issues, as blood rushes to the brain.
To learn more, join us at Flex for our daily practices in November, and watch our tutorial video below:
Want to read more about Urdhva Dhanurasana? One of the sources of this post has been a very insightful article by Jessica on healyourselfyoga.com
Want to read more about Urdhva Dhanurasana? One of the sources of this post has been a very insightful article by Jessica on healyourselfyoga.com