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If you happen to find Chaturanga Dandasana (4-Limbed Staff Pose) to be probably the most difficult a part of your Sun Salutation, you’re not alone. Many individuals flop and strain through it, hoping their alignment will improve with time and grim determination. Unfortunately, that’s wishful pondering. This popular pose requires attention to detail—including meticulous alignment and robust muscular engagement. Until you master the actions of the pose, a trouble-free Chaturanga will remain out of reach.

To wash up your Chaturanga, spend a while practicing it individually from the flow of the normal rhythmic Sun Salutation, where this dynamic pose can easily devolve into collapsed hips, a sagging belly, and splayed elbows. A sloppy Chaturanga is just not only awkward, it invites injury to the lower back, shoulders, elbows, and wrists.

One approach to practice the pose it to deal with holding up your body’s weight with props. With this support you may get a way of what the pose is alleged to feel like. It also helps establish a template for practicing the pose safely once the support is removed. Consider the props as training wheels in your Chaturanga Dandasana. Whenever you’re ready, reintroduce the normal pose into your practice gracefully and with confidence.

Motion Plan

Concentrate on engaging two complementary muscle groups that surround the scapulae. First, the rhomboids and the center fibers of the trapezius muscles on the upper a part of your back. And secondly, the serratus anterior and pectoralis minor. The previous pull the scapulae toward your spine; the latter pull the scapulae away out of your spine. The pectoralis major, the deltoids, the rotator cuff muscles and the latissimus dorsi offer additional upper-body support.

The End Game

Supporting your body’s weight with props lets you deal with alignment and muscular engagement—even for those who haven’t quite developed the upper body strength to carry yourself up. Over time, this sequence will reinforce good habits and strengthen your body, resulting in a safer and more skillful pose.

If you happen to dream of a graceful, unsupported Chaturanga Dandasana, incorporate all three versions shown below into your private home practice until your body gets the alignment, strength, and rhythm to sail through the pose.

Before You Begin

Practicing Chaturanga Dandasana requires some preparatory work to heat the body. Either stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose) or sit in Virasana (Hero Pose) and warm up your shoulders with Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose), Garudasana (Eagle Pose), and Viparita Namaskar (Reversed Prayer Pose). To prep the abdominals and hip flexors, take Paripurna Navasana (Full Boat Pose) 3 or 4 times. Finally, prepare your midback (paraspinal muscles) with 2 or 3 rounds of Salabhasana (Locust Pose).

Step 1: Support Your Chest and Abdomen

Why:  The bolster does the heavy lifting so you may align your hands, arms, and shoulders whilst you engage your scapulae, or shoulder blades. By supporting the burden of your body, the prop shifts your focus to the alignment of your upper body and the muscular actions of the posture.

How:  To start, place a bolster lengthwise in the course of your mat. Lie prone on the bolster in order that the highest is an inch or two lower than your collarbones. The bolster should feel comfortable and it should support the vast majority of your weight. Press the balls of your feet into the ground and straighten your legs.

Place your hands alongside your ribs. (You’ll know your hands are in the proper place when your forearms are vertical.) Raise the front of your shoulders in order that your upper arms are parallel to the ground and your elbows are at 90 degrees. Look barely forward to support the lift of your shoulders and chest.

Press your hands firmly into the ground (without lifting off the bolster), and feel the engagement on the front of your shoulders and chest, and the  back of your arms. Press your hands down and create a pulling motion, as for those who were pulling the mat toward your heels. This motion engages your side body (the latissimus dorsi muscles) in addition to the muscles that connect the inner and bottom borders of your scapulae to your spine.

Squeeze your upper arms toward your ribs. Imagine you’ve gotten a pocket filled with change between your arms and your ribs and also you’re loath to drop it. This may make it easier to fan the flames of the muscles that connect the scapulae to the ribs, most notably the serratus anterior.

Finally, firm your quadriceps and your abdominals, and take 5 to 10 cycles of breath before bringing your knees to the ground and releasing the pose. Feel the general composition and alignment of Chaturanga Dandasana,

Step 2: Align Your Arms and Shoulders

(Photo: Andrew Clark; Clothing: Calia)

Why: The strap indicates how far to lower yourself from Plank Pose and promotes proper alignment in your upper body.

How: Make a loop of roughly shoulder width and wrap it around around your arms just above your elbows. Shift your body into Plank Pose along with your hands barely in front of your shoulders. Having your hands on this position (as a substitute of directly below your shoulders) will fan the flames of muscles throughout your body, setting the stage for a healthier pose. Press down into the ground through the bottom of your fingers and the balls of your feet. Support your posture by engaging the thigh and abdominal muscles. Now you’re ready for the transition into Chaturanga Dandasana.

Shift from the balls of your feet to the guidelines of your toes. Bend your elbows and lower yourself until the strap supports your bottom ribs. As you achieve this, proceed to shift your upper body forward. Imagine that the movement of the body is like an airplane landing as a substitute of an elevator descending. The strap will make it easier to stop when your elbows are at 90 degrees.

Revisit the actions you worked on within the previous pose. Press firmly into the ground along with your hands and lift the front of your shoulders so that they’re in step with your elbows. Create a pulling motion along with your hands as for those who’re attempting to draw your body forward. Feel how this engages the muscles that line the inner border and bottom tip of your scapulae. These actions will pull your scapulae barely down and toward your spine. Balance this movement by squeezing your upper arms toward the side of your ribs, engaging the muscles that line the outer border of your scapulae. With these actions, you’ll strongly tether your scapulae to the back of the rib cage for a stable, aligned pose.

Keep your thighs firm and your abdominals engaged. Chaturanga Dandasana is just not a cushty pose through which to breathe, neither is it easy to sustain, but do your best to carry the pose for 3 to five breaths. Then lower down and settle into the embrace of Balasana (Child’s Pose).

Step 3: Lean In and Nice-Tune Your Pose

Why: The chair takes a few of your body weight, allowing you to fine-tune your technique.On this version of the pose, your body is at a 45-degree angle to the ground as a substitute of parallel to it, which supplies you greater leverage to maneuver into the pose and sustain it.

How: To start, place the seat of a sturdy chair against a wall. Hold on to the back of the chair along with your hands shoulder-width apart,  and step back until you might be leaning into the chair along with your arms straight. At this point, your body will create a 45-degree angle and your arms might be perpendicular to your ribs.  Lengthen your tailbone toward your heels, engage the front of your thighs, and draw your navel toward your spine.

Move into Chaturanga Dandasana by shifting further forward onto the balls of your feet (don’t attempt to go all of the approach to your tiptoes). Hug your elbows in and slowly bend them to you lower yourself toward the chair. Keep your chest forward in order that your elbows stay aligned along with your wrists. Stop when your elbows are bent at 90 degrees and your arms are parallel along with your torso. As you probably did within the previous versions, look barely forward, lift the fronts of your shoulders, and draw your shoulder blades onto the back of your ribs.

To release the pose, slowly straighten your arms and return to Plank. Repeat the transition from Plank to Chaturanga Dandasana and back to Plank several times.

Jason Crandell teaches alignment-based vinyasa yoga workshops and teacher trainings around the globe.