The bow pose is one of the most famous and beneficial poses of yoga. This pose is traditionally identified as the “Dhanurasana,” which is a Sanskrit word. Yoga has been a part of India’s Yogi culture for a very long time, and it can be seen as the country of origin.
In today’s time, not only the people of India but also all the other parts of the world are acknowledging its benefits. Yoga is gaining popularity1 because most yoga poses are very easy to perform. If we want to workout, we need to go to the gym, but it is completely different in the case of yoga.
Yoga poses, or asanas, help one gain incredible flexibility and strength. One can perform yoga poses every day without any worries. If one asks what is the best time to do some, then it would be in the morning. Yoga is not gender biased because anyone of any gender can perform yoga poses.
Some yoga poses are really easy, but some require effort and time. If someone wants to improve their flexibility, yoga is best for them.
In this article, we will discuss the bow pose or the Dhanurasna. We will also learn some facts about the bow pose and what precautions we should take when performing this yoga pose.
1. What is Yoga?
Before we learn about different yoga poses it is very important to learn what yoga is. To keep it really simple, one can say that yoga is an exercise that provides the needed balance between the mind and the body. It has posed to relax our body and practices like meditation to keep us calm and give us the ability to think rationally.
People in earlier times used to perform these poses with full concentration in search of spirituality. In today’s world, individuals use yoga poses to concentrate better on their life goals, to think rationally, and to keep their minds calm all the time.
2. What is a Bow Pose or Dhanurasana?
A bow pose is a type of yoga asana that anyone can perform. However, it can be a little challenging for newbies to perform this pose easily without difficulty. This pose can also be a little difficult for people suffering from obesity, but with some practice, everyone can achieve it.
This pose mainly deals with our abdominal problems, and strengths are core because all the weight gets on your stomach. It can help you with long-lasting back pain. The bow pose stretches our whole body along with our back, which is left behind in many exercises.
As the time changed, people started doing indoor work in offices more than outdoor work. And to work in an office we have to sit on the same chair for more than 7 to 10 hours which can affect our back in a very bad way.
Even kids now have to work from devices while sitting in front of them for very long hours. The bow pose can help us in many different ways, and in the next part of this article, we will discuss some of its main benefits.
3. A Simple Guide to Perform the Bow Pose
It is a growing field worldwide, so people might wonder about the proper way to practice different yoga poses. Here, I will give you a guide to performing the bow pose perfectly.
1. Take a yoga mat and lay it down on the floor. If anyone doesn’t have a yoga mat at the moment, they can use any cloth to start. Lay down on the mat, then roll onto your stomach, and now you are facing the mat or floor.
2. Now, turn your hands, and your palms should be facing the ceiling. Keep your legs straight, too, and your chin should be touching the floor.
3. Now, try to put your legs on your butt. There should be a distance of your hips width between both your knees.
4. In this step, try to hold both of your legs and your hands at the same time. Now, try to stretch towards the ceiling. You might feel some tension in the front of your thighs, which is a positive sign that you are doing it correctly.
5. Try to keep your head inclined backward, too. It is beneficial to stretch your neck muscles. Keep your mouth closed during the process, and breathe through your nostrils only.
6. Try to stay in the same position for about half a minute and then release it gently. Make sure to be slow while leaving asana to avoid the risk of any hamstring pull. Continuously breathe during the process, but if you want to increase the difficulty and get maximum benefit, you should hold your breath when you are in the bow pose.
4. Health Benefits of Doing Bow Pose Everyday
Let’s talk about some magical benefits of doing the bow pose.
- To properly perform a bow pose, you need to hold your feet with your hands on the back of your body and lift them. Some people find it very difficult to even raise their thighs above the ground because they have zero flexibility. If we perform this pose every day, it will start showing noticeable results. This bow pose can help us to stretch our thighs and hamstrings.
- In the bow pose, your whole body weight is solely on your stomach or core. This pose can help us build core strength and resolve abdominal issues naturally. Women suffering from menstrual imbalance should also try this, as it can solve the issue.
- If you sit in front of their computer screens all day for any reason can feel some tension in the back of their neck and back. To release this tension, it is a very good exercise. Our back needs to be stretched out to improve the body posture as it stretches both shoulder and back muscles together.
- Bow pose also gets the back muscles toned and more structured. Along with all the benefits, it also helps improve the digestive system. This pose can help with your calves, too, because it stretches the whole body at the very same time.
5. Some Quick Tips for the Newbies
It is never too late to start something new. In this section of the article, we will talk about the things that can help the newbies to easily do a bow pose.
If you are new to this field and have never done any stretching, then you should take it a little easy. Nobody should get hurt while trying to learn something because it can affect their interest negatively. You should start with simple stretches like cobra stretch.
To do this pose, you need to lie down on a sheet on your stomach and lie flat. Then, put both of your hands on the level of your chest. Slowly push your hands, and your torso will be in the air. Hold it for about 10 seconds, and then come back to the ground very slowly. Keep your neck stretched to remove the pain from the back of the neck.
There is something else that one can do, which is to lie down on the ground on their stomach. Then, put both of your hands in the direction of your body. Instead of pulling your legs with both hands, hold only the right leg with the right hand. It can be a pretty simple exercise to begin with. Then, repeat the same process with the left side of the body.
6. Yoga Straps
If you are not able to pull your legs even a little from the ground, then you might need a yoga strap. A yoga strap is a round stretchable band that is used in many different exercises to increase the difficulty. So, if you want to use it to do the bow pose successfully, you need to lie flat on the surface.
After this, attach the yoga strap to both your feet and try to hold it with your hands. Then, pull it from above your head as much as you possibly can. Stay in the pose for around 5-10 seconds and release. If you make it a habit, then in a very few days, you will be able to mark the difference.
There is another way to do it, and that is to use a towel roll or some other cloth folded in a round shape. Take the position to do the pose and ask your partner to put that roll right below your knees. Try to maintain the position for at least 10 seconds and then release. It is also beneficial to make good things an everyday habit.
7. Who Should Avoid Doing It?
Although doing yoga is good for everyone, some people still should not do it because of health conditions. Here, we will discuss this a little. Not all pregnant ladies should perform this because the pressure is on the stomach. People dealing with high blood pressure should also try to avoid using it because It increases our heartbeat. If you have some chronic health issues should also try to avoid doing it, and if you are facing any abdominal issues at the time, then avoid doing it.
8. Risks of Doing Bow Yoga
There are a few risks if you do something the wrong way or do something wrong. Let’s discuss the risks in detail. If you are not flexible enough to do it and do not do any stretches beforehand, it can harm you.
If you force your body too much, then it can pull your hamstring and cause you some other pain. You can avoid anything bad from happening if you stay a little careful and do every pose slowly.
9. Wrapping up the Journey
In this article, we talked about the origin of yoga and how yoga first came into existence in India. All the yoga pose names are derived from the Sanskrit language. People of India have been performing yoga for the last 5000 years,2 and people around the world are now gaining interest in it. We talked about yoga as an exercise that improves our physical and mental health.
Meditation is a form of yoga, and it can help you in many situations where you need to stay calm and make rational life decisions. Here, we briefly discussed the bow pose or dhanurasana 3and the right way to do it. There are many benefits to doing a bow pose, such as improving your body posture. It can help you with double chin and neck pain. It is also beneficial for your back and thighs.
We also discussed how newbies can start doing the bow pose. This article discusses the possible risks of doing this yoga pose and the importance of physical activity in our everyday lives. Even if only for 30 minutes, we should move our bodies daily to stay healthy longer. And it can also be really good to do yoga early in the morning when the air is pure.
- Smith, Sabrina, and Matthew Atencio. ““Yoga is yoga. Yoga is everywhere. You either practice or you don’t”: a qualitative examination of yoga social dynamics.” Sport in Society 20.9 (2017): 1167-1184. ↩︎
- Shearer, Alistair. The story of Yoga: From ancient India to the modern West. Hurst & Company, 2020. ↩︎
- Somlata Jadoun, Dr Akanksha Rana, and Sunil Kumar Yadav. “An Anatomical Exploration of “Dhanurasana”.” (2020). ↩︎
Last Updated on by Namrata
