Troubleshooting Urdhva Dhanurasana – Weekly Intermediate Class 248

Troubleshooting urdhva dhanurasana. This class explores different ways of approaching the key backbend urdhva dhanurasana. When learning this pose it is important to experience a variety of different approaches. The benefits of these methods will vary according to the individual and the particular problems they may be experiencing. The feeling of not being strong enough to lift into urdhva dhanurasana is a common problem that many people experience. Whilst lacking muscular strength might potentially be a problem for some people, the difficulty in aligning your arms and shoulders into a position where you can access skeletal strength is often more of an issue. With this in mind, the variations in this class will help to create space for your shoulders, and improve your ability to straighten your arms and support your body weight using skeletal strength. Initially a chair is used to help you straighten your elbows whilst you align your upper back and shoulders. This concept is further developed in the second method where you lie over a bolster and use blocks for your hands. Eventually the pose is practiced more independently with the assistance of slanted blocks. This third method still gives priority to straightening your arms, but also helps you to walk your hands and feet closer together so that you can begin to build more height in the pose.