Urdhva Dhanurasana Variations

Urdhva Dhanurasana translates as Upside Down Bow, some traditions call this Cakrasana, Full Wheel, and sometimes I have heard it called Bridge Pose. This posture works the muscles of the back of the body that are necessary for upright postural alignment. It also works the muscles of the shoulders and arms and the back of the legs. The entire front of the body, including the ribcage and front of the pelvic structure is opened by the pose. Areas to be careful of in the posture are the lower back and the shoulders. As with all of the postures you want to avoid unnecessary strain, while moving into the posture. If you open your body to where it can go in the pose you will get more from the pose than if you try and push to get farther into the pose that your body wants you to go.

Busy But Enough Time for a Brief Note on Breathing

Wow, I have been busy; too busy to do a lot of things. This breathing anatomy and practice course has gone really well so far though. Well enough so that it looks like, in the fall they will add more segments of it as an ongoing continuing education course in breathing anatomy and breath-work. I will add links when I have them.

It is amazing to see how people's breathing patterns improve from simply understanding what they are working on more completely rather than dogmatically presenting one method of breathing as THE method. And when people's breathing patterns improve and they are able to breath with less unnecessary tension in their breathing, and with an intelligent framework for understanding what they are trying to do with their breathing, it is pretty remarkable how much better it makes you feel; what a deep experience you are offered just by improving your breathing patterns, just by understanding more completely.

Peace.