Practice Point #80 - Bakasana

I received a question from Miranda from the Canada. Their question is...

I find Bakasana (Crow Pose) challenging. What suggestions do you have for hand and shoulder positioning? How bent should the elbows be? How can I achieve a feeling of 'lightness' in the pose?

The amount of times people ask about Bakasana, I do wonder what the fascination is with this posture?:)

That aside, I'll break the bad news to your first. The arms are actually working towards being straight in bakasana. This is the final action when completing the pose to extend the arms in which case t he knees are not resting heavily down on the back of the arms rather they are gripped.

One way I found the feeling of lightness is to launch of bricks. With feet on bricks I am then working towards just lifting the feet off the bricks which is not as far as from the floor.

I notice that many students take their buttock high into the air and I believe this is an attempt to make the pose lighter, however this makes the pose less compact and I believe harder to balance. Try keeping your but as close to your heels as you launch off your bricks.

Let me know how you go.

Kate