Peak Pose: Urdhva Dhanurasana – Hugger Mugger

I first learned Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow Pose) when I was studying ballet in grade school. It was one of my sisters’ and my favorite ballet warm-ups. We would sometimes “walk” around the yard in Upward Bow Pose for fun. I’m sure it wasn’t pretty, but we had a good time.

Later in life, as I began practicing yoga asana, it was fun to revisit Urdhva Dhanurasana as an adult. Due to my loosey-goosey ligaments, shallow hip sockets, bendy spine and the bony structure of my shoulder joints, it felt pretty effortless, and always exhilarating.

While Upward Bow Pose isn’t one of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika’s original poses, the pose, along with yoga’s many other backbends, provides balance for our mostly forward-bended lives. Think about it. Most of the things we do in our lives require that bend over things—keyboards, steering wheels, counter tops, etc. Backbending helps reverse that habit.

Benefits and Contraindications of Upward Bow Pose

In addition to providing a general sense of postural balance, Urdhva Dhanurasana yields many benefits. Here are a few:

• Strengthens the spinal extensors
• Strengthens the shoulders, arms and wrists
• Stretches the chest, shoulder joints, wrists, abdomen and hip flexors
• Increases energy by stimulating the thyroid and pituitary glands
• Increases breath capacity by expanding the chest

Practicing yoga also requires that we listen to our bodies’ needs. No matter how much we might want to practice Urdhva Dhanurasana, there are times when we shouldn’t. Those would include cases of:

• Injuries in the shoulders, neck, elbows, wrists, or spine
• Pregnancy: in the second and third trimesters, it’s best not to practice backbends.
• High blood pressure or heart conditions in general: The stimulating nature of the pose can raise blood pressure or stress the heart.
• Carpal tunnel or wrist tendonitis: The pose requires maximum wrist extension, which may exacerbate existing injuries.
• Glaucoma, detached retina

Urdhva Dhanurasana is Not for Everybody

Beyond the contraindications listed above, Urdhva Dhanurasana may or may not be accessible to your particular skeletal structure. Shoulder joints that are on the more stable side may restrict the ability to straighten your arms. Also, people with a more pronounced convex thoracic curve may find it more challenging to practice backbends.

Paul Grilley says “yoga is in the bones.” It would be worth your while, whether you’re a student or teacher, to check out this page that shows variations in the bones. There are a several photos of differently shaped scapulae and shoulder joints that can explain why some shoulders are more amenable to Urdhva Dhanurasana. The last photo of the scapula group is especially helpful in understanding why some people’s shoulder joints easily raise to vertical or beyond (allowing for the arms to straighten) and others fall short. In the latter case, the elbows will have to bend, making Urdhva Dhanurasana much less fun to practice.

The other thing is: nobody’s thoracic spine is designed to backbend. The thoracic spine can forward bend, rotate and bend laterally, but the way the facet joints come together restricts spinal extension. The spinal extension required for Upward Bow comes from the lumbar spine. And again, all our spines are formed differently. Some lumbar spines bend a lot before the spinous processes make contact with each other. For others, longer, thicker spinous processes will restrict the amount of movement.

How Can You Prepare for Urdhva Dhanurasana?

All that said, it doesn’t hurt to prepare the body for Urdhva Dhanurasana anyway. This is true even if your bony structure will not allow you to practice the classic pose. The prep poses that follow can help make any backbend feel more easeful. Also, the prep poses are great for countering the effects of lots of sitting and all the forward bending we do in our lives.

So, what needs to stretch and mobilize to facilitate Upward Bow?

• Quadriceps and hip flexors
• Wrists
• Abdomen, chest and shoulders

A Sequence for Working Up to Upward Bow Pose

There are lots of yoga poses you can practice that stretch all the necessary areas. Feel free to use this sequence as a guide, or explore designing your own sequence using the same principles.

1. Gather your props: a Yoga Mat, 2 Yoga Blocks.
2. Start in Downward Facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana). Move around in the pose to mobilize your various joints.
3. Practicing a few Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskara) will help you mobilize the joints overall. Make sure to include Crescent Lunge Pose (Anjaneyasana). This will begin the process of stretching your quads and hip flexors.
4. Half Hero’s Pose (Ardha Virasana): This is optional. This pose is not agreeable to everyone’s knees. So feel free to skip it and practice another round of Crescent Lunge.
5. Hand Yoga: Any or all of these stretches can help you prepare your wrists.
6. Supported Fish Pose (Salamba Matsyasana): Lying over your Yoga Blocks can help expand your chest, abdomen and shoulders.
7. Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana): Bridge Pose stretches the chest, abdomen and hip flexors.
8. Upward Bow Pose (Urdhva Dhanurasana): Use the instructions in this link to guide you into the pose. Once I’ve prepared for Urdhva Dhanurasana, I like to practice it at least three times. By the third round, it usually feels much more free. If Urdhva Dhanurasana still feels incompatible with your body structure, practice a few more Bridge Poses.
9. Revolved Belly Pose (Jathara Parivrttanasana): A supine twist is a nice way to begin stretching your back in the opposite direction, one side at a time.
10. Hug both knees in toward your chest and roll around a bit to further release the spine.
11. Head-of-the-Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana): This is one of the most effective forward bends for stretching the quadratus lumborum.
12. Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana)
13. Relaxation Pose (Savasana)

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell discovered yoga in 1982 and began teaching in 1986. Charlotte is the author of Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life: A Guide for Everyday Practice and Yoga for Meditators, both published by Rodmell Press. Her third book is titled Hip-Healthy Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Guide to Protecting the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Pain (Shambhala Publications). She writes a monthly column for CATALYST Magazine and serves as editor for Yoga U Online. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte plays oboe and English horn in the Salt Lake Symphony and folk sextet Red Rock Rondo, whose DVD won two Emmy awards.