Hold on please, I am on the other foot….
AKARNA DHANURASANA
To-the-Ear Bow Pose
(uh-car-nah dahn-your-ah-su-nuh)
Five hundred and fifty years ago, this pose was called Bow (dhanurasana, see the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, 1.25). Nowadays that name has been given to a backbend, and this Bow pose is now qualified with akarna, “To-the-Ear (karna).”
Nest Yoga dedicates this month’s pose to the members of the US Armed Forces.
1. Sit with legs extended forward (dandasana). Bend your left knee and cradle the foreleg in your arms. Brace the left foot in the crook of the right elbow, be sure to push through the inner foot to keep the ankle neutral. Rock the leg back and forth.
2. Move the left sit bone off to the left, so the torso partially turns left. With your index and middle fingers of the left hand, hold the left big toe, wrap your thumb around the two fingers to secure the grip.
3. Draw the left foot toward your left ear as if drawing an arrow on a bow string. If you find this difficult, rest the heel on a block standing on one end.
4. Lean your torso to the right. Hold the right big toe with the right index and middle fingers, thumb secures the grip. The torso will be in a true side bend, right side shortens, left side lengthens. If you can’t reach the toe, hold the foot with a belt.
5. Hold for 30 seconds to a minute. “Shoot” the arrow, then repeat to the other side.
PREPARATORY SEQUENCE
Bound Angle (baddha konasana)
Cow Face legs (gomukhasana)
Head-to-Knee (janu shirshasana)
Gate Latch (parighasana)
Knee to Heart (hrd janu samyoga) (cradle foreleg in arms)