Bow Pose

A woman practicing yoga in a studio, performing a bow pose with her body arched and legs extended overhead.

Where is the Primary Focus? Your entire spine
Where Does the Posture Provide Maximum Benefits?
• Compression/expansion of the total spine
• Opening and mobility of the shoulder girdle
• Strengthens the back muscles
• Stretches the chest and abdomen
• Strengthens the neck and thigh muscles

When and Where Could I Feel the Stretch?
Through the front of your body, you might feel a stretch, and your back might feel a pinching or compressed feeling. Your shoulders might stretch as you kick harder, and your legs will certainly feel the effort.

Why Should I Do This Posture?
Bow compresses and expands your entire spine. The three postures focused on spine strengthening before Bow have set you up for success by working different parts of your spine on their own to now stretch the entire spine at one time. And because it’s hard. When we teach ourselves to do things that are challenging or tiring or in a space and time that is challenging, we can then leverage that in other times in our lives.

Even though I rarely make my bed in a way that my Mother would approve of, I like the idea that says if you start each day by making your bed, you have already accomplished something, and you can keep that trend going (pausing while I go make my bed). Bow is similar to me; if I get in the setup right away, at least I’m putting myself in a place to do more. How much effort I put in really depends on the day and how I feel, but I always start the posture.

How Can I Improve?

Kick:

·       To start the posture, kick directly behind you as hard as you can. When you think you can’t make any more progress in kicking back, switch to stretching your feet up.

·       Watch how far out to the sides your knees go. You can get your legs up higher if your knees splay out, but that compresses your spine less and doesn’t stretch your hip flexors as much. 

Lift:

• When you reach your maximum, try using your hands to lift your feet up. Keep kicking while you do this. 
• You can also try lifting your chest up using your ab strength and then kicking harder to keep that lift.

Refine:

• Keep your chin forward and eyes up the entire time. 

• Roll forward once so that your toes are right in the middle from the side; this mostly happens because you think about rolling forward. 

Final Thought:
Like Standing Bow, the kick drives the posture. As soon as you stop kicking, you will lose the lift that you are creating with effort. You don’t need to go 100% full power from the beginning. Try getting into it slowly and increasing your effort throughout so that you end the posture at your highest point. As you progress, you will feel less and less of your body on the ground and more of your body will be in the air.