Bow Pose
Bow Pose
Muscle Group(s) Stretched: Back, Shoulders, Chest, (potentially hip flexors and/or quads depending on your flexibility)
Muscle Group(s) Strengthened: Glutes, Quads (optionally back, if you choose to engage your erectors)
Type of Stretch: Active Static
Difficulty: All Levels
Suggested Prerequisites: none
Bow pose is a great active back (and shoulder!) stretch that helps use the strength of our quads to assist a deeper backbend.
How To
Step 1
Start lying on your stomach, legs splayed about hip-width apart (wider is fine if that’s more comfortable.
Bend your knees, and reach back to grab your ankles (if you can’t reach your ankles, you can loop a strap around each ankle and grab the strap). Pick whatever hand position feels most comfortable - that could be hands grabbing the outside of the ankles (thumbs down), or hands grabbing the inside of the ankles (thumbs up).
Step 2
Press your feet into your hands (or the strap) to help lift your chest off the floor. Hold and breathe.
If this is comfortable and you want to go deeper, you can try to lift your knees off the mat by kicking your toes towards the ceiling. You can also actively engage your spinal extensors (back muscles) by trying to pull the space between your shoulder blades towards your feet.
Hold your bow pose for 5-20 seconds, then relax back down.
Modifications
Need to make it easier?
Loop a strap around your ankles to make it easier to grab.
Widen the knees just a little (for many students, knees-slightly-wider is easier).
Want to make it harder?
Lift your knees off the floor.
Try rocking forwards and backwards.
Let go of your hands and try to hold without the ankle grab!
