Most of my students usually come to their first class and are SURPRISED to learn the proper form for Chaturunga Dandasana, also known as Four-limbed staff pose!
Here are the instructions and some key mistakes to avoid. For a full lesson, COME TO CLASS! We can chaturunga our arms off!
- From Plank Pose, align your shoulders directly over your wrists and come onto the balls of your feet, pressing the soles of your feet back, as if into a wall behind you.
- Simultaneously push back through the heels to engage the quadriceps and bring the lower body to life, and reach your sternum forward, creating a straight, strong line of energy from the crown of your head through your feet.
- On an inhalation, draw the tops of the shoulders and the tops of the thighs up and away from the floor, pull your lower body up and in, and release the tailbone toward the floor.
- On an exhalation, bend your elbows, keeping them over your wrists and drawn in against your sides. Slowly lower yourself toward the floor, keeping your body as straight as a plank of wood, neither letting your center sag, nor sticking your butt up in the air.
- Bring your gaze to the floor, about 6 inches in front of you, and continue to lower until your shoulders are at the same height as your elbows – creating a 90 degree bend in the elbows.
- Continue to reach through the heels, sternum, and crown of the head as your breathe.
- To come out of the pose, exhale and lower down to your belly or push back up to Plank Power. Or shift forward and up into Cobra, or onto the tops of your feet into Upward-Facing Dog
Avoid these mistakes:
- Don’t stick your butt up or let your shoulders collapse any lower than your elbows
- Don’t lose integrity in your core and let your center sag
- Don’t let your elbows pop out – they should be hugging your ribs!
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