Featured Pose: Chaturanga Dandasana

The focus pose of the month is a way to give our students a way of expanding their yogic learning and deepening their understanding of specific asanas.  These poses will not necessarily be included in every class, but you may notice the focus pose, support poses and counter poses recurring in different classes with different teachers representing their own personal perspectives.  We hope that this will give students a chance to more thoroughly learn poses from a variety of vantage points.  

Chaturanga Dandasana
(Four-Limbed Staff Pose)

The infamous chaturanga dandasana is one of the most often repeated poses in yoga.

Chaturanga Dandasana is an important part of many systems of yoga, particularly vinyasa flow and Ashtanga.   It is a pose that tends to get repeated a lot, so it is important to get it right in order to prevent repetitive motion injuries, particularly in your elbows and shoulders.

Chaturanga is a yogic push-up with very specific alignment.  The pose strengthens and tones the wrists and arms and has a toning effect on the abdomen; when done right, it is a very active and intense pose that is great for building strength in the entire body.  

The final variation of Chaturanga Dandasana is difficult at first, until your arms, back, and legs are strong enough to support you.  

• Dropping to your knees first is a way to begin to build strength until you can do the full variation.

• Pull all your muscles in toward the mid-line of your body.

• The most common counter pose to chaturanga is upward facing dog which is handy because up-dog follows chaturanga in the vinyasa sequence.

Brian says:  

The entire body is engaged in this pose!  It’s very good for the core.  Sure, it builds strength, but equally important it brings awareness to the core.  Not just the belly, but all the muscles of the core must engage to keep the trunk straight.

The biggest risk of this pose is one of the most common injuries in modern yoga: Tennis elbow.  This happens when you lower down (repeatedly) from high plank to chaturanga with the elbows bending out to the side instead of pointing straight back to your feet.  It’s better not to lower down into the full pose than to lower down with improper alignment.  Take time to build the strength you need to get it right. 

I don’t want to give away the fun that I’m saving for classes, but one way to get a feel for the right alignment is to lie on your back and pretend you are doing the pose.

Chaturanga Benefits: 

• Strengthens the arms, wrists, back, and legs.

• Tones the abdomen

• Opens the shoulders

Chaturanga Warnings:

• Can irritate carpal tunnel syndrome

• Proper alignment in this pose is imperative - specifically, elbows back not out to the side