How to improve your Bakasana (Crow pose)
What are the pre-requisites for practising Bakasana?
Wrists and finger flexor muscles that are flexible enough to allow the wrists to extend more than 90 degrees
Wrist and finger flexor muscles that are also strong enough to maintain the stability, control and balance in the hands and wrists
Strong enough chest and shoulder muscles to push away from the floor and protract the shoulder-blades
Strong enough abdominal muscles to shorten through the front of the torso and keep the pelvis lifted
An awareness of your centre of gravity
This article will focus on how to prepare your wrists for Bakasana if you are having difficulty with it.
THERE ARE 2 MAIN WAYS YOUR WRISTS CAN AFFECT YOUR ABILITY TO BALANCE IN BAKASANA
1. Your wrist and hand muscles are very flexible but not strong enough to hold the wrist still and control the angle between the hand and the forearm. This will show up as not enough resistance and a tendency to keep falling forward over the front of your hands.
2. Your wrist and hand muscles are too tight and that is blocking you from bending enough at the wrist joint, making it impossible to move forward. Or you may be able to balance, but only with your elbows quite bent (straightening your arms will increase the angle at the wrists).
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO FIX THIS?
1. If you are very flexible and keep falling forward over the front of your hands you will need to build up more strength. You can do this in a few ways:
you can “claw” your hands in any posture where you are weight-bearing on your hands. This means to actively grip your fingertips and thumbs into the floor so you can feel the muscles on the underside of your fingers and hands working. Postures such as Downward dog and Plank pose work well for this. In fact slowly moving forward and backward between these postures a few times, whilst constantly gripping the floor is a very effective way to strengthen your muscles.
Keep your hands active in Downward dog to strengthen your wrist and finger flexor muscles.
As you shift your weight forward to bring your centre of gravity towards your hands, you can feel the pressure in the tips of your fingers increasing. Make sure you keep your fingers active.
Building this strength is important for other postures where you are weight-bearing on the hands such as Chaturanga dandasana and handstands. Lack of strength in these muscles combined with hyper-extension of the elbows can lead to sore or injured wrists.
2. If your muscles are too tight to allow more than 90 degrees of wrist extension you will need to stretch them. It is very common for people to have tight muscles in this area due to computer work. Below are some different variations you can try. Once you have done them try Bakasana again and notice if it feels any easier. If so, you can include these in your practice until it feels comfortable to practice Bakasana.
written by Jean Campbell
Interested in learning more about how anatomy relates to yoga practice?
Have a look at my Online Dynamic Yoga Anatomy Course.