When practising Dhanurasana should your hands be placed inside or outside of the ankles? Thanks!
Outside.
In Poorna Dhanurasana (full bow) grab on to your big toes.
Inside the ankles with the thumbs pointing up.
Inside the ankles with the thumbs pointing up.
Gordon…??? Can you explain inside the ankles? I have never seen Dhanurasana this way. Can it be done both ways?
Thanks!
This is how.
[QUOTE=Justyb;46848]When practising Dhanurasana should your hands be placed inside or outside of the ankles? Thanks![/QUOTE]
It could be done both ways, no ? although I must admit im always as per the picture above , hold ankles or shins or feet or toes ? each hold has a different reflection in the body especially around the shoulders /scapula , important to feel the differences , feels good on collar bones upper chest opening , with hands inside , or at least teaching us to feel this opening.
Charliedharma,
I don’t know to be honest! I’ve never done the pose that way. Of course that’s not to say you couldn’t come into the pose with hands to the inside of ankles. I’m interested to hear Gordon’s explanation.
So am I
I don’t think there’s necessarily a right or wrong answer,like much in yoga, just different approaches.No approach is necessarily right or wrong,just different with correspoonding strengths and weaknesses.
Different styles, intended effects(*), systems…
Different strokes for different folks perhaps?
I think there is a danger you can get to rigid in an asana practice by doing things mechanically by rote and forget to observe the energetic internal aspects of this or that maneouvre.that’s where sticking rigidly to a system like it is gospel could have it’s drawbacks or pitfalls(ashtanga vinyasa just for e.g has been critiqued for this so i have read)…you forget to feel what’s going on internally,the effects and so on… before and after…
I’d prob. be inclined to go for the outside, methinks.
As someone who is pretty flexible, I just tried Dhanurasana as Gordon suggested with the hands to the inside of the ankles. While it felt pretty awkward, what I can guess is that coming into it from inside the ankles could better prepare you for Poorna Dhanurasana or full bow. It did bring my feet together more, and more in line with full bow. Only a guess though!
In your picture the girl had her hands on the outside? Or did I miss something?
I have been in classes when the teacher has asked us to do the pose both ways for a different stretch and also with our arms crossed.
Sorry for my ignorance, but can you explain the difference between ‘bow’ and ‘full bow’?
Thanks!
The arms are straight with outside option–more chest opening
The arms rotated with the inside option- offering a different kind of shoulder flexibility & opening.
I’m guessing that a broader shouldered male might find these options different compared to typicaly narrower female shoulders.I’ve never heard of the inside but interesting nonetheless.
In the Saraswati lineage they teach to grab the ankle from the outside.
Full bow is when the feet, closer together, are brought closer to the head and you grab onto the big toes. A very intense backbend. Or like this:
It could be done with the hands on the inside. However the photo I have put up is the classical Dhanurasan, with the hands on the outside. This is how it is taught at Sivananda, Kaivalyadham and Bihar School. I have not really seen it anywhere with the hands on the inside.
The purna dhanurasan as Lotus Girl states has the hands sliding up and holding the toes while giving a very accentuated bend to the spine.
[QUOTE=charliedharma;46924]It could be done both ways, no ? although I must admit im always as per the picture above , hold ankles or shins or feet or toes ? each hold has a different reflection in the body especially around the shoulders /scapula , important to feel the differences , feels good on collar bones upper chest opening , with hands inside , or at least teaching us to feel this opening.[/QUOTE]
I was incorrect.
It is outside the ankles with the thumbs pointing down.
“Bow” or Dhanurasana is done on the belly, grasping the feet.
“Upward Facing Bow” or Urdhva Dhanurasana is done from a supine rather than prone position with the spine lifting up toward the ceiling and the feet/hands pressing into the ground.
The pose - both of them - is safest when the student keeps the shoulder in joint. The grip should facilitate that integrity. As I see it, of course.
Thanks Gordon for clarifying. Appreciated! I wish you could have seen me trying it with hands inside the ankles and thumbs up. A sight to behold indeed! Very comical. lol
I grab the front of the feet. When I hold the ankles - me knees hurt…