Proper alignment in chaturanga?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I have a question regarding the shoulder/wrist alignment in this pose. I always thought it was best to keep elbows over wrists when lowering down into chat, but I always have trouble with keeping my elbows directly over my wrists( maybe my legs are too short)??? lol. Well anyway I recently read an article saying it is NOT best to keep your elbows over your wrist, but rather to keep your elbows a bit behind when lowering.
This is the source I read it from: yoganatomy dot com

It states:
As far as general alignment rules for stacking joints is concerned, don?t apply it to the wrist and the elbow for chaturanga. OK, there may be a few people who are an exception to this last statement, but most people putting their elbows over their wrists in chaturanga will be putting way too much strain on the shoulder. Not to mention it also increases the wrist angle and can cause problems there too. Most people should have their elbow slightly behind their wrist, which brings the center of their chest and their weight closer to the line between their two hands.

My question is… which is correct??? I want to keep my practice safe and not risk injuries. Thoughts?

#2

What a great inquiry! My opinion is that this is going to vary from person to person.

My habitual chaturanga is with elbows [I]slightly [/I]behind the wrists. I emphasize slightly because if the elbows move too far back, the tendency is for the shoulders to start to hunch forward. If chaturanga is a challenging pose for you, I would focus on keeping the shoulders lifted and on the back, (and the core and legs engaged) before worrying about about elbow alignment.

When I rock forward to take the elbows directly over the wrists, it requires my fingertips to press down strongly to make up for my biceps being less engaged. This is a great variation for me because I am actively trying to increase strength in my hands to help me with my hand balancing. However, it does increase the angle of the wrist to the degree that it would be too much for some people, especially if they don’t already have decent strength in their fingers to keep the weight from falling entirely on the wrist joint.

So my conclusion for now is that elbows [I]slightly [/I]back would be a more basic variation and elbows directly over the wrists would be more advanced.

I’m very interested to hear what others have to say about this!

#3

Thank you for your reply. I do agree with your views on this. I find that if my elbows are directly over my wrists that it aggravates my wrists, not pain per se but I definitely feel discomfort, so I bet that I am not strong enough in my fingers yet. Your answer really helps me out in this :slight_smile: I am practising in front of a mirror so I can see where my alignment is, and I would say that when I move forward and lower down that my elbows are about an inch behind my wrists so I am hoping that is okay.I do agree with your theory though , seems to make most sense not to have elbows too far back or too forward( over wrists), more like happy medium. I too am looking forward to more opinions on where people stand on this.