Focus Post Three: Getting Low - Chatarunga Dandasana

One of the most outwardly noticeable benefits I've gained from my yoga practice is toned arms. I've had a few people come up to me and ask what am I doing that has made my arms the way they are - the answer is simply yoga! My yoga practice includes a lot of sun salutations as is the tradition in ashtanga or power styles of yoga. After running through several sun salutations I will have done up to 10-20 chatarunga dandasanas or four point positions. Needless to say that's a great upper body work out right there. Besides the aesthetics, weight bearing exercise is necessary for building and maintaining healthy bones as we age.

Upper body strength can be a real challenge for some of us and it's important to do our poses with safe and proper alignment. Using full awareness and acceptance of where you are at physically will help you to choose your pose for any given moment in your practice. Of course we would all like to be able to instantly perform the hardest variation of a pose but the reality is, you must start from where you ARE before you can go somewhere new. I will include variations and options to lead up to a full chatarunga dandasana.

Begin in a solid plank pose. This means you are making one long straight line with your body, hands under shoulders, toes on the floor, just like the top of a push-up. Whenever you are in plank check that your hips are not sticking up in the air higher than your back, or sagging down to the ground. Hold your belly up and in towards your spine. Ideally, for chatarunga now all you have to do is bend your elbows! Sounds so simple. Of course it's a lot of work. Chatarunga should also be a straight line with the body but now your shoulders and elbows are level with each other. It can be tempting to dip the shoulders down lower than the elbows in this position which I didn't realize I was doing for some time until I checked myself out. So take a quick glance if you can or use a mirror for the first few times to get a sense of how low or not low that feels for you. When you bend your elbows, bend them straight back and not poking out to the sides, otherwise you are doing a push up. Imagine hugging your elbows against your torso.To help your upper body hold your weight so close to the pull of gravity think of reaching out through your heels and extend your knees so the legs send strong energy out through the lower body.

Now if you are in plank and the thought of bending your elbows is bringing images of face planting in the floor, then you are not yet ready for chatarunga. But don't despair, there are options as always! From plank, touch your knees down to the floor like a modified push-up. Keep your weight forward over your hands and simply lower your body down the ground WITHOUT sagging your hips down first. Keep that straight line feeling in your body and just lower straight down. Again keep energy in your toes, reaching out through the heels and don't let your feet fly up off the floor. If you want to try the next harder option before chatarunga, then start by touching the knees down, keeping your weight over your hands. This time as you bend your elbows (hugging them beside your body) keep your butt exactly where it is so that your chest touches down to the floor. If it helps, you can think of sticking your bum out slightly at the same time that your elbows bend. Now your toes, knees, hands and chest are touching the floor. By the way, don't forget to look forward for this one so you don't face plant. This may look a little awkward but the added challenge of lowering your chest down before the hips will build the strength you need in your triceps, chest and shoulders to prepare you for a chatarunga. Or, again, if you are aware of what your body is doing and you notice that your belly wants to sag down, then work on lowering straight down from the modified plank position.

If you truly want to build your upper body strength and develop a fluid transition between poses then practice your plank to chatarunga (or other option ) to the floor as often as you possibly can. If you are moving from downward dog to plank, lower down through your chatarunga option to your belly and then either push straight back up, or move into a cobra or up dog. Play around with variations until and above all stay present with your self. Find your point on the fine line between doing a pose properly and giving yourself just enough challenge to grow and build.