Wheel Pose - Urdhva Dhanurasana Is the Yoga Pose of the Week
Sunday May 11, 2008
One of the most difficult things about wheel pose (besides the intense backbending, of course) is keeping the feet parallel while holding the pose. The toes always want to turn out, but this is a vulnerable position for the knees. One things that helps is placing a yoga block between the thighs down toward the knee. Squeezing the block with the thighs helps the legs stay parallel all the way down to the floor.
Comments
One reason for the “turn-out” syndrome is tight hip flexors. If you are not properly opening the front thighs and deep hip flexors (psoas and iliacus), you will end up with more than vunlnerable knees…you will crunch your low back in a serious way.
Hip openers like Lunge, Crescent Lunge, and the Warrior poses can help get you open for this huge backbend. Practicing Utkatasana (Chair Pose) can help bring midfulness to the internal rotation of the thighs necessary to keep the feet parallel.
Good advice. Thanks!
Ann