You might have practiced this pose in a beginning level yoga class. Crow is meant to build strength in your arms in preparation for arm balances. I'll admit, and perhaps I'm not alone in this, that I thought I would never ever be able to do this pose when I first saw it being demonstrated.
I remember looking around the room seeing if it was only me who didn't want to try. However, I put my ego aside and kept practicing. A short two months after, there I was, flying into Crow. It felt fantastic! Now, it's my absolute pleasure to assist you to safely execute this pose at home.
Benefits of Crow Pose
Like all arm balances, Crow Pose cultivates concentration and nourishes and strengthens your arms, wrists, and hands. This pose gives us a great confidence boost as well.
Crow Pose Step-By-Step
1. Start on all fours with your hands on the mat, shoulder width apart and spread out your fingers like starfish. 🙂
2. Walk your feet towards your hands so that your toes almost kiss your wrists.
3. Bend your elbows like we do in Chaturanga (Four-Limbed Staff Pose), and use your triceps as shelves for your knees.
4. Focus your gaze forward about six inches ahead of you as you press your hips up high, and begin to shift the weight forward on your finger pads and palms.
5. Start balancing by lifting one foot at a time, and then when you have practiced enough, bring both feet off the floor. Then, slowly straighten your arms when you want to take it to another level.
6. Stay for five breaths, then slowly get into Child's Pose to realign the spine for a moment.
Tips
- You can gently rock on the balls of your feet to get the feel of your center of gravity, before you fly into it.
- Also, engage your core. Hollow the belly. It'll help you feel lighter and make the pose easier to get into.
- We want to find our drishti or point of focus six inches ahead of us and not directly down between our hands. The reason for this is because we don't want to roll into a somersault.
I hope you'll have fun with this pose. Don't take it too seriously though, or get bummed if you don't get it the first time. Most of us don't. Just keep practicing. 🙂
Image Credit: Jaclyn Nguyen
