o, you’re ready to try arm balances! Or, maybe at a recent flow class the instructor snuck one of them in and you were having fun with it but realized a little at-home work would be needed before tackling it in the next session. Whatever the reason you landed here we’re ready to help you take off with Crow Pose.
There are many arm balances out there but Crow Pose is typically the one a yoga is introduced to first or at least tries before graduating into more complex poses. It’s also typically the first intermediate pose attempted as it requires a healthy combination of balance, strength and focus.
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What is Crow Pose?
Crow Pose in Yoga is an arm balance pose that is low to the ground yet requires a fair amount of strength and flexibility. It’s a playful pose that allows the yogi to begin exploring more complex movements in their practice.
What are the benefits of crow pose?
To name just a few, some of the benefits of crow pose are fusing together elements of a yogi’s practice such as balance, coordination, focus and strength. Crow Pose is on the entry level side of arm balancing posing but don’t underestimate it!
One of the other amazing benefits of Crow Pose is that it humbles you and gives you confidence at the same time. This may come in the form of your first arm balance flop. Don’t be discourages if this happens! Simply try again. 😉
Modification of Crow Pose?
One of the most common modifications is instead of pressing the knees into the arms you can instead hug your knees with your arms. It takes a bit more of a squeeze from shoulders and biceps into your knees but it allows for continued growth in your flexibility and strength until you can move into the traditional pose.
How do you get into Crow Pose?
Below are the steps of getting into Crow Pose from a Malasana Squat.
- With your knees already bent, place your palms on the floor shoulder distance apart. Make sure your fingers are spread and “gripping” the earth.
- Place a bend in your elbows and lift your hips slightly.Bend your knees slightly so that you can bring your palms flat on the floor, about shoulder distance apart.
- Place weight onto the balls of your feet and lift your knees into the back section of your upper arms one at a time keeping your toes on the ground.
- Make sure your gaze is forward and not down or looking underneath and back. This is critical for maintaining balance using the position of your head.
- One at a time bring your toes off of the ground and press the palms of your feet together. This movement should be slow and controlled.
- When you’re ready to come out of the posture, slowly lower your toes back onto the ground and reverse the steps above.
Crow Pose with Name and Picture:
See the below pictures for an example of Crow Pose in the final Asana.
