Kakasana or the Crow pose

This pose requires balance. Balance- whether it is in life, in your emotions or at a physical level, is necessary and comes with practice. There has to be a balance and an equilibrium in whatever you do. Yoga helps you achieve that. Hatha Yoga places lot of emphasis on balancing postures. These bring inner peace and inner balance. These postures also help to improve strength and coordination. Your posture improves and the nervous system becomes calm. Kakasana is very helpful not only to strengthen the arms and shoulders but also to calm down the mind and smooth the creases. It helps us to ease our breathing.

In Crow pose, we place our folded knees and thighs on top of our arms. Crows are light and they can fly. Gravity does not restrict them. This posture helps to improve our flexibility and strength. The arms and shoulders are energised. It helps to build confidence in our arms to support the body weight. The pelvis and abdomen are lifted up. It helps in our Pranayam practice.

People with wrist and shoulder injuries should be careful while attempting this. Also if you have weak core or less flexibility in your hip joint, you might find this posture challenging.

The pose is more beneficial if it is not done superficially just with the arms. Engage your core, extend from the perineum up through your core. This act of drawing up through the base of your pelvis, stabilises and makes the posture more grounded and solid. You feel lighter and lifted. Your body defies gravity and you experience inner energy. On the other hand, if you use only the strength of your arms, the pose becomes difficult, simply external and static.