We are continuing our four weeks of spinal extensions with another delicious pose, ustrasana, or camel pose. The preparatory poses for this “main event” are the same as for dhanurasana, so please review the sequence from last week’s post.
You might notice that ustrasana is just dhanurasana on the knees and with the head back. However, the different relationship to gravity makes this pose challenging in different ways. Once you have prepared you body by practicing dhanurasana, you may mindfully move onto the following poses:
With toes curled under, and possibly a blanket under your knees if they feel sensitive, take the knees, shins and feet hip width apart. Place the hands with the fingers pointing up on your sacrum. Keep the chin in as you lift the sternum and extend the spine, while keeping the hips over the knees. Engage the abdominal muscles, release the glute muscles.From the previous pose, if you shoulders can release back and down and your neck feel comfortable, allow the head to go back. All of the alignment cues from the previous pose apply here as well.With legs and feet in the same position as in previous poses, take one arm to the heel on the same side, and the other arm reaches up strongly to the sky.Switch to the other arm on heel and opposite arm up.Ustrasana, camel pose: With toes curled under, take the hands to both heels, palms facing out with upper arms in external rotation. Engage the abdominal muscles, but try to release the glute muscles – they will engage a little, but tend to “misbehave” and get too tight, thereby stiffening the back. The hips remain over the knees, and the sternum lifts.Ustrasana: If you were comfortable with the toes curled under and able to keep your hips over your knees, you can try the pose with toes pointed. If all is well, continue onto the active transition in and out of the pose, available in the mini-video below.
