I'm not sure when I first began to covet Bakasana, or crow pose. Most likely it was sometime in December or January, when I started to get a little more adventurous with my yoga practice, trying new teachers and harder variations of poses when they were offered in my multi-level classes.
At some point, my favorite teacher offered a preparation for Bakasana that really clicked with me; it gave me a strong base and helped me understand the key action (pressing arms and legs into each other) required for stability in the pose.
It seemed like Crow Pose was finally within my reach! The thought of arm balances in class really excited me, and I looked forward to them every time I practiced.
Then, during a class when I was trying particularly hard to get some lift to my pose, I face planted. It was a particularly scary experience for me, because I broke my nose playing softball in middle school, and it remains delicate and ridden with sinus problems to this day.
Since then, while I've been practicing at home and in the studio several times a week, I haven't made much progress in the pose. In fact, I feel like I've regressed a bit, as I rarely am able to hover over the ground even the tiniest bit.
Even worse, I'm now sporting these LOVELY bruises on the back of my arms:
At some point, my favorite teacher offered a preparation for Bakasana that really clicked with me; it gave me a strong base and helped me understand the key action (pressing arms and legs into each other) required for stability in the pose.
It seemed like Crow Pose was finally within my reach! The thought of arm balances in class really excited me, and I looked forward to them every time I practiced.
Then, during a class when I was trying particularly hard to get some lift to my pose, I face planted. It was a particularly scary experience for me, because I broke my nose playing softball in middle school, and it remains delicate and ridden with sinus problems to this day.
Since then, while I've been practicing at home and in the studio several times a week, I haven't made much progress in the pose. In fact, I feel like I've regressed a bit, as I rarely am able to hover over the ground even the tiniest bit.
Even worse, I'm now sporting these LOVELY bruises on the back of my arms:
Though Crow Pose prep never hurts when I'm practicing, I've had a few rounds of these bruises over the past few weeks, and they stall my progress by a few days as I wait for them to subside.
So, my fellow yogis and yoginis, what are your Crow Pose tips, and how the heck did you deal with these ugly bruises?
yikes! I tried to go into crow during hot vinyasa last friday and slipped on my own sweat and fell into a wall, knocking over my metal water bottle in the process. realllll classy haha.
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine having any stability in a hot class with crow... though I was in Lululemon yesterday and saw that they're making special pants with sticky plastic flowers on the outer edges to help you stick in situations like that! Maybe buying them will be an incentive for me to actually, you know, master the pose...? :)
DeleteI got bruises from trying to get into crow too. Been trying to do it since Oct last year and I still can't stay in the pose for more than a breath.
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteAre you spreading your fingers really wide when you do the pose? Are you keeping a steady gaze and looking slightly downward? What else are you doing to strengthen your arms for bakasana? This is one of my favorite poses. I've found that my strength in my arms has greatly improved just from practicing at least three times a week. But, I also try to work on just strengthening my arms for these poses. The bruises hurt, but even so, I practice the pose at least once a day. I guess I still haven't done it long enough for the bruises to stop. My advice is to just keep as steady a gaze as possible and go up into the pose slow and steady. I have fallen forward before too. Try locking your lower abdomen in as well. Good luck!
Hi Piper! Thanks for your comment! I'm proud to report that in the year since I wrote this post I've much improved my bakasana! The trick for me was definitely pulling my belly button in and allowing my balance to eminate from there. And whaddaya know, the bruises have stopped entirely!
DeleteThanks for your comment and for stopping by! I hope you have a crow breakthrough soon too! :)