Kakasana, the crow pose got its name because in this posture, the posture of a cawing crow – with the body’s weight supported on the elbows and hands and the head thrust well forward.
One of the most valuable balancing poses, the Crow or Kakasana is in fact relatively easy to achieve, tough it may look advanced.
The secret is to lean far enough forward and to keep your mind from wandering, focusing your attention solely on keeping your balance.
Practicing the Crow will greatly strengthen your wrists, arms and shoulders, improve your concentration, and increase your breathing capacity by expanding the chest.
Method to practice Kakasana :
- Squat down and bring your arms between your knees. Place your palms down flat on the floor in front of you, shoulder-width apart, with fingers splayed and pointing slightly inward. Then bend your elbows out to the sides, making the backs of your arms into shelves for your knees to rest on.
- Choose a point on the floor in front of you on which to focus. Inhale, then while you retain the breath, lean toward this point, transferring your weight to your hands and lifting your toes up. Exhale and hold the pose for three or four deep breaths.
- In the beginning the crow posture can be somewhat painful for the wrists for some people. To make it easier, try shifting the weight forward until you feel some pressure on the wrists, and then practice lifting first one foot and then the other off the ground until the wrists build up sufficient strength to lift both feet off the ground together.
- Initially, hold the posture for 10 seconds, gradually working up to 1 minute or more.
Benefits of practicing Kakasana :
- Strengthens the shoulders, arms and wrists
- Improves balance
- Stretches the muscles of the forearms, wrists and fingers
- Especially beneficial for repetitive stress injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, and for people who spend a lot of time on the computer
- Improves mental equilibrium and sense of calm
- Improves concentration