धनुरासन
Dhanurasana — Bow Pose
dhanu = bow — the body strung like an archer's bow
Hands catch the ankles, legs pull, chest rises: the whole body one drawn bow.
In the simplest words
Lie on your tummy, bend your knees, and grab your ankles behind you. Now kick your feet back into your hands. Whoosh, your chest lifts and you become a bow! Rock a little and you're a rocking-toy too.
What it is
Face down, the knees bend and the hands reach back to catch the ankles. Then the key: the LEGS do the work, kicking back into the hands until the chest and thighs rise together and the body strings itself into a bow, arms taut as its string. Cobra and locust are its prerequisites; where they train front and back separately, dhanurasana unites them and adds the deep front-body stretch across the shoulders and thighs. Rocking slowly on the belly inside it is the tradition's strongest abdominal massage.
Before you practise: health first
A strong pose: skip in pregnancy, hernia, ulcer, serious heart or blood-pressure conditions, recent abdominal surgery, and acute back or neck pain. Kick, never yank; pinching anywhere means release at once.
Getting into it
Warm up first with cobra and locust; the bow is their sum.
Lie face down; bend the knees and hold the ankles (not the feet) from outside.
Inhale and KICK the legs back into the hands; let that kick raise chest and thighs.
Knees stay hip-width; gaze soft and forward; weight resting on the belly.
Exhale down with control, release the ankles, and rest a few breaths on one cheek.
The breath
The belly is pressed, so breaths turn short and chest-high. Keep them even; rocking rides the breath.
What it is kept for
Full-body backbend strength and flexibility, open shoulders and thighs, digestive fire, and a strong antidote to slumping.