My not so perfect journey towards Chakrasana

Yoga practice always intrigued me and led me to join a local studio. The sessions were challenging and had professional and attentive instructors such as Darshana. This made me look forward to attending these sessions every evening. The instructors would increase the intensity of asanas gradually while breaking them down to make it easy for beginners like me. While most of the other attendees of my class had been practicing it for a while, I did find it difficult on several occasions as I was stiff as a tree. Today I will narrate how I managed to get a fair bit of knowledge on the practice Chakarasana or the Wheel Pose. At the studio, Chakrasana was done towards the end of the backbends session as the ending sequence. Initially, I struggled a fair amount to even lift myself. But patience and perseverance won at the end and I was able to do it albeit not completely. Like most of the Yoga practice, it’s still work in progress. But as they say, you have to start your journey somewhere, and hence here is a detailed description of what the benefits of Chakrasana are and how you can do it.

The benefits of Chakrasana are far and wide:

1. Spine flexibility and strength
2. Tones the abdominal region
3. Increases lung capacity
4. Stimulates nervous system and endocrine system
5. Improves cardiovascular health
6. Strengthens the arms, shoulders and wrist

Here are few steps on how you can go about performing this exercise:

1. Lay down on the ground. Prop up your knees and keep the flats of your feet planted on the ground, closer to your bottom.
2. Place your hands behind your shoulders, near your ears and make sure your fingers are splayed out.
3. Adjust your body until you’re comfortable. Prop your lower body up by using your legs to support your weight.
4. After this, press your feet and palms and raise your body upwards doing your best to arch it. Allow your head to hang gently.
5. Even out your breathing.
6. Stay in that position while concentrating on your breathing. Gently lower your back to the ground while focusing on breathing evenly.
7. Lie down for a few minutes and let our body rest before jumping back into any other exercise or activity.

(Source: Femina.in)

Namaste!