Hot Yoga Pose Forums > Chapter: Dandayamana Danurasana
I feel strong in this pose, able to kick back hard although getting my foot to come up behind my head is limiting for me. Since I cannot see how much of a curve I am getting in my back, I am not really sure how it looks. All I know is I am able to remain strong and balanced in my standing leg.
Lisa O'Rourke
I agree Lisa- knowing what we look like from the side in this pose (and a bunch of other ones, like tulandasana) would give a good gauge of where we are. But how we feel is the most important part. I've found that I'm making lots of progress with this pose each week, and finding it very rewarding. I have recently been seeing my foot pierce my head in the mirror, but when I square my hips to the floor I end up falling out. A work in progress
Chrissy Graziano
A work in progress - or a plurk in progress - is another definition of life. You will NEVER get it done because YOU are never done - as an entity and an energy you will just keep expanding! Start enjoying the beauty of that ...
Now about dandayamana Danurasna: no need to shift your focus to a aide mirror to see the curve of your back: if your foot pierces the center of your head in the mirror, your back is curved AND your hipIs in the right place. When you see that, lower your abdomen way down and kick more!
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
This pos can be “hard” for me to control at times. I know my body’s ability and I want to push the envelope to my max but controlling my alignment with strength can be difficult at times. Some days I can hold it and kick and feel grounded and powerful and I don’t ever want to come out. Other days, I feel like cooked spaghetti trying to stay upright. The biggest difference I’ve felt in building the strength to maintain the pose has been opening my chest more ans leading with it rather than the out stretched shoulder/arm.
Stephanie
You do have great Gumby-like flexibility, Steph, and so many of us marvel at the beauty of your range in this pose! Your next expansion is strength; when you feel both, strength and flexibility, you will feel yourself at your best!
It's no accident that opening the chest feels like strength - many people tend to avoid "opening the heart" as they feel uncomfortable with that feeling of vulnerabliity of an open heart...but opening the heart actually leads to deeper levels of strength and, combined with the emotional flexibility to let go of "control," becomes an exhilarating recipe for the life you came here for.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Again for me the set up is key. The agonist and antagonist effects of the upper body and lower body I find are key to help me extend deeper into this pose. I have come to like this pose because of it truly stretching the entire body from bones to skin! Once again using the quads and hamstring muscles are so important to protect the knee to prevent hyperextension and bowing out of the kicking leg, as well as locking the standing leg for stability. I agree with Stephanie and Rhonda that charging forward with the chest is also so vital for the upper body and being mindful to look forward straight ahead; where your eyes and chest go your body goes. I believe the next time I go into the second set of this pose I will lead with my heart chakra and just Let Go to see how much deeper I can go with this beautiful pose.
maria
I also love the kicking up in this pose. I really feel it strengthening my quad muscles and stretching my back. It is a challenge to keep my knee in and hips square. It feels great when I get it right. I also love the opening of my chest by stretching forward and pulling my shoulders apart, the back arm with the help of my kicking. I really like how much I can do to adjust my body and feel really good in this pose.
Jeanne
There is so much traction and leverage to this pose as you described, Jeanne...and yes there is that moment when the hip of your kicking leg drops more squarely into relaxed into place and your locked standing leg feels so light and easy that it becomes the place where you can catapult yourself skyward - you can hold yourself in this suspension/traction easily and feel no pull of gravity - you become a force of nature yourself! No other pose seems to have the overall head to toe 360-degree stretch and traction of this one! And when you inch closer to that standing on one leg split in midair, things really get edgy!
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I love how Rhonda describes this pose as the pose everyone loves to watch and hates to do. :) I do think it is a beautiful pose but it is a toughie! I realized while reading in the Master Class book that I need to stand in the back row of class sometime soon so I can get a glimpse of myself in the side mirror. I bet seeing myself from the side would be great feedback to let me know what I am doing right/wrong. I suspect that I do not kick my leg high enough. The most challenging part for me is keeping my hips squared while also kicking high...there is a lot of simultaneous activity happening with this pose. But it is one of the most inspiring poses to see pictures of, it looks beautiful when it all comes together and I am sure it continues to feel amazing too.
Pamela
I love this pose, over time it has become one of my happy places, and it's not like I am advanced at it. I don't care if I fall out or fall over. Sometimes my foot comes over my head sometimes it doesn't. I have no idea why but unless I am really unhappy this pose always feels like play time to me. I would love to know why; but I cant quite put my finger on it. I want to grab that feeling and take it with me into every pose and everywhere I go.
Paula
Lately it became one of my favorite poses. I used to get a pain in lower back from doing it, until I actually understood what it means to "kick back". All of the sudden I stopped jamming my back and the pose become much more comfortable and enjoyable. I do need to work more on lifting the chest and keeping the arm up
Irina
I love this pose. I love the way it looks and the way it feels but I fall out every time I try to square my hips to the floor. I lift my chest and kick hard but regardless when I shift my weight to square up to the floor I lose balance.
Erica
Yes, Erica, getting the hips square is initially challenging; you are shifting not just your hip but your entire side of the body down a bit. IN the long (and short) run, this will save your hip: winging it out is a way of twisting and stressing the hip in a way that is not friendly (think of that happens to ballet dancers who constantly have the hip turnout stance!) It's quite normal to feel that shift of weight as an imbalance initially. So instead: shift your focus! As you shift your hip, immediately shift your mind to balancing elements: shift your focus onto LOCKING the standing thigh even more! Lifting the chest and propelling forward from the breastbone! And breathing deeply. As you shift the hip down, go slowly and step by step, feeling the hip shift down and the knee turn more towards the ground....GROUNDING you! In other words, begin to change your mind about how BALANCING this movement is by noticing all the places in your body you can LOCK and LIFT, and be light about it all (SMILE!)
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I was finally able to square the hips and kick into full extension. I shifted my focus on locking everything I could lock instead of im going to square my hips(and probably fall) and it worked
Erica
Erica - in your locking, you unlocked a great secret: set yourself up in the pose, and then shift your mind to a part you ENJOY - and the other parts will just fall into place (and you dont fall out of the pose...its just too enjoyable to be in it! This is what we REALLY mean when we say, give each pose 100%!
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I love this pose. It challenging and feels really good. I kick with my foot and charge forward with my chest and don't stop until I fall out. Lately I have been trying to hold myself in the pose. But I determined to get threw that pivot point of lowering the abdomen. Any suggestions?
Lisa N
I do have a suggestion, Lisa: dont get "through" it; enjoy the pose as it is in every moment. You will begin to see that Asana is not just about training the body; it is about delighting the senses.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Dani, you may have overextended hip flexors. This can create ligaments in the hips that are so lose, they lose elasticity - you will be able to flex but not to bounce back and this is one reason dancers need hip replacements. Of course we dont want you to have back pain...so kick less. THe point of Dandayamana Danurasana is not necessarily to be in full extension, as beautiful as that looks and can feel, but to enjoy the pose now and to protect your body for the future. There are many poses where you can kick higher (floor Danurasana for example) if you rotate the hips and knees...but the long term effect of this are not worth it.
Take Dandayamana Danurasana to the place where you can HOLD the pose, feel the parabolic curve, ad protect your knees and hips. One way to feel yourself go deeper in the pose is to lower your abodomen way below parallel to the ground while keeping your breastbone parallel to the mirror - hold your shin and focus on building full strength to hold this for a full 60 seconds. That feels like flying