Akarna Dhanurasana or Shooting Bow Pose

Akarna Dhanurasana at a Glance

How to Do Akarna Dhanurasana?
Follow the Step-by-Step Procedure

The Akarna Dhanurasana (Shooting Bow Pose) can be done by people who want to maintain or increase their level of strength and flexibility and keep themselves balanced, physically and mentally. Beginners can do it under the guidance of an experienced yoga practitioner.

1. First, you need to prepare your body to start this pose. To stretch and increase your flexibility, you should do asanas such as Garland, half-boat pose, Baddha Konasana, and Supta Padangusthasana.
2. Choose a place that is away from distractions, has pleasant surroundings, and has a flat surface. Place a yoga mat on the floor. You should be doing it on an empty stomach, and better if you do it in the mornings when your bladder is empty and you feel light.
3. After being comfortably seated on the yoga mat, come to the staff pose and take a few slow and deep breaths, keeping your back and seeing that both legs are straight.
4. Now bend your body, slightly lean towards your right leg, and (don’t bend your right knee) bring your right hand towards your right foot, holding the big right toe with the middle and index finger, and keep a grip over it.
5. Then reach your left hand towards the left foot toe, exhale, hold the left toe, inhale deeply, and lift the left foot, bending the left knee toward you.
6. While you are lifting your left foot, your left knee will point outward, your left heel will reach near your left ear, and your left shoulder will slightly backward (Your right arm will be folded, your left arm straight, and your left elbow slightly pointing upward, imagine holding a bow).
7. Hold for a few seconds and keep breathing slowly.
8. Simultaneously keep the grip on both big toes.
9. To come out of the archer’s pose, exhale and release the grip of the left and right toe slowly, and come to the Dandasana pose and relax by taking a few slow and deep breaths.
10. After taking a few deep breaths, you can do the same for the other side.
11. While performing this asana, see that your focus and concentration are within you.
12. Always keep the process slow and steady. Feel the pose and sense your inner feelings. Don’t force yourself.

What are the Benefits of Akarna Dhanurasana?

This asana may be an intermediate level, and beginners may not be able to do it, but once you get hold of it you can experience so many benefits.

• It helps you strengthen your arms, shoulders, thighs, and calves, and also the strengthens lower part of your abdominal muscles.
• In this Pose, your leg muscles get engaged intensely, which helps to strengthen and add more flexibility.
• The Pose makes your hips and groin area more flexible and reduces stiffness.
• This Pose strengthens and adds flexibility to your pelvic floor muscles and increases blood circulation.
• Shooting Bow Pose adds flexibility and strength to your chest, groin area, and spine.
• It helps to improve your body posture.
• People with arthritis can benefit from this pose (consult your health care professional).
• It improves your breathing capacity by expanding your lungs.
• It is helpful to build your immunity, which helps to keep your body healthy and strong.
• It is helpful for your digestive system, which helps with all digestive issues.
• Most important is that it improves your concentration and your focus, which is helpful in your everyday life.

Health Conditions that Might Benefit from Akarna Dhanurasana

To get the best out of Shooting Bow Pose, you should be present in the present moment, both physically and mentally.

• Muscle Strengthening: As you start doing the Archer pose, you may feel the stretch in your arms, thighs, calves, abdominal area, shoulders, and back. This helps to strengthen your muscles.
• Digestion Issues: While you perform this asana, there is slight pressure on the abdominal area. Regular practice helps to improve your digestion and relieves constipation.
• Improves Your Flexibility: When you practice regularly, it helps to improve your flexibility as this pose helps to reduce stiffens as it helps stretch the muscles.
• Improves Blood Circulation: It is good for your heart health as it helps improve blood circulation.
• Improves Your Immunity: Regular practice of the pose can help strengthen your immune system.
• Postural Imbalance: People with poor posture to their routine to get a better body posture.
• Difficulty in Concentrating: Regular practice improves your ability to concentrate and keeps you focused.

Safety and Precautions

• There can be many benefits added to the Akarna Dhanurasana Pose, but being an intermediate pose, it requires a lot of flexibility and balance, so you should think about safety.
• If you have any shoulder or hamstring injury, you should avoid doing it.
• If you have any pain in your waist joints, you should not do it because it puts too much pressure on your waist area.
• People with any recent surgeries should avoid doing it.
• Pregnant women should avoid or consult their doctor to find out if it is safe for them,

Common Mistakes

Be aware of the common mistakes that could happen while doing the Akarna Dhanurasana pose to avoid injury.

• This being an intermediate-level pose, never avoid doing warm-up poses before doing the Akarna Dhanurasana.
• Don’t strain your neck by pushing your head too far backward.
• Don’t let your shoulders fall forward, and avoid rounding your back while reaching for the foot.
• Keep your breath engaged throughout the pose.
• Don’t push yourself to attain the pose. Listen to your body and use props if needed under the guidance of your yoga teacher.
• Engage the core muscles for better balance.
• If you are a beginner, start doing it under the guidance of a yoga teacher.

Tips for Akarna Dhanurasana

• Be sure to begin with a warmup preparatory asana to avoid damaging the body.
• Breath, being part of any yoga asana, remains the for this pose, too, so keep your breath engaged accordingly.
• Don’t lose the grip for both the big toes till you are completely done with the pose.
• Keep your cores engaged to maintain a balanced pose.
• If you are a beginner, first, start with the preparatory poses to get more flexibility, and you can also try easy variations of Akarna Dhanurasana before you come for this advanced pose.
• Don’t push yourself. Listen to your body and adjust accordingly, and if necessary, use the props, like a yoga strap (under the guidance of the yoga teacher).

The Physical Alignment Principles for Akarna Dhanurasana

Start the Akarna Dhanurasana pose, imagining yourself as an Archer and as if you are ready to release the arrow.

• Be seated on the floor (yoga mat) and keep your legs stretched, straight, and grounded.
• When you bend one leg, place it on the thigh of the other leg, and the knee of the bent leg should point outside.
• Slightly arch your back.
• You should hold the left big toe of the left leg with your left hand and the right big toe with the right hand.
• Hold both toes with your middle and index finger. Set the grip after holding it.
• The foot, which acts as the bowstring, should be lifted till the ear, and the other leg should be flat and straight, grounded to the floor.
• When you lift your foot, your chest should be opened and the shoulder slightly backward. Don’t round your back too much.
• Engage the breath, which should be focused, throughout the Akarna Dhanurasana pose to maintain the alignment. Inhale and exhale to get a better flow of energy, which makes the pose comfortable.

Akarna Dhanurasana and Breath

Your breath keeps connected to the Akarna Dhanurasana pose. As you inhale, sense the negative targets within your body (mental or physical), and as you exhale (raise the foot and release), imagine releasing the bowstring and shooting your targets or the toxins to get out of your body. Your breath is an important fact that guides you to do an archer’s actions.

Breath keeps you relaxed and balanced and also improves flexibility. Don’t force yourself to breathe. Just sink into the shooting bow pose and breathe naturally. Breathing will make this pose easier and more balanced.

Akarna Dhanurasana and Variations

• Standing Akarna Dhanurasana.
• Baddha Akarna Dhanurasana.
• Akarna Dhanurasana II.

Conclusion

Akarna Dhanurasana, or Shooting Bow Pose, is a challenging pose but achievable with regular practice. This pose increases flexibility in legs, arms, shoulders and hips and gives many health benefits. The grip on both big toes means balance in personal and professional life and healthy lifestyle. 

Using yoga straps or slight adjustments makes this pose more accessible. Practicing Akarna Dhanurasana improves concentration, focus and patience. For better guidance, learn from an experienced yoga practitioner. 

Regular practice will give self awareness, self confidence and mental stability. Coordinating your breath with the pose will make the practice easy and calm the mind and body.

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