Health Benefits of Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-Limbed Staff Pose)

Adopting Chaturanga Dandasana can be beneficial if you are trying to make your body active and restore your muscle’s flexibility. In addition, this posture energises your whole-body and increases your body strength with proper blood circulation.

Keep scrolling to know more about the benefits of Chaturanga Dandasana!

In Sanskrit, ‘chatur’ means four and ‘anga’ means limb. Therefore, Chaturanga Dandasana is a yoga posture that involves four limbs of your body. The posture is also called the low plank pose. This pose is beneficial for the arms, back, shoulder and abdomen muscles. Further, it helps in strengthening hands and wrists. Follow the next segment to learn about the benefits of Chaturanga Dandasana in detail.

Some benefits of Chaturanga Dandasana are as follows:

1. Increases Body’s Flexibility

Chaturanga Dandasana helps retain your body flexibility by stretching the muscles of your entire body. Therefore, this yoga posture can be a great help if you perform it as a warm-up before any advanced exercise.

2. Strengthens Back and Core Muscles

Keeping your body in perfect alignment can accumulate strength in your spine and core muscles. It also helps to correct body posture and gives better stability. Therefore, this posture helps treat back ailments.

3. Prepares You for Advanced Yoga Poses

Chaturanga Dandasana is a preparatory pose for other advanced yoga poses. The pose helps develop stronger abdominal muscles and better body balance. Further, it involves inversion and backbends, allowing an overall body movement, which is beneficial for learning advanced poses.

4. Improves Overall Body Healt

Four Limbed Staff Pose is a great posture for body strength and flexibility. The pose involves moving major body parts like arms, abdomen, and legs and strengthening the spine and back muscles. All of these have made the posture perfect for retaining overall body health.

5. Balances Chakras

Chakras are the gateways of our spiritual connectivity. Chaturanga Dandasana is an effective posture to rejuvenate the third chakra, Manipura. This chakra is associated with strong self-worth and awareness of one's own identity. Therefore, by practising this yoga pose, you can activate this chakra and get better confidence, determination and self-esteem.

6. Strengthens Arms

In Chaturanga Dandasana, you need to keep your body balanced on your hands. Thus it requires strength of your forearms, arms and wrists. Continuous practising of this posture will help you get powerful and toned biceps and triceps.

Other Benefits:

• Gives strength to quads
• Helps in strengthening pectoralis major
• Strengthens shoulder muscles
• Gives better body balance

Here is the detailed step-by-step guide to performing Chaturanga Dandasana:

Step 1: Start in a high plank position.

Step 2: Keep your hands on the floor and your wrists under your shoulder.

Step 3: Exhale and bend your elbows and shoulder lower to the level of your elbows.

Step 4: Squeeze your elbows towards your body.

Step 5: Keep your gaze down and slightly lift your head.

Step 6: Hold this position for 10 seconds.

Step 7: Exhale and lift your body in a downward-facing dog pose.

Though the yoga posture seems easy, you must know certain technicalities to perform the pose perfectly. Hence, as a beginner, you may need the help of some tips, which are as follows:

1. Take it Slowly

If you can not perform Chaturanga Dandasana perfectly, initially you should take it slow. Do not force your body to perform the posture, as that would harm your body. Therefore, you can first strengthen your core and upper body by holding the plank for a few minutes.

2. Bend Your Knees

Initially, you can also curve your knees before bending your elbows. However, you need to keep your head and knees in an equal alignment.

3. Make a Substitute Pose

You can keep your knees down, engage your core and hold your chest and chin towards the floor. Afterward, perform the posture by keeping your chest open and shoulders away from the floor.

You should also maintain some precautions while performing Chaturanga Dandasana to get its maximum benefits without any harm. These are listed below:

• Do not keep your shoulder behind your wrists; instead, keep them in a cross position with your wrist.
• Do not squeeze your chest while performing the posture.
• Try not to lower your body too far as it may injure your shoulder and wrists.
• Avoid the pose if you have a shoulder injury.
• Perform the posture slowly, and don’t jump back while lifting.

If you are a beginner and can not initially attain perfection at Chaturanga Dandasana, you can start by modifying the pose. The popular modification ideas are as follows:

• Take Help of a Wall: As a beginner, you can perform the posture by standing at the side of a wall. Then, place your arms firmly on the wall and push your body away from the wall. This way, you can enhance your muscle strength and prepare for the main posture.
• Prepare a Lifted Landing Spot: If you can’t place your body lower enough, lift your landing spot slightly. Therefore, by resting your chest on a soft surface, you can perform the posture easily in the initial stage.
• Use Yoga Blocks: Keep a yoga block between your inner thighs or under your shoulder for better support during the posture. This will also help you to keep proper alignment of your body.
• Use Straps: Sometimes, beginners can not keep their hands and shoulders aligned to the chest. Therefore, if they tie their hands with a strap and perform the posture, it will be easier for them to keep the alignment correct.