Crow Pose (Kakasana) – Health Benefits, How to Do It & Precautions

Crow Pose, also known as Kakasana, is an arm balance yoga asana with numerous health advantages. It works on your upper back, legs and arms to strengthen and tone them. In addition, it offers mental and spiritual benefits that help to improve the quality of life.

So, if you want to know more about this asana, and understand its health benefits, continue reading!

Kakasana is a balancing asana in modern yoga and hatha yoga. The name is derived from the Sanskrit words "Kaka" meaning crow, and "asana" meaning pose or posture. In addition, it is an arm balancing pose in which hands are planted on the floor, shins rest upon upper arms, and feet lift up, resembling the shape of a crow.

This pose is often confused with Bakasana or crane pose. Nevertheless, there are differences, as the crow pose is practised with bent arms, while the crane pose is practised with straight arms. Let us now look into some of the health benefits that this yoga asana offers.

Some of the specific benefits of crow pose yoga include:

1. Physical Benefits

Crow Pose is a fantastic full-body exercise. It strengthens your wrists, upper back, and legs while working your arm and core muscles. Additionally, it is simpler to hold the pose by pressing your knees towards the backs of your arms, providing more physical benefits.

Furthermore, Crow Pose also stretches the abdominal muscles and opens the groin. The position also promotes the flexibility and elasticity of the spine while stretching the upper back and reducing acidity and heartburn.

2. Mental Benefits

This asana requires you to balance your body on your arms forcing you to concentrate on lifting rather than falling. Hence, it would be best if you overcome your fear of falling to the ground while you are bearing your weight on your hands.

Additionally, the crow pose promotes body awareness while posing in the air and sharpens the mind-body connection. Furthermore, it also strikes the ideal balance between clinging on and letting go. Finally, the crow poses challenges for you to face your anxieties and find the confidence to soar.

3. Spiritual Benefits

The crow pose encourages mindfulness and present-moment focus. This position is also a representation of justice and endurance. Additionally, the sacral chakra, also referred to as the second chakra, is strengthened with this asana. Furthermore, it helps us to reconnect with our feelings, emotions, and creative energy.

Other Benefits

Apart from these, some other potential benefits include:

• Better sleep for cancer survivors.
• Enhanced self-management of women with persistent pelvic discomfort.
• Also, doing yoga for a prolonged period improves health and quality of life.

Step 1: Firstly, kneel and place your palms in front of your feet on your yoga mat. After that, you'll need all the support you can get, so make sure to spread your fingers wide.

Step 2: Then, put your lower body weight on the balls of your feet.

Step 3: Following that, bring your knees up to the back of your upper arms.

Step 4: Place your entire weight on your hands, and raise your head while executing this.

Step 5: Lift your feet off the mat (one at a time) while supporting your weight on your arms.

Step 6: While keeping your knees locked into your upper arms, you can use your thighs as support.

Step 7: Then bring your feet up near the cheeks of your gluteal, and hold for as long as necessary or possible.

Step 8: Finally, exhale and then carefully reposition yourself to land on your feet and stand straight.

A few tips to ace the crow pose are:

1. Set a Strong Foundation

The basis of any asana is the Tadasana or the mountain pose. It is the foundation of every yoga pose. So, never underestimate the need for your basic  strength! Besides, your basics also enables you to build your pose safely and slowly while stabilising your posture. Since you are balancing on your hands in the Kakasana, they serve as the foundation.

2. Contract Your Midline

Your adductor muscles are the most powerful participants in Kakasana. These muscles run along your inner thighs and draw the legs toward one another when tightened. Also, you must fully contract these muscles in order to take off and maintain lift. However, the easiest way to work the adductors is to hug your legs toward your body's midline.

3. Use the Bandhas

The body is equipped with locks called bandhas that allow the flow of energy, or prana, which are meant to be released or constrained. For example, in the Kakasana, you restrict the flow of energy to the lower body to make it easier to shift your weight against gravity.

However, the two main bandhas that are most beneficial for this posture are the Uddiyana bandha and Mula bandha. Both these locks establish a root basis and permit flight while performing crow pose.

4. Round Your Back

When the bandhas are pulled tight, you may start to feel the strength of your core. Moreover, in this regard, the most crucial component is the core of each arm’s balance. So, round your spine in the crow posture to strongly activate your core and enhance your physical well-being.

5. Elevate Your Glutes

Kakasana involves continuously pushing the floor away while allowing gravity to work in your favour. In this regard, keep your glutes high and press the ground away from you rather than allowing your body to sink toward the bottom. Then, as you slowly float up into the crow pose, you can lead with your hips by pointing them upward.

6. Look and Lean Forward

When performing Kakasana, keep your eyes forward. One myth of the crow pose is that people frequently think that arm balances require a lot of arm strength. Although arm strength is undoubtedly important, you must also know that practising these poses involves more than just using your strength to counterbalance your weight.

If you lean forward far enough while keeping strength and alignment, your legs will become light to the point where they will just lift off the ground.

As Kakasana is an advanced yoga pose, you can avoid it if you are:

• Pregnant
• Have a hip injury
• Dealing with any physical discomfort
• Have carpal tunnel syndrome
• In menstrual cycle
• Have migraine problems
• Stressed or tired 

Also, if you are starting to perform this yoga, take professional assistance to learn it properly to avoid any potential injury.

You can also perform Kakasana or crow pose with some simple modifications. A few of them are as follows:

• Use a Bolster: Put a bolster, pillow, or anything squishy (like a couch) in front of your face to overcome your anxiety about the Crow Pose. In this manner, if you fall forward, your face will not hit the ground.
• Use a Block: Try Crow Pose with a block beneath your feet to raise your butt, so you don't have to lean as far forward or bend your arms far. To see yourself fly, position yourself on the block, squat with your knees wide open, and then move into the Crow Pose.
• Use a Strap: A typical mistake in the Crow Pose is allowing your arms to spread out when entering the arm balance. To prevent this, you're often told to tighten your arms and wrap your triceps together to activate your shoulders and chest to increase stability. While it's crucial to practise the squeeze, if your arms have a habit of splaying out, you can use a strap. Utilising a strap makes it easier for you to reach the balance in Crow Pose and get accustomed to the feeling of balance.
• Keep Knees Outside the Triceps: If you are performing it for the first time, kneel by lowering your knees to the outside of your triceps to establish core stability and feel at ease balancing on your hands.
• Start With Baby Crow Pose: Baby Crow Pose is the ideal Crow Pose version to try if you have weak wrists. To find the equilibrium point in Baby Crow, you must balance on your forearms and round your spine. Additionally, being closer to the ground abates fear relative to being higher up on your hands.

So, it is evident Crow Pose (Kakasana) is a balancing pose and is also popular in Hatha yoga and modern yoga for exercises. However, if you are just starting your yoga journey, and you are facing difficulty, you can start with Marjaryasana, Utthan Pristhasana, Ardha Navasana etc., to increase your flexibility, and then proceed towards Kakasana.