Health Benefits of Bow Pose (Dhanurasana): How to Do It & Precautions

In today’s time, most working professionals sit at the same place for hours and mostly remain hunching while working. This is why neck and back pain are commonly found. In addition, there are many who struggle with acute health conditions like constipation, PMS or obesity.

In this case, the benefits of Dhanurasana are far-reaching. This yoga strengthens your back, relieves stress, improves your posture, and has several other benefits.

This yoga pose has got its name from a shape it forms when someone performs, that is, a Dhanur or a bow. The focal point of doing this yoga is to work on the muscles in the following areas of your body.

• Upper, middle and lower back
• Gluteus
• Hamstrings
• Arms and shoulders
• Biceps and triceps
• Core 

Practising the Dhanurasana pose strengthens your core and also helps treat many ailments. Anyone who has no severe back injury can achieve this posture by practising it regularly. However, you should note that you can do this pose only after a proper warming-up session.

There are many benefits of doing this yoga; here, we have listed a few:

• Strengthens Back Muscles: The purpose of doing a bow pose is to strengthen your back. Our bodies can naturally bend backwards, but in our daily lifestyle, there is hardly any instance when we consciously bend our body at the back. Hence, by doing Dhanurasana we can improve flexibility as well as cure back pain.
• Improve Digestion: Doing this posture regularly stimulates your organs involved in digestive functions. This eventually ensures better functioning of the kidney, liver, pancreas, and intestines and cures bloating, constipation, IBS, etc.
• Tones Legs and Arm Muscles: This is an ideal exercise if you are looking for effective ways to tone your legs and arms without lifting weights. While doing Dhanurasana, you stretch the hamstring and the muscles in your arms. This allows you to attain the perfect toned legs and arms. 
• Relieves Stress: Unlike high-intensity workouts, doing yoga works more efficiently in relieving muscle stress. The bow pose is one such yoga that has proven beneficial to those suffering from stiff back or shoulder muscles. This happens because muscle stretching encourages improved blood circulation; hence this results in soothing your stress.
• Prevents Cardiovascular Risks: Doing the Dhanurasana correctly will open up your rigid chest muscles. Henceforth, it enables better blood circulation all over the internal system. This, in the long run, affects positively in preventing heart risks.
• Enhances Posture: People often forget to maintain their posture while doing regular activities like sitting or walking. This eventually hampers the condition of your spine and its related muscles.  So, practising the bow pose is advised to improve your spine flexibility. In addition, this exercise prevents slip discs and other related conditions.
• Regulates Menstruation: Dhanurasana is one of the basic hatha yoga poses. Although the primary purpose of doing this exercise is to improve flexibility, it is also known to have benefits in relieving menstrual irregularities.
• Helps in Treating Asthma: Besides stimulating and strengthening the chest muscles, doing the bow pose also prevents respiratory problems. Therefore, those who suffer from asthma or COPD can try doing the pose for some relief. Nonetheless, you must also remember doing this yoga will not completely cure the disease but provide you with some additional benefits.
• Cures Obesity: No particular yoga pose can cure obesity. Nevertheless, you can add some specific yogas, like Dhanurasana, to your routine exercises. This will enable speeding up the process of curing ailments like obesity.
• Treats Rheumatism: Rheumatism affects the joints, ligaments and muscles, causing immense pain in these regions. Hence, if you discover any early signs of arthritis-like joint pain and weaker immunity, try doing the bow pose. It will stretch the necessary muscles, and alleviate the pain.
• Toughen the Core: One of the essential benefits of Dhanurasana is that it toughens the core muscles. As a result, this eases your body movements and also improves your flexibility in doing other workouts.
• Remedy for Gastrointestinal Problems: As already mentioned, this yoga is good for the abdominal organs. So we can infer that bow pose can be a cure for gastrointestinal problems. This is because every organ involved in the gastrointestinal system gets stretched during the process of doing the bow pose.
• Makes Ankles, Thighs, and Abdominal Organs Strong: Other health benefits of the bow pose include strengthening all the related body parts and organs. This is inclusive of the ankles, thighs, groyne, abdomen and abdominal organs.

Before you jump into doing this yoga, wear comfortable clothes and have a yoga mat. You can also do this pose on a carpeted floor. The best thing about performing a bow pose is that it requires no fancy set-up.

Here is the step-by-step instruction to perform the Dhanurasana.

Step 1: Lie down on your stomach with your chin up and hands on the sides. The palm should be facing upwards.

Step 2: Bend your knees while exhaling and bring your heels as close as possible to your hips. Make sure the knees are kept hip-width apart.

Step 3: Slowly lift your hands, hold your ankle, and keep your toes pointed. Use an elastic strap if you find it hard to hold your ankles.

Step 4: Inhale and lift your body; also ensure to keep your head, chest and thighs off the ground. At this point, only your stomach should touch the floor.

Step 5: Keep your gaze ahead, and do not move your head.

Step 6: Stay in this position for at least 20 seconds.

Step 7: Exhale and gradually rest your legs and chest on the mat.

You can repeat the exercise as per the instruction of your guide

As now, you know all the Dhanurasana steps, here are some tips to follow:

• If you are a beginner, it is necessary to know the correct procedure before you do the exercise. Then, you can either enrol in some yoga class, watch or read a proper tutorial.
• Always do a warm-up and cool-down session before and after doing the exercises.
• Avoid doing Dhanurasana or any yoga immediately after a meal.
• Bend backwards as much as possible but never over-stretch the muscles while doing this yoga.
• Be mindful of your breathing; you should inhale while lifting your body and exhale when resting. In between the process, you should continue breathing at standard intervals.

In order to get all the benefits from Dhanurasana, you must keep the precautions and contraindications in mind.

• Refrain from doing this yoga if you have any injuries in the back or neck.
• Avoid doing this exercise if you have recently undergone any surgery, especially in the abdominal area.
• Those who have long-term health conditions like high or low blood pressure, ulcers, migraine, or hernia, should also avoid doing this asana.
• Do not do this exercise when you are pregnant.
• Do not stretch your back unnecessarily.

If you are a beginner and it is challenging for you to do the bow pose. You can first try these alternative ways and then move on to the original pose.

• Using a Yoga Strap: This can help you reach your ankles easily.
• Take a Blanket: If the pressure in the abdominal region feels uncomfortable, place a blanket below your pelvic and lower abdomen for support.
• Ask for Help: Ask for your instructor's help or request any of your family members to help stretch the arms and hold the ankles.
• Practice on a Mattress: It is suggested to start practising Dhanurasana yoga on a plain mattress before doing it on the yoga mat. The cushioned effect will support and bring lesser pressure to the thighs and abs.

Let’s get a quick recap of the information we have gathered so far. Dhanurasana focuses on strengthening the core muscles along with your back. For those who have serious back pain and are looking for effective remedies, this is a perfect exercise to relieve stress. After mastering the bow pose, you can try its different variations like Akarna Dhanurasana, Urdhva Dhanurasana, Dvapada Dhanurasana, etc.