The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Bhujangasana › Arm Placement
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Hi, got another placement question. I hear, “make your arms form a 90 degree angle with your fingers under your deltoid”. So when I’m still on the floor I have my hands flat and my elbows on the floor as well and try to keep them that way while up in cobra. But…. I noticed that one of the photos you have of this pose has the 90 degree angle off the floor.
So, my question is, if we are to have our hands flat on the floor under the deltoid, that position can’t happen. It looks like she is starting with her hands flat on the floor at least 6 inches farther down, like the tips of her fingers are at the 6th or 7th thoracic vertebrae.
Which is correct?
Hi Micherie
I like this question because it highlights a point about how I like to approach this pose. I care less about the hand placement being confined to a one-size-fits all calculation, than I care about the likelihood of exerting pressure on your hands in the lift. The lift is supposed to be unassisted so that you can lift your body using only the muscles in your back.
Every body has different proportions. If I line my very long hands up in the way the dialog says then my palms are further back, naturally. I noticed in my own students too, that the further forward they have their hands the more likely they will push against the floor.
In the picture you mention I had the yogini place her hands in several positions, in front of the shoulders, under the shoulders, behind them and then so far back that the heels of the palms were lifted. She went into the pose from all these positions. I have photographs of the effects of these (I used these in the Pose Tutorial for Cobra pose) and the lift is greater, more unhindered in so many ways when the hands are placed fully and comfortably on the floor at an unset distance behind the shoulders.
What occurs to me too is this: The instruction you are valiantly trying to follow is dependent on seeing a particular angle. How can one have their arms at a 90 degree angle when they are lying down? Is the angle supposed to be in the set up or the execution? Are you confused? The only way I can get anything like a 90 degree angle is lifting my body. When I lie down it is more like 20-30 degrees. Check into that and tell me what you discover. Maybe try a different formula. Palms flat on floor behind shoulders if you can!
All I can say is try it. Maybe one set hands at shoulders, then second set hands behind. Play with it. Enjoy checking into your body. That’s yoga.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
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