Now that you’ve mastered your chaturanga dandasana, you’re ready to start exploring bakasana (crow pose) and parsva bakasana (side crow)!  If you are new to these movements, you may find having a blanket or a block nearby handy to make them more accessible.  There are many different ways to get into these poses, but I offer up a few ways here that I have found helpful.

Bakasana

If you take away nothing else from the below video, please remember this: your arm and shoulder alignment here are identical to chaturanga.  We are still pushing through the floor to widen the scapula across the back.  We are maintaining external rotation in the upper arm bones and spreading wide through the fingers.  Shoulders are down and back and the serratus anterior is engaged.

Parsva Bakasana

Upper body is similarly engaged as in Bakasana, but your body is rotated to the side.  The video below gives you a step by step tutorial to get into the pose.

Looking ahead

Look out for the final post in this series, in which we will explore sirsasana (supported headstand).  As usual, feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions!