Kakasana or raven pose
Kakasana or the raven pose is one of the most recurrent balance asanas in Yoga. It helps us to gain strength in the arms and wrists, to find our balance point, to work the internal muscles of the abdomen and also to improve our proprioception and our body control.
If we try to carry out this posture without following the proper instructions, the fact of not being able to maintain balance cannot be very frustrating (it happened to me for a long time); However, with a few simple tips this asana is much easier and we will be able to do it practically from the beginning.
We teach you how to perform the raven pose or kakasana step by step so that you can integrate it into your training routines.
How to do kakasana or the yoga raven pose
We start from a squat position, with the hands wide open and resting firmly on the ground, with the knees open to the sides (outside the arms) and the chest placed between them. The balls of the feet are flat on the ground before starting to carry out this posture.
It is important that the position from which we start the asana is correct to facilitate balance: the more space we create between our hands and the more open our hips are, the easier it will be to climb up and maintain balance later.
From the starting position we lean the torso forward placing the weight of our body in our midsection. The head should be kept straight looking forward, and it is important to focus the gaze on a point a little far in front of us, and not on the patch of ground directly below. This is a very simple tip that not everyone takes into account and that makes posture a lot (a lot, a lot) easier.
Once we have placed the weight in our midsection, we begin by lifting one of the feet off the ground. When we are quite safe, we lift the other: our gaze must stay ahead and we must press the ground well with our hands, with our fingers extended. The elbows are bent and the calves are resting on the upper half of our arms.
We stay in this position for as long as we can: we can start with just five or ten seconds to increase the times as we improve in it. To lower to the starting position, we gently put our feet on the ground.
The Benefits of Kakasana or the Raven Pose of Yoga
This balancing posture especially strengthens the arms and wrists. If we have not worked on them before, we can start doing it with other, simpler postures, such as downward facing dog, in which part of our weight is also on the arms and wrists.
It also helps us to improve our body control, being able to shift our weight from one place to another according to our needs. Abdominal activation is also important in maintaining balance in this pose.
Finally, we recommend doing this position with an extra wide mat to ensure that our entire body enters it and is more protected against a possible fall.
