Urdhva Dhanurasana: Upward facing bow aka wheel

• Lay on your back; arms at your sides
• Place your feet flat on the floor with your heels grazing your finger tips
• Place your hands under your shoulders fingers pointing toward your feet
• Exhale raise chest and hips, place the crown of the head on the mat
• Press hands and feet into the mat, raise shoulders, head and trunk, straighten arms.
• Lift hips, pull up thigh muscles.

Every time the teacher would say take this pose I would try hopelessly and fail.  Try as I may I could never get my head off the ground.  It just wasn’t happening for me.  I could not figure it out.  Finally during teacher training I tried.  While struggling to get off the ground one of my fellow trainees said “tuck in your chin” and everything came together.  The impossible became possible.  Later that day I tried using bricks against the wall and did my first unassisted upward facing bow.  You can see my moment of triumph captured in the picture on your left with Allison spotting.  I was so thrilled.  Finally I could experience urdhva dhanurasana.   What poses have you been working on recently?  Keep trying new tips and suggestions, the smallest change might be all you need to make a difference.