Ahhhh….good old chaturanga and if you aren’t familiar with the sanskrit word – low plank/push up (depending on the class you are attending). I can’t tell you how many times I see chaturanga look all crazy in class. And I say this out of love for your shoulders and your back!
Chaturanga requires not only strength, but control of that strength! You can have all the strength in the world, but if you don’t know how to control it, that strength is wasted. Here are some common mistakes I see and why it isn’t great!
- Shoulders rolling forward (think hunching over a desk) – this places the shoulder joint in danger of injury because the shoulder head is not in it’s neutral position. When not in neutral and loaded with your body weight, the wrong muscles activate and lead to potential tears or shoulder impingement (more on these topics at a later date).
- Shoulders moving towards your ears – see above for reasons why this isn’t so great!
- Low back sagging – this can place a lot of strain on the low back and lead to muscle strains and even some more serious intervertebral disc issues.
There are a lot of things you can do to avoid this in your practice, here are a few:
- Modify by coming to your knees! This decreases the load (weight) on your back and your shoulders, therefore you do not need as much strength to do the pose as with your legs straight.
- Keep your hands in line with your low ribs. This allows you to keep your shoulders in better alignment. You can figure out where your low ribs are by sitting and bending your elbows to 90 degrees – this arm positioning is how it should look when you are lowering!
- Maintain tightness through your core – aka pull your belly button in towards your spine. This will allow you to maintain a neutral spine in your low back when lowering down towards your mat.
- Move forward! That’s right, move your chest forward as you lower and you will maintain good alignment through your wrists, elbows, and shoulders.
You can practice your form by using a block. Start in a plank position and place the block at collar bone height. Then lower to the block until your chest hits the block. This should allow your to stack your wrists, elbows, and shoulders properly without you dropping your low back towards your mat.
Finally, if you feel like you are too tired to do chaturanga – don’t do it! You have the option to press back to downward facing dog when flowing in this vinyasa practice. I know for me this is sometimes hard because I want to give it 150% all of the time. However, by listening to your body, you get more in touch with what you need during your yoga practice and decrease the chances of injuries.
Alright, yogis, get to practicing your chaturanga! And tell me, what tip are you going to start using in your practice?
Shine on,
Jackie