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Hand Balancing: The Crow (Bakasana)

November 30th, 2009 Leave a comment Go to comments

A well rounded fitness regimen, just like a well rounded diet, is comprised of a variety of elements. In keeping with that concept, I have been known to practice yoga from time to time.

Over the years, I have found one of my favorite yoga postures is what is often referred to as “crow pose” or Bakasana (yoga poses are traditionally referred to by their Sanskrit names, in case you were wondering).

This posture, sometimes referred to as “frog stand” in other disciplines, improves balance and stability while it strengthens the arms, shoulders and core.

Transitioning from crow to handstand

The crow also helps build hand and wrist control, making it is a great pose to practice if you’re working towards a handstand. It’s often a good idea to practice the two skills concurrently–one improves the other.

Once you get the hang of the crow and the handstand separate from each other you can try transitioning into a handstand from a crow–there’s always a new challenge!

There are many other variations on this pose as well, such as the side crow (Parsva Bakasana) and flying crow (Eka Pada Galavasana) poses. Start with the basic crow and work your way up to the others from there.

Watch the video below for demonstrations and more:

Categories: Body Weight Exercises

RK

WOW
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http://www.AlKavadlo.com Al Kavadlo

Anyone can learn to do these poses–it's not as hard as it looks!
mpdavidson81

Try taking the basic crow position above and instead of putting the knees outside of the upper arms, try putting them on the inside. Decreases the leverage.
http://www.AlKavadlo.com Al Kavadlo

Yeah that's a lot harder! I'm trying to work toward a planche so I've been practicing tucked planches. Pretty much the same idea.
http://www.AlKavadlo.com/ Al Kavadlo

Yeah that's a lot harder! I'm trying to work toward a planche so I've been practicing tucked planches. Pretty much the same idea.
http://www.alkavadlo.com/2009/12/stretching-before-or-after-your-workout/ Al Kavadlo » Stretching: Before or After your workout?

[...] yourself up. Flexibility is a cornerstone of yoga practice–and I am a big advocate of yoga (I do it myself, in fact). Like I often tend to point out, there are so many different approaches and it’s up [...]
http://www.alkavadlo.com/2010/02/training-to-do-a-planche/ Al Kavadlo – We're Working Out! » Training to do a Planche

[...] are several positions to practice while building up towards this, such as headstands, handstands and the crow (aka frogstand). It’s also helpful to practice planche variations with bent arms and/or legs, [...]
http://www.alkavadlo.com/2011/09/elbow-levers/ Al Kavadlo – We're Working Out! » Elbow Levers

[...] attempting an elbow lever, I recommend getting comfortable with the crow pose. Once you can hold a crow for 10 seconds or longer, you may be ready to move onto the elbow [...]
http://disqus.com Ty

Looks like a good way to build the triceps, having legs rest on arms could help reduce shoulder strain I hope.
http://www.AlKavadlo.com/ Al Kavadlo

Yep.