Half Wheel Yoga Pose
VARIATION
If this Yoga Pose feels too intense on the lower back, place a block under your sacrum with your arms by your sides in a Supported Bridge, a more restorative version of Half Wheel.
Setu Bandhasana
Full Wheel Pose is the apex of backbends, opening the heart wide open and stimulating full expression of the self Although it is an advanced Yoga Pose, kids seem to drop into it effortlessly with their flexible bodies and minds! You want to gradually work up to this Yoga Pose with patience and persistence by practicing Half Wheel first. This will help you avoid injury to your lower back, wrists, shoulders, and neck. Half Wheel also opens up the chest, shoulders, hip flexors, and thighs, strengthening the back.
Half Wheel Yoga Pose Photo Gallery
QUALITY Grounding EFFECT Flexibility, strength, tranquility PROPS Block GAZE Inward
1 Lie down on your back and bend your knees with your feet hip-distance apart and your heels close your buttocks. Place your arms by your sides. Widen your heels and turn your toes in slightly. This widens the sacrum and narrows the hip points to protect your lower back from injury.
2 Root down into the mounds of your big toes. Inhale to lift your hips and chest up toward the sky, keeping your feet anchored and your knees pressing toward each other. Scoot your shoulders under you to widen your chest and interlace your fingers, drawing your palms together under your spine. Press down into the ground with your arms and feet to lift up your pelvis and chest.
3 Allow your gaze to focus on your heart center. Deepen your breathing into your chest, expanding your rib cage for 5 breaths.
4 When you’re ready to come down, release your hips to the ground and drop your knees toward eac other to ease the lower back. You can slowly swing your knees from side to side to gently massage your spine.
5 Repeat once or twice before moving on to a Full Wheel.
