Lift Off

Everyone's confidence could use a boost, and developing an arm balance practice is a great way to do it.

By Roger Cole

If you want to keep learning from your yoga practice, you need to set yourself a challenge, but it has to be the right kind. If it's too easy, you'll get bored; if it's too hard, you'll get frustrated. When it's just right, it will keep your practice fun and fascinating—and you'll keep growing.

Unfortunately, you may rule out a whole class of poses—low-to-the-ground arm balances like Bakasana (Crane Pose), Parsva Bakasana (Side Crane Pose), Tittibhasana (Firefly Pose), and their relatives—that could give you this ideal level of challenge because you mistakenly think you lack the necessary strength.

It's certainly true that some of these poses rely mainly on muscle. But others rely more on flexibility, body positioning, and leverage than on brute force. When you understand how to complement your strength with flexibility and leverage, these arm balances lose their mystique, and you can work toward mastering them. They demand effort, but they're well worth it. They build strength in your arms, shoulders, chest, abdomen, and back; promote deep flexion of your trunk and hips; enhance strong spinal twisting; and increase your mental focus. In addition, arm balances can give your confidence a good boost. As you overcome challenges through a combination of insight and hard work, mastering poses you once thought were impossible, you naturally start to wonder what other "impossibilities" you might be able to overcome.

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