The Benefits of Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)

The Sanskrit word dhanur means bow-shaped, curved or bent. The bow referred is a bow as in “bow and arrow.” This asana is so named because the body mimics the shape of a bow with its string stretched back ready to shoot an arrow.

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Physical Benefits

• Stretches the entire front of the body, ankles, thighs and groins, abdomen and chest, and throat, and deep hip flexors
• Strengthens the back muscles
• Improves posture

Emotional Benefits

• Relieves some forms of low back pain
• Therapeutic for asthma, opening accessory muscles of breathing
• Traditionally thought to tone the abdominal organs and stimulate organs of the neck