Cat-Cow Stretch: Benefits And Precautions To Take While Practising Chakravakasana

Do you sit all day long? Is back pain taking a toll on your everyday work? If yes, then the cat-cow stretch is for you. Here's how to perform this pose.

The cat-cow stretch is one of the most practised yoga asanas and for a good reason. It is a great yoga asana that can help you improve your posture and balance, especially beneficial for those who have back pain. Known as Charkrasvakasana/Bitilasana Marjaryasana, this yoga asana combines two asanas cat and cow pose that help warm you up and increase spine flexibility.

The Cat-Cow stretch is regarded as a base pose since it may be used to create further cat-cow poses. Practising this yoga pose can help increase your body's energy.

Benefits Of Cat-Cow Pose

Performing the cat-cow pose can help improve blood circulation in the discs in your back. It is a great yoga pose for people who spend most of their time sitting. It's a simple motion, but if you spend a lot of time sitting, it can be very helpful in supporting the back, reducing pain, and preserving a healthy spine.

Practising this yoga asana helps improve balance and posture. Due to the connection between the movements and breathing, it is also said to be a relaxing and stress-relieving pose.

How To Perform The Cat-Cow Pose?

Here are the step-by-step instructions to perform the cat-cow pose the right way:

• Kneel on the floor with your palms on the mat. Keep your hands shoulder-width apart and your knees directly under your hips.
• Turn your spine upwards towards the ceiling and visualize dragging your belly button up as you exhale. Allow your neck to relax and tuck your chin into your chest. Your cat-like form is as shown.
• Arc your back and allow your tummy to loosen up as you inhale. Lift your head and tailbone up toward the sky without exerting undue strain on your neck. This is the pose's cow component.
• Connect your breath to each movement as you continue to flow back and forth from Cat Pose to Cow Pose by inhaling for Cow Pose and exhaling for Cat Pose.
• Repeat this move at least 10 times to warm up your neck, spine, hips, and abs.

Modification/Variation

• Just arch your spine as much as you can if you are unable to do the full pose.
• Place a yoga rug or towel underneath your knees if they pain.
• Make a fist instead of placing your palms on the floor if it bothers you.
• If you want to gain more from your basic Cat-Cow, add some side-to-side and circular movements to your hips to increase your range of motion rather than only arching and rounding the spine in one motion.

Precautions To Take

While this pose doesn't cause any pain if you do feel a certain level of pain then gently back out of the pose. People who have injuries in their back and neck should avoid doing the pose without the supervision of a yoga instructor.