I love Love LOVE Wheel Pose.  Have since I was a kiddo.  It is Day 14 (tomorrow’s) pose for Vivify Hot Yoga NM’s #vivifylucky17 and I’m honored to be leading this advanced posture 🙂

It is **essential** to warm up the body for Wheel. It is an advanced posture. Bridge and shoulder openers are great preparatory poses.

I offer you here a few snippets here, instructions, and a few of the benefits of this amazing posture.

1. Basic Push Up into Wheel
2. Drop Back into Wheel should be with supervision or using the wall to practice the drop back.
3. The Wall walk is a great way to really open the shoulders which makes the pose so much easier, you aren’t fighting gravity the more compact you can become
4. Revel in where you are in your practice and just keep at it.  The benefits are many!

Benefits of Urdva Dharnurasana (Wheel Pose)

• IMHO the Ultimate Heart Opener, benefitting the body, mind and spirit.
• Stretches the rib cage and lungs, improving respiration
• Strengthens/lengthens/improves flexibility of the spinal column, consequently improving nervous system function
• Loosens tight hips and shoulders
• Strengthens the arms, wrists, legs, buns, and abdomen
• Stimulates the thyroid and pituitary, thereby counteracting life’s stresses
• Increases energy and counteracts depression.
• Therapeutic for asthma, back pain, infertility, and reducing osteoporosis.
• Precautions/contra-indications include previous back injury, carpal tunnel syndrome, cardiovascular disease or high or low blood pressure

Getting into Wheel.

1. Lie flat on your back with your arms at your sides.
2. Bend your knees, keeping your feet parallel and aligned with your hips.
3. Draw your heels close to the edges of your buttocks.
4. Reach your arms up overhead, bending your elbows and placing palms on floor at either side of your head, fingers pointing toward the body.
5. Carefully pressing up, straightening your elbows and lifting your hips.
6. If possible, walk feet toward hands or vice versa.
7. The more you can get your wrists under your shoulders, the easier this pose becomes, but understand this might take time!
8. Continue to breathe and lift hips.
9. When you are ready to release, tuck the pelvis and slowly lower down, tailbone last to touch.
10. Supta baddha konasana (supine bound angle) is a lovely release from wheel.
11. Keep at it! Try to hold 5 breaths. Then go for 10 breaths…. The benefits are plentiful and there are so many fun variations.