Four-Limbed Staff Pose - (Chaturanga Dandasana)

‘Chatur’ means four, ‘Anga‘ means a limb and ‘Danda’ means a staff, hence the name Chaturanga Dandasana given to this posture. The four limbs which are supporting the body are hands and feet and the body is parallel to the floor and stiff as a staff.

Chaturanga Dandasana is a very challenging posture frequently practiced as part of the traditional Sun Salutation vinyasa sequence in yoga classes.

The completed form of Chaturanga Dandasana is quite difficult to perform at first, until the arms, back, and legs are strong enough to support the posture. The excellent preparatory posture – the Plank can be practice to prepare the body for this much more challenging posture.

The Four-Limbed Staff posture is a great arm and wrists strengthener, developing mobility and power. It contracts and tones the abdominal organs.

In this posture the body is kept firm and straight while being held off the floor by the action of the arms, legs and torso. This strengthens the legs and upper body and tones the muscles of the back.

The Chaturanga Dandasana increases strength, balance and stability by developing many muscles in the body. The most important muscles are: triceps (back of upper arm) and biceps (front of upper arm), pectoralis major (a large muscle of the chest), abdominal muscles, deltoids (a large triangular-shaped muscle that forms the prominence of each shoulder), and the scapular muscles.

For beginners: You can drop the knees to the floor until you build enough strength to support the body with your arms.

The Four-Limbed Staff is a great strength developer posture, however, in some health conditions this posture should not be practiced at all cost.

Two reasons not to do the Yoga Posture - Chaturanga Dandasana:

1) If you have a Carpal tunnel syndrome, please do not attempt this posture.
(It is compression of the median nerve at the wrist, which may result in numbness, tingling, weakness, or muscle atrophy in the hand and fingers. The disease typically affects the thumb, index, and middle fingers and is often particularly troublesome at night).

2) In case of pregnancy avoid practicing this posture.

Caution: Always check with your doctor if you have any doubts or concerns regarding the suitability of this posture for you. It is best to perform this yoga posture in presence of a qualified yoga teacher.

Issued in the interest of people practicing Hatha Yoga by Subodh Gupta, Yoga Expert based in London.

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