While our lower body strength imbibes balance to our physical structure, it is the upper body strength and fitness that drives our activities. Moreover, even beyond the fitness quotient, a well built body with strong arms can always compliment your personality. In this regard, there are some Yoga poses that are specifically beneficial for toning up your upper arms and shoulders.
Beginning Exercise
1. Downward Dog
A complete downward facing position, this pose requires you to put your knees below the thigh region (with your heels resting on the floor), while you stretch your arms forward (with the palms resting on the floor). Now, you move up your knees along with lifting up your tailbone, while your heels press more on the ground. This exercise helps in strengthening your arms and also makes your spinal muscles and calves more flexible.
Intermediate Exercises
2. Pendant Pose
Also known as Lolasana, this form requires you to sit in a classic ‘sage’ posture, with your legs crossed (right knee upon left knee). Then you have to keep your palms firmly on the ground and use them as a support to lift up your hip region. This position can be held for around three deep breathes, while your toes push towards your buttocks. The posture naturally flexes your arms for greater strength.
3. Crane Pose
Bakasana or the Crane Pose tests out the true strength and endurance level of your arms. So, squatting on all four, your arms lift up the mass of your body, as you need let go off your feet at least a few inches from the ground. The ultimate posture will look like one is sitting with his palms on the ground (much like the fore limbs of the crane), and feet in the air. At that stage only balance and stamina are your true friends, and thus the core strength of the arms is enhanced.
Advanced Exercises
4. The Wheel Pose
Also known as Urdhva Danurasana, this inverse U position may look a tad bit unnatural to the ‘weak hearted’. Delving into technicalities, the first important step is to find a proper balanced position. And from there on the actual difficulty starts when we have to move our hands behind our heads and then place them on the ground (our fingers should point at our feet). Similarly our heels should also cling on to the floor, as we finally lift up our middle part of the torso in the air.
5. The Scorpion Pose
Easily one of the craftiest poses to master, the posture entails the nigh perfect frame of a scorpion. This means you have lay on your forearms as the support on the ground, with your head in a forward position. The legs are to be taken off from the ground (towards the ceiling) much like in the headstand position. However, this time your balance becomes even more pertinent, as the feet have to be carefully adjusted so that they could touch the very tip of your head, much like the inverted tail of a scorpion. This in turn works upon your arms and wrists, for they are used as the only support for the body.
