Urdhva Dhanurasana - Night Blue Wheel

The Wheel of Day and Night

The Wheel, represented here by the Egyptian Goddess Nut to stay in the theme of Kemetic yoga. She is a mother and the Goddess of the Sky and Cosmos. She swallows the sun Ra every evening and gives birth to him every morning in an endless cycle. You can see Ra travelling through her.

In old paintings, Nut is actually not represented as a backbend but more like a tabletop position. She is also represented as a cow sometimes so if you know your cow posture it can make sense!

When I was 10, my brother and I were so passionate about Egyptology that my mother took us to Egypt for my birthday. I remember being struck by Nut as her body was covering the ceiling of some tunnels and rooms in ancient tombs. We were literally travelling inside the goddess to follow the God Ra while walking down dark tunnels covered of stars. The wheel pose is as magical as the Goddess. I tried to reunite the journey of Ra to the 7 Chakras to describe the holistic bliss of the asana.

One of my teacher in India, Jaya, told us once: ‘if you have no time to practice, just do wheel pose for 15min and you will have a complete practice’. I don’t know if he could hold it that long but he is certainly right about it. First, this backbend stretches intensively all the front body and therefore some endocrine spots and organs: thyroid, thymus, pancreas and reproductive system. But It’s also an inversion as much as a strengthening posture (arms, legs and back) which means it has a magical double effect linked to the autonomic nervous system: increasing your energy and cooling you down at the same time by activating the recovery parasympathetic nervous system.

By stimulating the endocrine, the musculoskeletal and the nervous systems, you benefit holistically from this asana. It is also said that it elevates the mood and fight depression. Personally, I always feel an amazing natural high after practising any backbend and meditating just after is just the best!