Wheel Pose Yoga Pose
Master the Wheel Pose, a powerful yoga backbend that deeply stretches the chest, abdomen, and hip flexors while strengthening the arms, legs, and spine.
Description
A challenging yoga pose that stretches the entire front of the body while simultaneously strengthening your spine, arms, wrists, glutes, and legs.
How to Do Wheel Pose Yoga Pose
- 1Setup
Lie on your back with knees bent, feet flat on the floor hip-width apart, and heels close to your glutes.
- 2Setup
Place your hands on the floor beside your ears, fingers pointing towards your shoulders, with elbows pointing upwards.
- 3
Inhale, then press through your hands and feet, lifting your hips and chest off the floor.
- 4
Continue to push, extending your arms and legs to lift your body into a full arch, allowing your head to hang gently.
- 5
Hold the pose, breathing deeply, maintaining strong engagement in your glutes and hamstrings to support your back.
- 6
To exit, slowly lower your upper back, then your hips, to the mat, tucking your chin to your chest.
Tips
- Thoroughly warm up your spine, shoulders, and wrists with gentle stretches like cat-cow and wrist rotations before attempting Wheel Pose.
- Focus on lifting your hips towards the ceiling as much as possible to create space in your lower back and deepen the arch.
- Keep your elbows drawing in towards each other; avoid letting them splay out wide, which can strain your shoulders.
- Distribute your body weight evenly between your hands and feet, actively pressing into all four corners of both to stabilize the pose.
Common Mistakes
- ×Allowing elbows to splay outwards reduces shoulder stability; fix this by actively drawing your elbows towards each other.
- ×Not engaging the glutes and hamstrings can strain the lower back; fix this by squeezing your glutes and pressing through your feet to lift your hips higher.
- ×Craning the neck or dropping the head too far back without support can cause discomfort; fix this by allowing your head to hang naturally, keeping the neck long and relaxed.
Variations
Plow Yoga Pose
The Plow Yoga Pose gently stretches your spine, hamstrings, and shoulders, promoting flexibility and calming your nervous system.
Cobra Yoga Pose
Perform the Cobra Yoga Pose to gently stretch your rectus abdominis and open your chest, shoulders, and hip flexors.
Related Exercises
Squat Mobility Twist
A dynamic stretch exercise that combines a deep squat with a thoracic rotation to improve mobility in the hips and spine.
Bridge Pose Yoga Stretch
Strengthen your glutes and hamstrings while stretching your chest and hip flexors with Bridge Pose. Improve posture and relieve back pain.
Shoulder Stand Yoga Pose
Master the Shoulder Stand Yoga Pose to strengthen your core, improve balance, and stretch your spine. Achieve a calm mind and body with this inversion.
Lean Planche
Master the lean planche, a foundational calisthenics exercise building immense shoulder strength and core stability.
Dumbbell Complex Push-up Row Clean and Press
The ultimate full-body dumbbell complex combining a push-up, row, clean, and overhead press in one flow.
Dumbbell Renegade Row to Squat
Build total-body strength with this demanding complex combining renegade rows and explosive squats.
Track Wheel Pose Yoga Pose in your workouts
Log sets, reps, and weight. See your progress over time.
Get Ellim — Free