Akarna dhanura asana

Posture:		Akarna-dhanura-asana The Shooting-bow Pose
Translation:		The Sanskrit word karna means ear and the prefix "a" means near to or towards. Dhanur means bow-shaped, curved or bent. The "bow" here referred to is a bow as in "bow and arrow." Literally we could translate this as the near-the-ear bow posture but because of the obvious appearance of the posture we'll call it the shooting bow posture.
Pronunciation:		ah-car-nah da-noor ah-sa-na
Difficulty:		(6) Requires flexibility of hips and legs.

Shooting Bow Posture (Akarna-asana) Instruction:

1 Sit on the floor with the legs together and extended straight out in front. Keep the back straight, shoulders level and head straight. Place the hands, palms down, flat on top of the thighs then inhale deeply. 2 Exhale and reach down and loop the forefinger of the right hand around the big toe of the right foot and grasp the left foot with the left hand. 3 Inhale and pull the right foot back placing the big toe next to the right ear. Straighten the back as much s possible and hold the posture for the duration of the inhale breath. 4 Exhale and return to the seated position of step #1 then repeat the posture on the opposite side.