Excellent Kundalini Yoga Exercise to Improve Flexibility, Reproduction & Digestion
Kundalini Yoga Exercise for Flexibility
Yoga Pose to Help Reproduction & Digestion
Kundalini Yoga’s Modified Wheel Pose is certainly an exercise worth including as part of your daily yoga routine. It is an integral part of mine. This exercise is called Kandhar Asana in Hatha Yoga and also goes by a few other names in various yoga circles. Since it is often used as a modification to Wheel Pose (see Advanced Yoga Technique for Total Body Workout), and offers many of that position’s benefits without the same degree of difficulty, I find the name Modified Wheel Pose most suitable for it.
Modified Wheel Pose, as mentioned above, is part of both Kundalini Yoga and Hatha Yoga and so here on Mastery of Meditation & Yoga, it will be part of the following 2 free online e-books: Free Hatha Yoga Poses & Free Online Kundalini Yoga Exercises.
One of the best aspects of Kundalini Yoga, and yoga practice in general, is the vast array of modifications that poses offer, so that almost all of us can do some variation of the posture and still enjoy many of the benefits that the exercise bestows. Modified Wheel Pose is a perfect example of this. Not only is it a modification of Full Wheel Pose, but it also has a modified version for those who are just beginning yoga and find the posture hard to come into.
Below I have given illustrations of both, the modified version of Modified Wheel Pose 
and the full version of Modified Wheel Pose. This yoga exercise offers many important benefits, such as increasing flexibility, promoting better digestion and toning female reproductive organs for improved function, and I discuss these in more details in the practice section below.
Kundalini Yoga Modified Wheel Pose
Illustration #1 Modification of Modified Wheel Pose
Illustration #2 Kundalini Yoga Modified Wheel Pose
Kundalini Yoga Modified Wheel Pose:
a. Instructions for practicing Kundalini Yoga Modified Wheel Pose:
- Start by lying on your back. Have your feet hip distance apart and bring your heels up against your buttocks.
- Reach forward with your arms and grasp you ankles.
- Now raise your torso off the ground, by pushing up with you navel and hips. You should feel a stretch in you upper thighs and in your back and spine.
- Try to stretch up such that your chest nears your chin and you feel a good stretch in your lower back. Continue to hold your ankles throughout and keep the feet flat on the floor.
- Hold this position. In the Kundalini Yoga version the eyes are closed (Illustration #2 above). You can have them open or closed in the Hatha Yoga version.
- Once you come into the final posture, either do Long Deep Breathing, or do Kundalini Yoga Breath of Fire.
b. Duration for Kundalini Yoga Modified Wheel Pose:
- 15 seconds – 5 minutes.
c. Benefits of Kundalini Yoga Modified Wheel Pose:
- Excellent to build and increase flexibility of your back and spine.
- Also promotes flexibility in your shoulders and upper thighs.
- Stretches the entire abdominal region and helps improve your digestive system.
- Stretches the female reproductive organs, massaging and toning them. Improves conditions related to these organs.
- Strengthens your legs and thighs.
- Expands your respiratory system and improves lung capacity.
- Activates and help heal the Vishuddhi Chakra (Throat Charka) and promotes healthy thyroid function.
d. Practice Tips for Kundalini Yoga Modified Wheel Pose:
- Modified Version of Modified Wheel Pose: If you find the full version of Modified Wheel Pose too difficult, I suggest starting with the modification to this exercise which is demonstrated in illustration #1 above. In this modification, interlace your fingers as shown and push down against the floor with your arms as you thrust up with your hips and navel. All else is the same as the full version, except that you don’t grasp your ankles in the modified version. This modified version will also bestow many of the same benefits and you can use it to slowly increase your flexibility and strength, until you can do the full version.
- Be careful of you back, knees and neck when doing this pose. Remember to not strain too much and slowly build up the pose to the full version. Also, increase your time gradually and you can take breaks in between as well.
Online Kundalini Yoga Kriyas Using Modified Wheel Pose:
- You can add Modified Wheel Pose to your yoga routine to help increase your flexibility, and improve your digestive and reproductive system. Please use the article, 6 Guidelines on How to Create Yoga Sets to help guide you in doing this.
Wheel pose is one of the very useful pose among Yoga postures.
As it helping in increasing flexibility and digestion.
A nice post indeed.
Quick question – in the illustration #2, as well as having eyes closed, how strong a grip should the hands have around the ankles? Are the hands just resting there, or pulling the feet inwards as well? Look forward to your insights when you have a moment – Thanks.
I have a chronic sore throat problem. No cold water, no cold drinks, no ice, no cold items suit me even in summers. And if I escape a sore throat, I get a sprain at the back my neck. Can’t move it for days. Could this be a symptom of a closed or an overactive Vishuddhi chakra? How can I get relief besides doing the wheel pose above?
wow nice and helpful poses. Yoga makes body more stronger and healthier.
The yoga exercise shown here are very helpful. I like how the steps are provided, this makes it easier for people reading this post to follow the exercise. Any type of exercise helps the body become stronger. Exercise also helps promote blood circulation which help eliminate the toxins which are eliminated from the body through colon cleansing by the process of regular bowel movement. Thanks for the helpful information here.
Your posts are very informative and guiding as always. Can this modified wheel pose be used as butt exercise too or you have separate yoga positions targeting butt muscles?
I suffer from right shoulder pain. After reading this article maybe yoga might help.
very interesting, this is something thats always made me think, I exercise and lift weights alot so my flexibility in my opinion is not great, Would love to learn this as a relaxation method
Hi!
Love the writeup. How does KundaliniYoga help in cleansing the body? Much appreciated.
Opps, I pressed “post” too soon!
Further to my previous post/comment, Kundalini calls upon such intense internal spiritual resources/commitments on behalf of the practitioner that it’s benefits–once one can properly embrace them–are life changing for the better.
Kundalini Yoga is one which the student must enter/pass through stages of readiness for the following stage. That is, it requires one to be physically, morally, and spiritually prepared for each subsequent stage of practice as it embodies many distinct parts of one’s being in its practice and form. Preparation for such is vital and it’s wise to proceed at a pace set out for one by a proper instructor.
Discovered your blog through Leo. These images and descriptions of yoga exercises are wonderful ways to build endurance and strengthen soul. In gratitude for your self-less gestures and genuine love. It all heals.
Hi,
I have written about how Kundalini Yoga can be seen as a method for cleansing the subconscious mind in the following article…
Introduction to Kundalini Yoga – Yoga of Awareness
Best,
Anmol
Hi there,
I am doing bit of research. How does Kundalini Yoga helps in purifying the mind.
Any idea or information of this aspect is appreciated.
Barbara
Hey TZ,
Good to have your sound advise as always.
Cheers,
Anmol
It should be noted that reverse positions like this one should only be done when healthy and calm. There are a lot of nerves in the back, and not respecting those rules could lead to confusion and/or back pain.