Posture: Dancer (variation) or Standing Bow

Why does this posture have two names?
Yoga is funny this way. There are many schools of yoga - Dancer (Natarajasana,) comes from the Iyengar school of yoga. Standing Bow (Dandayamana Dhanurasana,) comes from the Bikram school of yoga. Standing Bow Pose is actually a variation of Dancer. If you are able, the advancement to Dancer is to draw the foot up to the back of the head, and the back of the head to the foot! We can look into who came up with what first, but the benefits are the same.

How To: (This explains the pose in the pic above)
Start in Tadasana (Mountain,) bend your right knee, extend your right arm back so that you can clasp your hand around the inside of your right foot or ankle. Inhale as you reach the left arm up, extend through the finger tips, and lengthen the crown of the head to the ceiling. Engage the glute and hamstring muscles in the right leg, kick into the right hand. Keep the shoulders back and the chest lifted. Hold for up to 1 minute. Repeat on the other side.

Benefits:
Expands the chest, strengthens the stabilizers in the standing leg, strengthens the glutes and hamstrings in the kicking leg, lengthens the quadricep muscles in the kicking leg, strengthens the lower back, lubricates the vertebrae through slight compression.