Urdhva Dhanurasana is a very challenging pose. I start students with a backless chair and legs up the wall on a block. Bolsters support the upper body and head to make the backbend more accessible. More experienced, injury free students can bring their hands and feet to the floor and push up to full wheel. Even larger students tend to fit in the chair because the hips do not need to fit through the back of the chair, only the upper legs. As you go down in the pose, scoot back until the seat of the chair is at the tips of the shoulder blades. Don’t cue for the students to push their elbows on the chair seat to come back up, there just isn’t enough room. Cue for the students to grab the back of the chair and as they are able push down to come up, head coming up last, no strain on the neck.
Alternatively, use two chairs together with a mat between the seats as described above. It feels more difficult to get into the pose because there is no back to hold on to, but when you push up to the full version of the pose there is no back of the chair to get in the way.
