Workshop Yoga Down Dog

This video is a step-by-step introduction to the fundamental alignment cues for an effective down dog. This pose does so many things. It strengthens the arms and core of the body. It can be a challenging pose and it can be a resting pose. The hamstrings and calf muscles get stretched and it lengthens the spine which keeps your back nice and healthy. We look at the foundation of the pose from the hands up and how the distance between the hands and feet matter. You only need a mat to practice this pose.

Transcript

Hi, I'm Lisa. Welcome to Workshop Yoga. This is where I break down a pose. I give you as much detail as I can for alignment and efficacy. And this video is going to workshop, We're going to workshop Down Dog, Adho Mukha Svanasana. I don't really do Sanskrit words very well, But if you like them, That's great. And I'm just going to start. So I'm going to go to my mat, Which is right behind me. And I'm actually going to start on all fours so that I can prep for the pose. So in this pose, It does a few things. It really strengthens your arms. It lengthens your back. It provides flexibility in the legs, Also toning. And in the very beginning, It can be really hard for a beginner, This pose, To hold it for any length of time. And then at some point, Once you've practiced it for a very long, When you've been practicing yoga for a long time and you're doing flow classes, It becomes more of a resting pose. I will tell you for me right now, It's not a resting pose, But it has been in the past. So we start on all fours. We walk the hands forward of the shoulders. And we're going to play with the distance between the hands and the feet. And I'm going to show you why. But let's just start by creating a really nice foundation. So the fingers are spread wide, The knuckles are kind of pressed down into the floor. Not overly done, You know, Just like a gentle press. You can press the finger pads into the floor so there's space between the fingers. There's energy in the hands. That energy runs all the way from the hands up to the head of the arm bone. And so then we're going to like pull the elbows in a little bit and roll the shoulders out. So instead of like having your arms like this, They're going to be like this. Okay. And from here, We're going to tuck the toes and I'll just go ahead and lift into the pose. But what we're looking for here is length in the spine. And sometimes for beginners, It's really hard to stay in this pose because their backs are so tight, Their legs are so tight. So I have a remedy for that. So we're going to come back into the pose and I'm going to bend the knees a lot. Boom! All the way almost to the floor. And then, This is really good for beginners, I'm going to lift the hips as high as I can. And you'll see when I do that how long my back gets. Okay. So that is where we want to start if we're new. If we're not new, You know, You can start to straighten into your legs. You can, Of course, Walk the dog out if you want. And then, I'm going to take a little break here just to talk about the space between the hands and the feet. So, I like to play with this because a lot of times we're in a pose like this plank. You know, You might even start in plank. I think this is a good place to start. So we'll start in plank and we'll lift the knees off the floor and then we'll come into down dog. And we tend to do this a lot to come back and forth like this, Right? And sometimes we even come back here and we'll do something like this. But what I want to get across is that you need to find that space for yourself between your hands and your feet. If you're too far apart in down dog, You lose some stability. Like that, That's a little too far, Right? And then if you're too close together, You lose flexibility and opportunity. So, You need to come to a place where you have both. You have stability and you have flexibility. That makes sense. This is kind of, I just can feel it for me. It's right here. Bend the knees, Lift the hips, Pull the low belly in and then stretch it out. Pressing through the hands, The tips of the fingers. If you want to start to lower your heels, You can. And that's really it. There isn't much more to tell you about down dog. I hope that helps you. I hope that gives you good alignment, That you feel good doing the pose, And that you play with it and you observe where does it feel best for me. So, Thanks for joining me in Workshop Yoga and I'll catch you on the next one.