Yoga Foundations: Downward Facing Dog

In this Yoga Foundations video, which forms part of my free posture education series, we explore the downward facing dog. This foundational pose helps lengthen the spine, strengthens the arms and shoulders and stretches the hamstrings. Practicing it mindfully supports circulation throughout the body.

Transcript

Hello, I'm Nina and today I'm going to show you the downward facing dog as part of my Yoga Foundations series. So we're gonna start in our four-footed stand that I've already made. Made a video of. So this would be the starting position. Ensure again that your hands are placed under the shoulders and that your knees are underneath the hips. You relax your feet for the moment. Find your neutral position, So without arching or flattening too much, Just neutral. Then, To start your downward facing dog, You bring your feet up. And you gently push away from the mat. Please let's focus first on the legs in bend. Why? Because I want you to always prioritize the length in the back. So what should not happen is the following. You straightening the legs but having a curve in the lower back because that can be causing pain and problems going forward. Bend the legs a little bit and push away from the hands, Away from the mat and bring your butt a little bit higher. Now try to relax your hips and the neck. The arms straight. The hands are really grounded. And you really focus on the length in the spine. As you get more flexible, Of course, You can straighten the legs. You can also straighten the back at the same time. Maybe your heels are reaching the mat as well. But let's get started here in a more, You know, Standard, Basic and more like in a safer position. All right. You bring some attention from the navel to your spine. And ensure that your arms are not bending or that they are not turning the other way. So you want to have the front of the forearm. Tons of forward. From here, You could then easily go into a climb. That would be this position and I will teach this position in a different video. From here you then come back into downward facing dog. Exhale. Inhaling into the plank. Exhaling into downward facing dog. The position should be exactly so that you can move from playing to downward facing dog without repositioning your hands or your feet. Because often I see people playing Twister, I call it. So for example, That could happen if you were in a downward facing dog and you make the dog very short. Now, If I tell you to go to a plane, Where do you go? Because you can't, So you would need to replace your hands. So in order to avoid that, Sometimes it's good to either start, Like I said earlier, From the forefooted stand, You push your feet up and you bend backwards, So then you should have a good distance between the hands and the nape. Or if that doesn't work for you, Try to go into your plank first, But the hands are underneath the shoulders and the feet. Are really the hands are pushing backwards and you pull the navel in and that could also be your starting position to come back. Into your downward facing dog. And that was the position, Downward facing dog.