Yoga Downward Dog – How to Teach Downward Facing Dog

What is a Downward Dog in yoga? In the downward dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), sometimes known as a downward-facing dog (01) or just a down dog, the yogi extends their entire body while standing on all fours, much like a dog might.

How to do Yoga Downward Dog

Make sure your knees are slightly behind your hips as you get down on all fours. Spread your fingers wide and place your hands shoulder-width apart. Maintaining your hands pressed into the mat, inhale deeply while lifting your knees off the floor and attempting to straighten your legs as much as you can. Exhale deeply while keeping your hands pushed into the mat.

To enjoy moving within your downward dog stance, try to remember to breathe deeply both when you inhale and when you exhale. You can paddle out your feet while taking pleasure in the leg-back stretch. Try to relax your neck and widen the space between your shoulders. Your face’s muscles should be at ease. Try inhaling with your hips raised and exhaling with your heels pressed firmly into the ground. If your legs are bowed, that’s okay; just take in the satisfying stretch and the sensation of opening up the back of your body.

After taking a few calm breaths, carefully untuck your toes, lower your hips back into Child’s pose, and then slowly lower your knees to the floor.

Getting into position

You can move into Downward Dog from Child’s Pose, where you are resting. From Child’s Pose, you move up onto your hands and knees and then into Downward Dog, as shown above. Or, you can move into a downward dog from a deep standing forward bend (called Uttanasana in Sanskrit) by putting your hands on the floor and stepping back into the pose. Plank Pose is another alternative. Bring your hips up and press your heels back to move into Downward Dog.

Getting out of the pose

After doing downward dog, you can go back to Child’s Pose by putting your knees back on the floor. From Downward Dog, you can also step your feet forward between your hands to return to a standing forward bend. You can also move back into a plank by lowering your hips and bringing your shoulders over your wrists.

Yoga Downward Dog Other tips?

If Downward Dog is too hard to do at first, you can get the same benefits by standing in an upside-down L facing the wall. Put your hands on the wall and move your hips back so your back is parallel to the floor. Try to keep the same amount of space between your shoulders and along your spine as you pull your hips back and press your feet onto the floor to extend your legs.

If your wrists are painful, you can buy “wedges” to put under them (thick end under the wrist). This cuts down on the angle, which relieves some of the pressure on the wrists.

What is it good for downward pose?

Downward dog stretches the backs of your legs and your lower back. It also makes space between your vertebrae and between your shoulders. It can be very relaxing, and you can come back to it to focus on your breathing, which you should try to make as smooth and steady as possible. It gives us a nice stretch, usually after a series of standing poses that work your legs, and it can be both relaxing and energizing once you’ve been doing yoga for a while and built up your strength. You should only stay there as long as it feels good, and you can always rest in Child’s pose.

When should you proceed cautiously or not?

If your shoulder, neck, or wrist is hurt, you shouldn’t do Downward Dog. Yogaflexs has been putting on high-quality, one-of-a-kind yoga retreats for over 10 years. They offer a wide range of amazing trips with some of the best yoga teachers in Europe and some of the most beautiful places on earth. This is the perfect place for yoga practitioners of all levels to get away and relax.

FAQ