Arguably, the asana most commonly associated with yoga is Downward-facing Dog. It can take yogis many years to master this posture given its requirement to balance your body’s weight equally between your hands and feet.
In the early years of practice, most yogis cannot shift their body weight off their shoulders into their legs and feet. If this is your experience, practice the pose by placing blocks under your palms. With regular practice, this strengthening inversion will eventually become a resting pose as intended in the Ashtanga system.
Use the yoga actions below to bring greater ease into your experience of Adho Mukha Svanasana.
Yoga Action (Annamaya Kosha):
– Press the four corners of the hands into the mat –- mounds/bases of the index fingers, baby fingers, outer and inner heels of the palms.
Yoga Action (Pranamaya Kosha):
– Keeping the downward press of the four corners of the hands, allow/feel the rebounding energetic lift from the centre of each palm up the arms into the centre of the armpits. Let the centre of the armpits lift into the deltoid cap (top of the shoulder). Notice how the energy from the earth travels up from the palms and arms into the shoulders and down the back body’s sacrum and tailbone into your legs.
Yoga Action (Manomaya Kosha):
– rest in the pose by silently repeating to yourself “I am not alone. The Earth supports me.”
NOTE: It may take more than one pose before you awaken these yoga actions or areas in your body and begin to feel the arising sensations and releases. In that case, apply the three yoga actions to each of the following poses –
SALAMBA ADHO MUKHA SVANASANA
WALL STRETCH
ADHO MUKHA VRKSASANA
DOLPHIN
For more yoga actions and teachings, click here. Namaste.
