SVANASANA

Dog Poses

Adho Mukha Svanasana Eka Pada Adho Mukha Svanasana Parsva Adho Mukha Svanasana Parivrtta Adho Mukha Svanasana Salamba Adho Mukha Svanasana Urdhva Mukha Svanasana

Adho Mukha Svanasana

Downward Facing Dog

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Adho Mukha Svanasana

Demonstrated by Melora Griffis

Demonstrated by Doug Keller

OM yoga center Cindy Lee, Director 135 West 14th street, 2nd Floor New York, NY 10011 Tel: 212-229-0267

DoYoga Home Studio: The Health Advantage Yoga Center 1041 Sterling Road, Suite 202 Herndon, VA 20170 Tel: 703 435-1571 As you grow more flexible, get an extra stretch by putting your head on the floor -- Don't sacrifice the armpits or shoulder blades, though!

Adho Mukha Svanasana

Downward Facing Dog Pose by Mark Stevens Sun and Moon Studios

Have you ever seen a dog wake and stretch? Just watching it makes you feel good. Adho Mukha Svanasana or Downward Facing Dog is a pose which expresses spring so beautifully. It allows us to tap into the inner strength that resides in our hearts and is expressed through the entire body. We'll begin in Balasana or Child's pose, allowing us to turn inside to watch the pulse of nature, which expands and contracts. We see this from the smallest atom to the largest star. We see it in the seasons, where the winter is time for the earth to draw inward and honor itself for its beauty and strength, and when it moves into the summer, the earth expands fully with life. In ourselves, we feel nature's pulsation by watching the breath, which expands and releases the body. Even yoga can express itself in this fashion, as we will soon see. In Child's pose, we sit back on our heels, bring our forehead to the floor and our hands stretch out in front of us resting on the floor. Separate your knees slightly if it is difficult to breathe or difficult to bring your forehead to the floor. If the forehead is still not touching the floor, then let the forehead rest upon your hands. Here, we rest and turn inward. Begin to visualize your heart as a beautiful flower. It is currently the night when even the most beautiful flower closes to honor its own beauty. We'll start setting the foundation for Downward Facing Dog. Keep

your arms outstretched and your feet where they are, then come up to your hands and knees in table pose. Picture that it is just before dawn and the flower of your heart is anticipating the golden light of the sun's rising. Make sure the hands are shoulder width apart and slightly in front of the shoulders, and the knees are just behind the hips, then tuck your toes under. Notice where the weight is on your hands. Is it mostly on the heels of your hands? If so, then stretch the fingers out from the wrists like rays of sunshine and press into every knuckle. Feel how the forearms engage. Now, we are almost ready. As the first light of dawn begins to shine, we soften our hearts, allowing the chest to lower between the shoulders. This softening to Grace brings the-shoulder blades towards each other so they lie flat on your back. Picture two doors sliding together and closing. Turn back to your breath and feel its pulsation throughout your body, the pulsation of life. When you are ready, inhale and lift your knees off the floor by lifting the seat bones up and away from your hands. Let the blossom of your heart fully open in the morning sunshine by expanding from the heart through the arms and hands into the earth and concurrently through your spine to reach your seat bones towards where the ceiling and wall meet each other. Your upper thighs press back while your upper inner thighs roll inward towards the wall behind you to allow the seat bones to expand. Then, slowly descend the heels towards the floor. Keep the breath long and steady like a warm spring breeze. Feel your whole being expand in the celebration of life while the radiance of your heart shines brighter than a thousand suns. When you are ready, come down and rest in Child's pose, turning inward, bowing to yourself?your inner beauty and strength. Repeat the series once or twice more and notice how radiant the whole inner and outer body feels. Keeping a connection with nature through your breath and yoga practice shows us we are each an individual expression of something greater. If we disconnect from it, we feel alone as if we have to do everything by ourselves. But staying connected, we tap into the ocean and feel its pulse. Have a beautiful and radiant spring!

Eka Pada Adho Mukha Svanasana

Demonstrated Samuels

by

Nance

Demonstrated by Elsie
of Elsie's Yoga Kula and some of the very first yoga class Podcasts on the 'net!

Salamba Adho Mukha Svanasana

Supported Downward Facing Dog
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Salmaba Adho Mukha Svanasana Demonstrated by Patricia Walden

Photo by Andree Lerat Andree Lerat Photography Tel. 617-738-9553 1999 Yoga Journal Tel: 510-841-9200 or eMail

Parsva Adho Mukha Svanasana

Side Downward Facing Dog

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Parsva Adho Mukha Svanasana Demonstrate d by Jennifer Hayden

OK, I made this name up. The Anusara folks call this Twisted Dog, The Wild Thing, Tinkling Dog and many other imaginative names. Whatever you choose to call it, it's an amazing stretch. Be

careful not to sink into the opposite arm and relax your neck!

Fire Hydrant Pose or Tinkling Dog

by Barbara Benagh Yoga Journal

In Adho Mukha Svanasana, raise your right leg, bend the knee, and open your right hip toward the ceiling. Shift your weight to your left hand, come onto your right fingertips, and let your right leg hang behind you to create a spinal rotation. Breathe steadily and keep reaffirming the length from your hands to your hips to insure smooth shoulder rotation. Deepen the twist, gradually bringing your right foot as close to the floor as possible.

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana

Upward Facing Dog

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Urdhva Mukha Svanasana Demonstrate d by B.K.S. Iyengar

Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika by B.K.S. Iyengar 1966 George Allen & Unwin Publishters, Ltd.; ISBN 0-80521031-8

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana

Upward Facing Dog Yoga Dancer.com

This asana is a back bend, countering the forward bend. After practicing poses that bend in one direction, it is important to work the body in the opposing direction. Place your hands at breast level, with the index fingers parallel to each other, pointing straight ahead. Leading with the heart, hinge at the elbows as you slide the torso forward, roll over the toes to the tops of the feet and curve up from Chaturanga Dandasana. To protect your elbows and shoulders, keeping the elbows close in to the ribs. The "eye" of the elbow should face each other as thought they were cross-eyed. Do not hyperextend! Straighten the arms as you curve up, bringing the backbend from the upper spine, rather than the lumbar area, but moving down along the spine as you lift. At the last, lift your chin to look gently upwards, but only as far as you can without jamming the back of the neck. If you find your shoulders lifing up towards your ears, or your

bottom sagging, back off and don't come up as far until your upper back is more flexible. Spin curved, shoulders open with shoulder blades moving down the rib cage. Tuck the tailbone under as you look up to the ceiling. Advanced students can curve the spine and neck further by looking to the back of the room. The body is lifted, with thighs engaged to keep the strain out of the lower back. The feet area parallel, rather than permitting the heels to drop outwards. Only the hands and the tops of the feet should rest on the ground. Lift the heart out of the shoulders as they smooth them backwards. In this version, arms are straight, but you can bend the arms a little and roll your shoulders back to reaffirm your shoulder blades down along the rib cage. Hold ths asana for five nice long, even in/exhalations. Lower down by keeping the elbows tightly into the ribs, thinking forward rather than down, or more advanced students may move back into Adho Mukha Svanasana by engaging the abs and leading backwards with their hips, rolling back over the toes.

Parivrtta Adho Mukha Svanasana

Revolved, Downward Facing Dog

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Parivrtta Adho Mukha Svanasana

Demonstrated by Elsie
of Elsie's Yoga Kula and some of the very first yoga class Podcasts on the 'net!

Created on ... September 21, 2001 by Yoga Dancer Designs. This page was last updated on Tuesday, 24-Apr-2007 10:07:55 EDT, and today is Wednesday, 28-May-2008 14:13:26 EDT. We've been blessed with visitors since April, 2002.

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