Tag Archives: down-dog

Sometimes we strive so hard for perfection that we forget that imperfection is happiness. – Karen Nave

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On a lovely weekend getaway to the peaceful ocean-side Carmel, California, my personal photographer (i.e. my husband, Richard) was snapping some shots of me doing some poses on the rocks along the beach. There must have been a airedale terrier meetup group at the beach that day, because there were fifteen or twenty of them nearby playing with each other, digging up sand, and retrieving balls from the water. Being in front of a camera brings out my inner perfectionist as I wrack my sensations to find my alignment and relax my face into a photogenic hint-of-a-smile. Just as I’d found one of my picture-perfect positions, one of the terriers jumped up onto the rocks to interrupt my posing and give me a moment of real yoga:

Sometimes we strive so hard for perfection that we forget that imperfection is happiness. - Karen Nave

Sometimes we strive so hard for perfection that we forget that imperfection is happiness. – Karen Nave

This focus on perfecting the physical aspects of the poses can also take over our practice on the mat. But the real yoga is not the shape the body takes, or the precise alignment, or the even serene facial expression. The yoga is the sukkha, the joy, the svadyaya, the self-study, the dharana and dhyana, the concentration and meditation. None of these come from a focus perfection—they come from cultivating acceptance. They come from a willingness to be who you are, where you are, what you are. Don’t get so caught up practicing the poses that you forget to practice the yoga.

Turbo Dog

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Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of yogis like adding “turbo” to the beginning of a pose’s name, and turbo dog probably deserves that apprehension. It is a variation on downward facing dog that targets the triceps (muscles in the back of the upper arms). Pretty simple instructions: start in downward facing dog, and as you exhale bend into the elbows so that they hover just above the floor. Don’t touch the elbows down or you lose the tricep strengthening. Contract the muscles in your shoulders, upper chest, and upper back to keep your elbows from bowing out to the sides; keep your arms parallel. Always keep the abdominals contracted, and, other than the variation in the arms, maintain good down dog form.

Turbo dog

Turbo dog

One-Legged Vinyasa

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To add a challenge to your vinyasa, you can try this single leg variation. Feel free to switch to a two-legged vinyasa at any point during this sequence–some of the transitions are harder to do one-legged than others. Begin in a plank with one leg lifted. If you’re incorporating this into a larger flow, one-legged plank can follow naturally from downward facing dog with one leg lifted or from side plank with the top leg lifted.

One-Legged Plank

Begin in plank with one leg lifted.

Keeping the leg lifted, as you exhale lower slowly to chuttarunga. Keep the abdominals contracted, elbows close to the body, and shoulder blades sliding down toward the hips. In chuttarunga, the torso should not sink below the level of the upper arms as this can put the shoulders into a bad position.

Lower to One-Legged Chuttarunga

Exhale, lower to one-legged chuttarunga.

One-Legged Chuttarguna

One-legged chuttarunga.

Contract the abdominals to protect the low back, and as you inhale pull forward into upward facing dog. If you can, keep the leg lifted. Notice that you have to roll over the toe so that the top of the foot is on the floor. In upward facing dog the quads (muscle in the front of the thigh) are contracted so that the hips are lifted. Squeeze the shoulder blades back and together, and slide them down the spine.

One-Legged Upward Facing Dog

Inhale, lift to one-legged upward facing dog.

This next part is the hardest. Rolling back over your toe requires you to use your tibialis anterior muscle in the front of your lower leg, and this muscle is often quite weak. You can lower the lifted leg here if you need to. Here we go: contract the abdominals (you’ll need them!) and as you exhale press back to a downward facing dog with the leg lifted.

One-Legged Downward Facing Dog

Exhale, press to one-legged downward facing dog.

From here you can go all sorts of places: pigeon? High lunge? A warrior? Handstand? That’s up to you!

Down Dog: Pressing Deeper

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In nearly every yoga class they tell you to “walk the dog” (press heels down toward the floor alternately to loosen up the calves and hamstrings), so you probably already know about that trick for getting deeper into downward facing dog. But here’s another one that I don’t see around as much. Big thanks to Shakti Mhi for introducing this to me in my yoga teacher training.

From down dog, as you inhale lift the hips up as high as you can, lifting up onto the toes. Think about tilting the sit bones skyward, which will make it so your low back muscles don’t have to stretch so far.

Step 1

Lift the hips up as high as you can, lifting up onto the toes.

With straight legs, tight hamstrings may prevent the sit bones from really tilting upwards, so lets take them out of the equation. On your next exhale, bend the knees. Inhale, tilt the sit bones upwards. You’ll have more space for this now. Exhale press the chest in toward the thighs. Again, since sit bones are tilted upwards and the low back muscles don’t have as far to stretch, you’ll be able to achieve a deeper fold.

Step 2

Exhale, bend the knees. Inhale, tilt the sit bones upwards. Exhale press the chest in toward the thighs.

Contract the upper back muscles to slide the shoulder blades down the spine toward the hips. Think about rotating the armpits outwards to open up your chest. Melt the chest down between the arms.

Now, once you have the chest pressed as close to the thighs as is comfortable, keep the torso where it is, and slowly straighten the legs. Make sure you keep the muscles around the shoulders contracted to maintain your upper body position. The heels don’t actually have to touch the mat in down dog; some people’s bone structure wont allow for it.

Step 3

Keep the torso where it is, and slowly straighten the legs.

Finally, you may have arched you back in order to get your chest in toward your thighs, so contract your abdominal muscles to draw your rib cage and low back into a neutral position. Keep the muscles in the shoulders, chest, and upper back strongly contracted to maintain your form.

Step 4

Contract your abdominal muscles to draw your rib cage and low back into a neutral position.