YOGA INFORMATION ARTICLES

Yoga Exercise - Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

In the Downward Facing Dog Pose, you build up strength in the upper arms and you give space and opening in the back, neck, chest, hips and shoulders. If you let your ankles sink nicely to the floor in this Asana, you stretch the calves at the same time. In Yoga, this pose is often used as an exercise in between other exercises, but it is in fact an exercise in itself.

	STEP 1: Come onto the floor on your hands and knees. Stretch the elbows and relax the upper back between the shoulder blades, which gives you the feeling that the arms fall into the shoulder blades.
	STEP 2: Exhale and lift your knees and draw your back backwards from the pelvis, so that your arms and back form one line.
	STEP 3: Stretch your legs in such a way that you get the feeling that someone behind you is pulling your legs and hips backwards from the top of your upper legs. Let your head hang down in a relaxed sort of way.
	STEP 4: When you have placed your back and your legs correctly, stretch out your arms. This results in a stretching from two sides of the back: a stretching from the pelvis and a stretching from the arms. When the back and the chest are placed correctly, you will notice that you can quietly breathe in and out through the belly. You should not let your chest hang downwards or make your back extremely sunken. In this Asana, the back should be lengthened along its entire length. Take your time to work out the stretching further and further.

Many people experience the Downward Facing Dog Pose as a moment of rest between difficult Yoga exercises. However, when you are doing this, try to remain focused, both physically and mentally, and continue working out the technique further to get the maximum benefit from this exercise and from Yoga in general.

See related products in our Yoga Shop:

Yoga Mats
Hot Picks

Yoga Kits
Hot Picks

Yoga Equipment
Hot Picks

GLOBAL YOGA SEARCH

POSES OVERVIEW

These are all the Yoga Poses covered in this section:

1:	Cat Pose
2:	Triangle Pose
3:	Revolved Triangle Pose
4:	Crescent Moon Pose
5:	Warrior Pose I
6:	Warrior Pose II
7:	Warrior Pose III
8:	Wide-legged Forward Bend
9:	Chair Pose I
10:	Chair Pose II
11:	Standing Forward Bend
12:	Downward Facing Dog Pose
13:	Revolved Side Angle Pose
14:	Hands to Feet Pose
15:	Standing Side Stretch Pose
16:	Spread Leg Forward Fold
17:	Tree Pose
18:	Half Moon Pose
19	Sun Salutation Pose
20:	Spread Leg Forward Fold
21:	Hero Pose
22:	Lotus Pose
23:	Seated Forward Bend
24:	Child Pose
25:	Garland Pose
26:	Full Boat Pose
27:	Half Spinal Twist
28:	Sage Twist
29:	Leg Reclining Lunge
30:	Leg to Side Pose
31:	Leg Pulls
32:	Single Leg Raises
33:	Double Leg Raise
34:	Wind Relieving Pose
35:	Crane Pose
36:	Head Stand
37:	Shoulder Stand
38:	Plough Pose
39:	Hand Stand
40:	Bow Pose
41:	Wheel Pose
42:	Locust Pose
43:	Fish Pose
44:	Cobra Pose
45:	Dog Pose
46:	Bridge Pose
47:	Corpse Pose

WRITE AN ARTICLE

We invite you to submit your own Yoga articles and add them to our website to share them with the world!

INFORMATION SITEMAP

An easy way of finding the information you are looking for is by checking our well-structured Site Map.

View Info Sitemap