YOGA INFORMATION ARTICLES

Yoga Exercise - Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Shvanasana)

Written by: ayammie

The Dog Pose or Dog Tilt has its center on the pelvis. It stretches the back, opens the chest, and builds upper body strength. In addition, it stretches the whole back side of the body, arms, shoulders, hips, heels, and hamstrings. The name itself, Dog Pose, tells what kind this pose is or how it will go about.

	STEP 1: Start on your hands and knees. Position your hands directly beneath your shoulders and your knees directly beneath the hips. Have your fingers fully spread with the middle fingers pointing straight ahead. Make your back horizontal and flat. Gaze at the floor. This is your "neutral" position. When your pelvis is in neutral, your spine will be at full extension, with both the front and back sides equally long.
	STEP 2: As you wait for the inner cue, do not sag into your shoulders. Instead, create a line of energy through each arm by pressing downward into your hands and lifting your shoulders. Go back and forth like this several times to make sure you understand the movement.
	STEP 3: When you are ready to begin, breathe in deeply. As you exhale, turn your hips into "Cat Tilt". Do this by gently pulling the abdominal muscles backward toward the spine, tucking the tailbone (coccyx) down and under, and gently contracting the buttocks. Press firmly downward with your hands in order to stay lifted out of the shoulders, and lift the middle of your back toward the ceiling, rounding your spine upward. Curl your head inward. Gaze at the floor between your knees.
	STEP 4: As you inhale, turn your hips into Dog Tilt. Do this by releasing the grip of the buttocks, reversing the tilt of your pelvis, and curving your spine into a smoothly arched backbend.

This posture can remove fatigue, improve breathing, improve circulation of blood to the brain, and rejuvenate the entire body. You can also improve by bending the elbows and lowering the forearms to the floor. This posture is not advised to people with recent injuries on their back, hips, arms or shoulders. People with high blood pressure must consult their doctors first.

Warning: We encourage everybody to try and practice each Yoga Pose by yourselves at home or in the office. However, if you are feeling uncomfortable or are not able to complete a posture, do not push yourself. Yoga Exercise is not a competition, so just relax and try again. Nonetheless, it might be helpful to actually sign up for some Yoga Classes where a professional teacher will guide you through each yoga pose and make sure you are doing the exercise correctly.

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