It’s that time of the week again! We greet the end of a long, simultaneously exhausting and stimulating week, replete with midterms preparation and early mornings, with a healthy dose of yoga.
And today’s Touch Your Toes Friday pose is…Down-Dog!
This is one of the most basic poses in yoga. At some point in a yoga class, DVD, or podcast, you will enter Down-Dog.
Basically, you just stand with your feet hip-width apart, sink your hands into the ground, straighten your legs, and lift your hips so that your butt points up to where the floor and ceiling meet (provided you’re doing yoga inside, of course!). Check out this image courtesy of Yoga Journal:
Down-Dog strengthens your biceps and increases the range of motion of your legs. Ultimately, this should be a resting pose, but it is a bit challenging at first. Try holding this pose for 1 min. three times and immerse yourself into the experience. Feel your hands sink into the earth and stretch your heels by trying to reach them to the ground.
And of course, BREATHE. Focus your thoughts on your inhales and exhales as you enter this pose. Whenever you feel your mind wandering or entertain thoughts about any discomfort you might experience, just return your attention back to your breath, to how your hands feel as they sink into the ground, and how feet feel as they stretch and flatten towards the floor.
Stronger, more toned shoulders and increased flexibility below the torso? We should all Down-dog it up as much as we can!
College Kid Yoga 
I feel like i’m not doing this pose correctly – whenever we go into Downward Dog in my yoga classes, the heels of my palms start to ache after about 10 seconds. How should the weight in our hands be distributed?
This is the best pose ever. I do it every time I work out (about 4 times a week!) It’s seriously the best. I did it once in a hot yoga (bikram) class and I thought I was going to pass out. Have you done any bikram classes? They’re amazing. If you go frequently and stay hydrated they make your body feel wonderful… so cleansed.
Oh yeah, down dog rocks. Yeah, I’ve dabbled in bikram a bit-hydration is a MUST! I usually go to ashtanga and vinyasa classes in heated rooms, although there not as hot as bikram classes! I know, you feel so pure afterward, right?
So I tried this out last night on a whim. I have to say it was hard to immerse myself in the “experience”. I wasn’t breathing. At all, really. I’m going to go over your other posts and try ’em out!
I do want to say I was inspired to start meditating again after going through your blog. Yoga’s definitely some next level stuff for me, at least.
Cool-thanks for giving this stuff a try! Try to shift your thoughts from yoga as an “experience”- I feel like that makes yoga a bit scary and new agey, which of course, people distance themselves from. Yes, yoga is a different way to move our bodies, and it asks us to pay attention to what’s going on in our minds. But yoga is still just moving our bodies for a few minutes. So do what you can and just have fun with it! And meditation is SO effective, too. Focusing on and changing our destructive thoughts to more positive ones is life-changing! Look out for some Youtube videos with yoga routines in my next post-maybe those will inspire you even more!
Sarah