Downward Dog

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Downward Dog is a fantastic posture that stretches you from head to toe, literally.

Start with your knees and hands on the floor, hip and shoulder length apart. Lift your hips up first and relax your head down. Once there, bring your knees into your chest and then straighten the legs and bring the heels down to ground.

Bending the knees to the chest forces the hips up and and opens the lower abdomen.

Even if you can’t get your knees to your chest, just the attempt itself will make the stretch deeper and more rewarding. While in this posture visualize a rope that goes from your tailbone to the ceiling and another one that goes from the top of your head to the floor.

Keep your shoulders pointed towards your hips and don’t let them scrunch up to your ears. Open your fingers wide and keep the focus on bringing your heels down and your hips up.

How to do a Headstand

Sirsasana: The King of Yoga Postures

At first glace, Sirsasana appears to be an advanced posture, but relax, the thing that holds most students back from this posture is fear. Overcoming the fear associated with begining this posture is extremely rewarding and grants a student access to all the other many benefits connected to this posture.

So first, breathe and relax. Use a wall to provide you with safety and confidence.

Second, kneel in front of a wall and measuring the distance between your arms by bringing your palms to your elbows and then bringing them out in front of you to form a triangle. Third, Interlace your fingers, thumbs up.

Fourth, place the top of your head in the space between your hands. Lift your hips and walk forward until you feel the tips of your toes come off the ground.

Five, find your balance and then bend your knees to your chest. Use those lower abdomen muscles and tilt your pelvis forward (away from the wall) to bring your thighs and then your calves up into the air. Focus on keeping the pelvis tucked forward to keep tension out of the lower back and your shoulders away from your ears, pushed towards your hips. This will keep tension out of the neck and strengthen the shoulder girdle.

Finally, once you feel comfortable here, slowly bring your legs straight up. Most students find this final posture to be easier to hold than the fifth step. Once here, close your eyes and relax your breathing. Believe or not, this is a posture of relaxation. Start with remaining in this posture for 10-20 seconds. Build up to 60 seconds. Once you can hold the posture for 5 minutes you are probably ready to try various Sirsasana sequences.