The following is part of an I article I wrote for myyogaonline.com
If you’ve ever taken an Ashtanga or vinyasa flow class, Adho Mukha Svanasana, Doward Dog, is no stranger to you. Downward dog is a fundamental yoga asana, but a surprisingly complex one. As my teacher recently joked, “If I hear one more instructor say the phrase - ‘ Downward facing dog is a resting pose’- I’ll shoot them!” Nothing is more daunting to a student on their 5th or 6th or 7th downward dog to learn that they are supposed to be resting in this complicated pose. Learning about the anatomy of the pose can help us find a little more ease in the mystery that is downward dog.
Let’s dissect this asana.
Setting the foundation
At the palms, our fingers are spread wide, distributing the weight evenly from the thumb side to the pinky finger side. This minimizes tension and discomfort in the wrists. There should be an ever so slight bend in the elbow, created by the biceps, avoiding hyperextension at the elbows. Imagine the eyes of your elbows (the crease) gently turning forward without changing the hands. This requires the pronator muscle of the forearm to engage the internal rotation of the lower arms, as the rotator cuff muscles (teres major and infraspinatus) turn the elbow eyes forward with outward rotation of the upper arms. At the feet, our toes are spread wide, feet hip width apart. We should feel an equal amount of weight between the hands and the feet. For many students this means pressing firmly into the palms and allowing the hips to move up and back so that the heels can gracefully meet the floor. Be aware of any tendency to stay up on the balls of the feet, as this can aggravate the plantar fascia of the feet, resulting in an injury known as plantar fasciitis.
Strength in Stillness
Upper Body
As the upper arms roll out, the shoulder blades must be gliding onto the back. We want to avoid winging, or poking out of the lower pole of the shoulder blade. To engage the serratus anterior muscle eccentrically (active lengthening) that controls this gliding, we need to grow broad across the collarbone. Imagine the heart floating downward, opening the chest, and introducing the shoulder blades to each other by bringing the blades down and together on our backs, activating our triangle shaped trapezius muscle.
Core
Now expand through the inner body, growing long through the side body, lengthening the oblique muscles of the core and the intercostals muscles between the ribs. Imagine the space between each rib growing. Check in with your front ribs. The action of uddiyana bandha, tucking in and up of the belly button, flattens the lower belly engaging transversus abdominus, but should also bring the lower ribs in.
To be continued........
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