The name of the pose has always intrigued me. It was also the first yoga pose that made an impression on me. The inverted ‘V’, many yoga instructors often used this to describe the pose. Right away you have an idea what to do even if it was your 1st yoga lesson. It was also referred to as the downward dog, or even down dog but the full name of the pose is downward facing dog or adho mukha svanasana in sanskrit.
Most yoga poses are named after animals but I thought the downward facing dog really resembles a dog intensely stretching. When done correctly, the downward facing dog helps to stretch your calf muscles, hamstrings, spine and strengthens your arms, shoulder, builds up your core muscles.. so on and so forth. Not exactly as simple as it looks. The dog animal really knows what to do and how to do it right.
After the numerous times I go into this pose, instructors are still correcting my dog. My feet are too closed together, my arms are hyper extended, I should push on my palm more to get more distance between my shoulders and my ears, my tailbone should point out more, my shoulders should be strong so that I don’t dump my weight into my wrist and compress them too much. The corrections are getting lesser and further in between, I must be finally getting it. But it doesn’t really matter because I am enjoying my journey learning my dog.
Namaste : )
Lois
