Yoga Upward Dog
April 26, 2010 by Symbolic Living
Filed under Inspiration and Wellness
Upward-Facing Dog - Urdhva Mukha Svanasana is commonly practiced in conjunction with downward facing dog.
Start in Standing Mountain Pose – Tadasana.
Bend Forward at the waist touching your hands to the floor about shoulder width apart (you can bend your knees here a bit if you’re not that flexible).
With your hands firmly planted on the floor, jump your feet back a few feet.
Bring your lower body to rest on the floor, and point your toes while bending your arms. Basically, this is like lowering yourself to do a pushup.
Then extend your arms, while keeping your lower body on the floor, bringing your head up, facing forward.
Pay attention to your shoulders. They shouldn’t be up around your ears, press them back so you have a firmness between your shoulder blades and your chest is opening forward and make sure they are aligned with your wrists below them. In the picture above, the wrists are further ahead of the shoulders, and should be corrected by bringing the lower body forward more so her shoulders and wrists are aligned.
Stay in this position for about 20-30 seconds. Breathe naturally.
To come up, go through the steps in reverse back to standing mountain pose.
Cobra Pose is very similar except instead of extending your elbows, you keep them bent at your sides so your stomach stays on the floor. The process is very much the same as in Upward Facing Dog.
If moving from Downward dog to upward dog simply dip downward by bending the arms and lowering your waist to the floor while scooping your head upwards extending your arms again. Somewhat like a push-up with an arched back and the lower body resting on the floor.
Enjoy the Moment. Posted on symbolicliving.com with permission.
