Downward Facing Dog pose is considered "home base" in the typical physical or hathayoga practice. It's a place to come back to between poses, sequences, or waves.

No matter what type of yoga you're into - Bikram, Vinyasa Flow, Ashtanga, Iyengar, etc., Downward Facing Dog will be incorporated into the practice. Down dog is also the starting point for many different yoga sequences, so yogis must master Downward Facing Dog before moving on to learn more challenging poses.

Even if your new to yoga, you have probably witnessed your dog, or a dog, in general doing downward facing dog pose after a long nap. This pose allows the pup to stretch through and elongate the legs and spine after being curled up for a while.It is within the pup's instinct to come into this pose immediately after napping, but for humans, it feels a little less natural at first.

Here are some tips for coming into downward facing dog.

  1. Come into plank or pushup position, with your shoulders over your wrists and your legs streched out behind you. Keep a long line from head to toe and don't let your hips pike up or your belly sag down.
  2. From here, slightly bend your knees if necessary and begin to shift your weight back into your feet, blossoming your sit bones to the sky. Keep the same distance between your hands and your feet that you had while in plank pose. This is very important.
  3. Begin to stretch your heels down towards the floor, trying to straighten the legs as much as possible.
  4. Suck in your navel to your spine to take some weight off of your shoulders and to put the weight back into the heels.
You've made it!

As you create length in your hamstrings and become more comfortable in this inverted pose, your heels will get closer and closer to the earth.

For a challenging exercise, from down dog inhale forward to plank pose, and then pull your navel in toward your spine as you exhale back into down dog. This movement creates length in the body and demands core strengthening as well.