adho mukha śvanāsana – part one

“[I]n Nepal, Tibet, and neighboring parts of India, dogs are respected for their role as guardians and protectors. In some parts of Nepal, dogs are associated with the Mother goddess, and even have their own special day during the fall festival of Dassehra. Some of the most famous cave temples in India, in Elephanta and Ellora, have lions guarding the entrance. These are not, however, the sleek lions of India, but creatures bearing a striking resemblance to Chinese or Tibetan Buddhist “lion dogs,” those mythological creatures who guard temples and palaces in the snowy heights of the Himalayas where Shiva makes his home, as well as on the other side of the mountains in China.” [1]

Phonetic pronunciation: uh-doe mu*-kuh shvuh-nah-suh-nuh (*u as in “put”) [2]

adho = downward
mukha = face
svan = dog
āsana = pose

Pose Benefits [3]
• Develops suppleness and strength in the arms and shoulders
• Elongates the spine
• Creates greater flexibility in the hamstrings and calves
• Helps calm the nervous system

Embodying the Pose [4]
• Start on all fours
• Palms spread
• Hands in line with your shoulders
• Tuck your toes
• Inhale
• Exhaling, lift the knees and roll your tailbone toward the ceiling
• Widen through the shoulder blades
• let the weight of the head lengthen your neck toward the floor
 
Sustaining the Pose [5]

• Stretch your claws – widen the hands, lengthen the fingers
• Draw the shoulders down your back
• Bring the lower tips of the shoulder blades toward the front body to open your collarbones and upper chest
• Bend your knees slightly
• Then roll the sit bones up again
• Notice if you are happier with your knees, hips, and ankles in one line, or
• With the knees slightly bent
• Imagine your spine extends to form a tail
• Stretch the tip of your tail back – does this give you a sense of more length in the spine
• Imagine that your tail curls like a chow’s – can you bring the tip of your tail to the rim of your sacrum – does this enhance your feeling of lifting the sit bones
• Are you working hard in this pose, or can you find the place of rest inside it

 Releasing the Pose [6]

• Exhaling
• Come to all fours
• Bringing the weight evenly to both knees
• Or, come out of the pose by walking the feet toward the hands to standing forward bend
• Then with a flat back and hinging from the hips
• Rise up to tāḍāsana

Contraindications [7]

• Hamstring injury
• Wrist problems
• Spinal disk injury

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[1] Zo Newell, Downward Dogs & Warriors, Wisdom Tales for Modern Yogis (Himalayan Institute Press, 2007), p.54. 
[2] Stick figure instructions, pronunciation, and translation provided by Mikelle Terson, Asana Learning Deck, http://www.yogablossom.com/
[3] Jason Crandell, "Get Down Dog," Yoga Journal, 2009 Complete Guide to Yoga at Home, May, 2008.

[4] Zo Newell, Downward Dogs & Warriors, Wisdom Tales for Modern Yogis (Himalayan Institute Press, 2007), p.55 (slightly modified).

[5] Zo Newell, Downward Dogs & Warriors, Wisdom Tales for Modern Yogis (Himalayan Institute Press, 2007), p.55 (slightly modified).
[6] Zo Newell, Downward Dogs & Warriors, Wisdom Tales for Modern Yogis (Himalayan Institute Press, 2007), p.55 (slightly modified).
[7] Jason Crandell, "Get Down Dog," Yoga Journal, 2009 Complete Guide to Yoga at Home, May, 2008.