Upward Facing Dog

Upward Facing Dog. Let's understand in detail the pose that we always practise in class. Click here Yoga Journal - Yoga Basics Column - Open Your Heart


Stabilize your lower back in Up Dog to create an even arc along your whole spine.
By Natasha Rizopoulos

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog) is an invigorating backbend that opens the chest and shoulders and strengthens the arms and legs. Linking breath to movement is important when you're practicing Up Dog, because the breath animates and illuminates the pose and opens the heart.

Typically, you enter Up Dog on an inhalation. Take a deep inhalation now and notice how it feels: Your heart lifts, your collarbones spread, your pectoral muscles broaden and expand—movements you'll want to accentuate in Up Dog—and you feel energized. Of course, re-creating those same expansions in the pose is challenging. Students sometimes find Up Dog uncomfortable, especially in the lower back and wrists. Before trying the pose, get clear on the basic setup and then work on easing tightness in your shoulders and thoracic spine (upper and middle back). The following variations will help you find the essential actions and alignment of the pose so you can enjoy it to its fullest.

Pull

If you feel achy in the lower back during Up Dog, it probably means that your upper back is stiff and your lower back is overcompensating by bending too much. With backbends the aim is to have all areas of the spine participate, not just the parts that are easy to move. If either your lower back or your neck extends too much, your backbend will not be even. If you continue these imbalances over time, you'll put undue stress on the bendier parts. To remedy this, you'll need to learn to open the thoracic vertebrae. To access your thoracic spine while limiting the movement in your neck and lower back, practice a modified Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)

Begin lying on your belly with your forehead on the floor and your feet hip-width apart and parallel, toes extended straight back from your heels. Place your hands on the floor next to your lower ribs, with your elbows stacked over your wrists and the creases of your wrists parallel to the front of your mat. Draw your elbows back and in toward the midline of your body so that your shoulders lift away from the floor and your pectoral muscles spread. Firmly press all 10 toes into the floor, especially your pinkie toes, so that your quadriceps engage and your kneecaps pull up. Active legs are crucial to a happy Up Dog. When the legs are lazy, you tend to sit in your lower back rather than lengthen out of it, so really practice pressing down with the tops of your feet and lifting your thighs. Rotate the inner thighs to the ceiling (this broadens your lower back) and release the flesh of your buttocks toward the floor. Doing this decreases the arch in your lower back and creates more length. Both elements—active legs and the downward release of the buttocks—are critical to creating a backbend in which your lower back is spacious and protected.

Now extend your sternum (breastbone) forward and up. Make this happen by pulling your hands back (still squeezing your elbows in), as if you were on a scooter or skateboard trying to drag your body forward. Your hands won't actually move back on the mat, but this pulling action will help you find the correct alignment. The heads of your shoulders will draw back and away from the floor, the trapezius (the thick muscles at the base of your neck) will release away from your ears, and the shoulder blades will press forward and into your chest, helping to open your upper back. Continue to direct your tailbone down, and see that your chin is level to the floor so that you don't overbend in your neck. Hold for 8 to 10 breaths and then release your forehead back to the floor.

Pull and Push
Return to your belly with your hands beside your lower ribs. Press down with all 10 fingers and all 10 toes. If your pinkie toes come off the floor, your inner thighs drop, which creates compression across the lower back. Avoid this by giving extra weight to the pinkie toes.

On an inhalation, pull your chest forward and up as you simultaneously push off your hands and feet to lift your body away from the floor. Stack your shoulders over your wrists and lift your sternum and thighs to the ceiling as you release your tailbone toward your heels. Make sure your toes extend straight back and that your feet are planted rather than being dragged along when you pull your chest forward. You want to anchor the pose so that you can explore your upper back.

Use your inhalation to make the pose blossom, take the heads of your shoulders back, and spread your collarbones and pectorals. Imagine your shoulder blades are a pair of friendly hands pressing into your chest and opening your heart, and then carefully raise your gaze so that the curve in your neck is a continuation of the curve in your upper back. Balancing the bend in your Up Dog will protect your spine.


Reminders

Lengthen back of neck
Pull chest between arms
Keep arms perpendicular to the floor
Straighten elbows
Lift thighs, especially inner thighs
Press down evenly through hands and knuckles
Stack the shoulders directly over the wrists
Don't sit in the lower back.

Pose Benefits

Strengthens the arms
Opens the shoulders and upper back
Expands the chest
Tones the legs
Contraindications

Lower-back injury
Wrist issues or carpal tunnel syndrome
Shoulder vulnerability
Pregnancy (and possible pregnancy)