About: Cascade Yoga Studio -- Articles

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Come home to your dog

by Viki Distin

Photo of Students in Downward Facing Dog Adho Mukha Svanasana or Downward Facing Dog is such a foundational pose that you will experience it in most every yoga class. This yoga staple has a plethora of benefits including:

Improving digestion
Relieving insomnia
Energizing the body
Improving focus and concentration
Developing willpower
Relieving stress and mild anxiety
Resting the heart
Strengthening the arms, legs, and torso
Stretching the palms, hamstrings, calves, and feet

It's no wonder we come back to this pose again and again. It's like returning to our home base. Recently, while practicing on vacation with my husband he confessed about this all-in-one pose: "You know how you always say that 'eventually' this pose should be a rest pose? Well, I have been practicing consistently for 3 years and I can finally rest in it."

Weakness or tightness in a variety of muscles can make dog pose challenging to hold for several breaths. If you experience difficulty in this pose try bending your knees to take the spine into extension and give your hamstrings a break. The pose could be troublesome because of tight shoulders. Tight shoulders may require you to place your hands on blocks to extend your arms into position or do downward dog using the wall to open the shoulders. Because many factors can inhibit this pose, please talk with your teacher before or after class to troubleshoot what’s going on for you. Consider, too, looking online for some alignment tips. A good video is available at www.yogajournal.com .

One of Cascade Yoga Studio’s guest teachers, Brenna Geehan, was interviewed a few years ago and asked what her favorite pose is. Brenna is a yogini who can do amazing things with her body so you might assume her answer would be an exotic backbend of some sort. But her answer was Downward Facing Dog. She explained that as soon as she steps into the pose, she returns home to her body, her breath, and her source. This wisdom is something we all can appreciate each time we step into Downward Facing Dog. Proper alignment in down dog is necessary to feel the full spectrum of benefits and to keep your body safe, but the real sweetness lies in the internal experience of subtle sensations. It may take time, but eventually we begin to recognize the feelings of space, harmony, and ease. Once that happens, then we realize we have come home.