DOWNWARD FACING DOG | ADHO MUKHA SVANASANA
How have we never done Downward Facing Dog before? Well you're in luck, throughout November we'll be making this posture as our Pose of the Month! This pose resembles a dog that stretches itself with its head and forelegs in the downward direction and the hind legs in the upward direction, hence its name.
What distance should your hands and feet be in Down Dog? Well it depends! A good way to practice from Childs Pose to find the length along the spine and sides of the body, or if you're doing a Vinyasa class the distance can be from Plank Pose. If you are slipping and sliding step the feet in a smidge (that's Sanskrit for a little), towards your hands.
Traditionally your head and heels are supposed to touch the ground, but some bodies just can't do that and that's okay. Bend the knees to help lift the hips a little higher to get length along the spine.
There's so many fun variations in Downward Facing Dog like lifting one leg up for three-legged dog, reaching your hand underneath the body to the opposite leg for Twisting Dog, or holding the leg with the same arm and lifting the other leg up to the sky for Dharma Dog.