Yoga Sun Salutation: Downward Dog Pose

Video Transcript

"Okay, the next position we're going into is downward facing dog. So starting from mountain, deep breath, inhale up reaching up and back, exhale, flat back, into your standing forward fold, and then stepping one foot at a time, we're hopping both back into your plank. From this position you're going to press the heels down to the floor, lifting into your downward facing dog. So with this position your fingers are spread nice and wide, you're pressing your heels into the floor, weight evenly distributed between your hands and your feet. You can think about this position like a triangle, trying to get the top of the triangle as narrow as possible, reaching your belly, your abs, toward your legs or your quads. Taking deep breaths on the inhale, and exhale, pressing the heels into the floor. If you feel like your calves or your Achilles tendon's really tight, you can bend one knee at a time, pressing the opposite heel into the floor as you work on this stretch. From this position, going into our next position which is up dog, we're going to do a chaturanga, and what that's going to be is soften the knees and the elbows, and you're going to be scooping head first and then the hips are going to follow into your next position, which is the up dog."