Featured Pose: Half Downward-Facing Dog Pose (Arda Adho Mukha Svanasana)

by Baxter and Nina

Half Downward-Facing Dog pose is a fantastic allover stretch, opening your shoulders and stretching your arms, back, chest, spine, and legs (in versions 1 and 3). So this is a wonderful warm-up pose, and an excellent way to start a practice. The pose accessible to almost everyone, so it’s perfect for those who are new to yoga, who are recovering from an injury, who can’t get up and down from the floor, who have high blood pressure, or who have trouble with inversions causing dizziness. (If you don’t have wall available, you can do the pose with your hands resting on a desktop or counter, or on the seat of a chair.)

Baxter prescribes this for:

• Improving shoulder and arm flexibility and strength
• Opening the upper chest and improving breathing
• Lengthening the spine 
• Low back pain
• Stretching the hips and hamstrings
• Releasing muscle tension due to stress
• Alternative to Downward-Facing Dog for those with cardiovascular or neurologic conditions, such as hypertension or vertigo, with wrist pain, or with limited shoulder mobility
• Antidote stretch for working at a desk, driving, or traveling

Timing: If you are an experienced practitioner, hold the pose for 1-2 minutes. If you are new to the practice, start by holding this pose for 30 seconds, working up to 1-2 minutes over time. Rest afterwards in Mountain pose and repeat one more time if desired. You can do the versions 1 and 3 of the pose dynamically. Starting in the full pose, inhale and bend your knees a few inches, then exhale and straighten your knees. Repeat for 6 rounds.  

Cautions: People who tend to over-arch their lower backs should relax their front ribs up towards the spine to avoid excessive sway back. People with wrist pain or stiffness may need place fingertips or fists on the wall, instead of having flat palms.

1. Classic Version

To come into the pose, stand facing a wall, about one foot away. With your arms at your sides, bend your elbows to a 90-degree angle. Then place your palms flat on the wall directly in front of your elbows, with your forearms parallel to floor. Bend your knees and push your sitting bones away from the wall. Then, push your hands firmly into the wall and slowly walk away from the wall, keeping your hips directly above your heels as you do so. Stop when your arms and torso make one long line, parallel to floor, with your legs straight, feet hips-distance apart, and head floating evenly between your ears.

Press your hands into wall as you lengthen back through your sitting bones toward center of the room. To stay mindful in the pose, focus either on your breath or on your physical sensations of stretching.

To come out of the pose, bend your knees and slowly walk forward to standing upright, about one foot from the wall. Release your hands from the wall, shake out your wrists and rest in Mountain pose for about 30 seconds. You can repeat the pose a second time.

2. Bent Knees

This version is a good alternative for those who are flexible in the shoulders but who have stiffer legs or who experience lower back pain in the classic version.

To come into the pose, follow the instructions for the classic version, but when your pelvis is over your feet, keep your knees slightly bent, so you feel a bit of stretching in the back of your legs, but no pain in your lower back. (If you do feel pain, try bending your knees a bit more or practice version 4.) Keep your leg muscles strong, and follow the instructions for the classic pose for aligning your feet and head, for lengthening away from the wall, and maintaining mindfulness in the pose.

To come out of the pose, following the instructions for the classic version.

3. Higher Hands

If you can easily do version 2 but cannot do the classic version without shoulder discomfort or pain, this version may be the right one for you. It’s also a good alternative if the classic version is too intense for your legs.

 To come into the pose, stand facing a wall, about one foot away. Place your hands on the wall in front of your shoulders, about shoulder-width apart (they will be higher on the wall than in the classic pose). Then walk back toward the center of the room, stopping when your pelvis is directly over your feet and your arms and torso are slightly angled, forming a long, even line. Straighten your legs, and follow the instructions for the classic pose for aligning your feet and head, for lengthening away from the wall, and maintaining mindfulness in the pose.

To come out of the pose, following the instructions for the classic version. 

4. Higher Hands with Bent Knees

(sorry no photo)

This version is appropriate for people who have tight shoulders, very tight legs, or low back pain, and who cannot comfortably practice any of the other versions.

To come into the pose, place your hands on the wall in front of your shoulders, about shoulder-width apart (they will be higher on the wall than in the classic pose). Bend your knees and push your sitting bones away from the wall. Then, push your hands firmly into the wall and slowly walk away from the wall, stopping as soon as you feel your shoulders tighten or notice any pain. Maintain a slight bend in your knees while keeping your leg muscles strong, and follow the instructions for the classic pose for aligning your feet and head, for lengthening away from the wall, and maintaining mindfulness in the pose.

To come out of the pose, following the instructions for the classic version.

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Friday Q&A: Stretching, Science and Autoimmune Diseases

Q: I'm wondering to what extent, and at what rate, we should expect to be able to increase our flexibility as we continue to age. I've made significant progress over the years, and have generally learned how to be mindful enough not to overdo. However, every so often I overstretch without realizing it - whether it's my back trying to get a fuller forward bend, or my Achilles tendon while pushing the envelope. I'm in my 50s and have been doing regular yoga for about 5 years. It's made an immense difference in my core strength and balance and flexibility and I'm much less injury prone now. And yet, every so often, it's my yoga practice that puts me out of commission. 

A: Baxter and I discussed your question, and he agrees with me that there is no fixed extent or rate for increasing flexibility as we age, as this will differ from person to person. His advice is to maximize the effectiveness of your stretches while minimizing potential injury by holding your stretches longer rather than pushing harder. He mentioned that it takes at least 45 seconds to get your muscle to fully release. And my kinesiology teacher taught me that in order to change the resting length of the muscle (the length the muscle returns to after stretching), you need to stretch it for 90 seconds. So I use a timing of 90 seconds for many of my stretches. —Nina 

Q: Does yoga have any good stretches for a 60 year old stiff person?

A: Yoga has a very large number of poses that allow you to stretch a very wide variety of muscles, no matter how stiff you are. So the first question to ask yourself is: where exactly am I stiff? Some of us are stiff all over and some of us are flexible all over, but it turns out that many of us are flexible in some areas and stiff in others. Identifying which areas you need to stretch will help you chose the poses that will be most helpful to you. That being said, there are a couple of poses that we highly recommend for their versatility. Downward-Facing Dog pose is especially wonderful because it stretches your legs, hips, shoulders and arms, all at the same time.

If this pose is too demanding, you can do an easy variation, Half Dog pose (also called Right Angle pose). With your hands at shoulder-height on the wall or resting on the surface of a table, walk back so your hips are directly over your feet and your arms are parallel to the floor.

Baxter recommend that you warm up for these poses with some dynamic movement, such as swinging your arms above your head or moving your legs around in your hip joints. —Nina

Q: How would one go about investigating the effects of yoga on aging scientifically?

A: This question is intriguing and so important that Brad will devote an entire post to the subject sometime soon.

Q: Just curious about how autoimmune diseases are related to aging? Some seem to be inflammatory conditions I think, and that makes me wonder about allergies, yoga and aging. 

A: This is a very big and complicated question! And there’s no quick, simple answer, as the mechanisms behind many of these diseases (not to mention aging itself) are not fully understood. But Baxter says, “Not all autoimmune diseases are created equal.” Different autoimmune diseases arise at different stages in life, so not all are related to aging. Also, not all are related to inflammatory conditions. So that’s why we’ve decided that on this blog we’ll discuss the autoimmune diseases associated with aging individually, over time. Is there any particular disease that concerns you? 

We are going to try to do a Q&A every Friday, so keep the questions coming. You can leave a question in a comment or you can email us at nina@wanderingmind.com.

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