The verse and its meaning · Yoga in Practice · Yoga in Practice — Asanas as Taught Today

Adho Mukha Svanasana — downward-facing dog

Asanas as Taught Today 13

अधोमुख श्वानासन

Meaning · English

Adho Mukha Svanasana, the downward-facing dog seat: adhas, down; mukha, face; svan, dog; asana, seat. The common English name is downward-facing dog, or simply down dog.

Take the name apart first. Adhas means down. Mukha means face. Svan is the dog. Asana is a seat, a way of being placed. Together: the seat of the dog with its face down. The picture is a dog stretching after sleep, front legs long, hips high, head low. The hatha texts do not describe this posture. The Pradipika, the Gheranda and the Shiva Samhita never mention it. It is modern postural yoga, codified in the twentieth century in the Mysore line of Krishnamacharya and the schools that grew from it. Its place in the old frame comes from Yoga Sutras 2.46 to 2.48. There, an asana is a seat steady and easy. The effort loosens, and the mind rests on the infinite. Why teach it, then? The modern schools use it as a working pause. The arms bear weight, the legs lengthen, the spine stretches, and the head hangs free. It asks for steadiness first, then for ease. A practitioner is asked to press into the hands, reach the heels toward the floor, bend the knees where the legs are tight, and breathe slowly. The shape is judged by whether it can be held without strain, not by how straight the legs look.

1. Come onto your hands and knees. Place your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Spread the fingers wide. 2. Breathe out. Tuck the toes under and lift the knees off the floor. 3. Send the hips up and back. Straighten the legs and let the heels reach for the floor. They need not touch it. 4. Stay here. Press the hands into the floor and lengthen the spine from the tailbone toward the crown. Breathe slowly, in and out through the nose. The eyes look softly toward the knees or the thighs. Stay for several slow breaths. Counting them is a matter of modern teaching, not of the old texts. 5. Let the head hang between the arms, with the neck loose. If the hamstrings, the long muscles at the back of the thigh, are tight, bend the knees a little. 6. Breathe in. Bend the knees and lower them gently to the floor. 7. Sit back on the heels and rest the forehead on the floor. Breathe quietly there for a few breaths. The pose is the same on both sides, so there is no other side to turn to. A few fine points: let the hips travel back as well as up, so the weight does not pile into the wrists. Keep the shoulders wide and away from the ears. Bend the knees whenever a straight leg rounds the lower back. A long spine matters more than straight legs.

The body: the backs of the legs, meaning the calves, hamstrings and the heel cords, lengthen. The arms and shoulders hold, because the hands carry a large share of the weight. The spine is drawn long between the hands pressing down and the hips lifting up. The shoulder joints open overhead, and the wrists, fingers and forearms work to share the load. When the hamstrings are short, the pelvis tips back and the lower back rounds. Bent knees let the pelvis tilt and the spine stay long. The breath: the movement into the pose is made on the breath out, which settles the belly and makes the lift smoother. In the pose the breath is slow, since the arms are working and forced breathing would tighten the shoulders and neck. The mind: the head hangs, the eyes are lowered, and the attention goes to the hands, the heels and the line of the spine. The body gives the mind plenty of plain sensations to follow, so it has less room to wander. The old hatha texts do not give an account of this pose. In the tradition's wider terms, a long and easy spine is a better channel for prana, the breath-energy, but that is the tradition's idea and not a physiological finding.

No verse in the Pradipika, Gheranda or Shiva Samhita describes this pose, so there is no old claim to quote. What the modern schools that teach it say is this: it stretches the backs of the legs and the spine, it strengthens the arms and shoulders, and it gives a pause in a sequence where the breath can settle. Many teachers call it a resting pose for those who are used to it, and a steadying one that gathers the attention. Some say it leaves the body feeling lengthened and the mind quieter. These are the teaching of the schools, offered as their experience, and nothing here is a promise.

A gardener who has been kneeling over a bed for an hour stands up with stiff calves and tight backs of the thighs, and puts her hands to the ground to stretch. That is close to what this pose does. It is well understood that stretching the calves and hamstrings regularly can ease their tightness, and that weight on the hands and arms works the shoulders. Hanging the head below the heart can raise pressure in the head and eyes for a short while, which is why those with high blood pressure or glaucoma are advised to take care. Slow breathing while holding a position is generally calming. The idea that the pose moves prana through the nadis, or has any special effect on organs or hormones, is the tradition's account or the schools' claim, with no sound evidence behind it. It also has no old hatha equivalent.

This is not medical advice. A page cannot correct a body, and a teacher can, so this pose is best learnt with a teacher present. Stop at any pain, and come down to the knees. Take particular care, or leave the pose out, with high blood pressure, eye conditions such as glaucoma, or a head cold or sinus pressure, since the head hangs below the heart. Wrist, shoulder or neck pain, a recent surgery, a disc problem, carpal tunnel trouble, and pregnancy all call for a gentler form chosen with a teacher. Never push the heels down by force, and never lock the elbows or knees hard. Come out by bending the knees if the head feels heavy or dizzy.

A gentler form: keep the knees bent throughout and the heels well off the floor, and lift the hips only as far as the back stays long. Another is to place the hands on a wall or a table, walking the feet back until the body makes an L-shape. Those with sore wrists can rest the hands on a folded blanket or a wedge. A fuller form keeps the legs straight and brings the heels closer to the floor, and the stay grows longer over time. A stiff beginner may spend many weeks with the knees bent, and that is a complete practice in itself. The pose has no mirrored side.

Rounding the lower back to straighten the legs: bend the knees until the spine lengthens. Putting all the weight into the wrists: press through the whole hand, especially the base of the thumb and first finger, and send the hips back. Letting the shoulders creep toward the ears: draw them away and keep the neck loose. Holding the breath: let it flow slowly through the nose. Walking the hands too close to the feet: set the hands and feet a long step apart, as in the starting position. Dropping the heels by force: let them reach, and accept where they stop.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Urdhva Mukha Svanasana — upward-facing dog · Asanas as Taught Today 12
• Next: Janu Sirsasana — head-to-knee pose · Asanas as Taught Today 24
• All of Yoga in Practice · Ask Krishna about it

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