Yoga Pose Of The Week: Adho Mukha Svanasana

Basic Instruction:
From kneeling on all fours with the knees and palms on the ground, tuck the feet and lift the hips towards the sky.

Tips:
- Pull in the navel towards the spine to help support the lower back.
- Keep the palms shoulder width apart.
- Keep the feet hip distance apart.
- Slide the shoulder blades down the back and away from the ears.
- If maintaining the posture is too strenuous, place a block underneath the forehead to rest.

Questions To Notice In This Pose:
- Is my face and neck straining to keep my upper body off the ground? Can I relax the muscles in my face and neck?
- Is my belly loose causing my lower back to be pinched? Can I support my lower back?
- Is there pressure more on one hand than the other? Can I practice balancing my weight between my hands?
- Is there more pressure in my feet than in my hands? Can I practice balancing my weight between my hands and feet?
- Are my shoulders creeping up towards my ears? Can I pull them back down?

This Pose In My Practice:
I remember a yoga teacher telling me once that I would use this pose one day as a resting pose. As a beginner yoga student, I was too distracted by the discomfort in my shoulders and wrists to pay much attention to her words.

At that point in my life, I was looking for something. Something that would somehow make my life better and complete. What I didn't realize at the time was that change is ironically constant. Once I found whatever it was that made me complete, I would inevitably become incomplete and continue looking. But that's ok.

If anything, yoga has taught me that it is alright that things change.

But back to the pose....
What I understood as discomfort in my shoulders and chest was really my body learning to open my heart. The pose was meant to allow me to find more space in my heart and more breath in my lungs.

As time passed, and I practiced more, the pose became more comfortable. I wouldn't say easy because depending on the day I can feel like I'm starting all over again. Some days the pose is relaxing and I can rest. Some days the pose conjures a lot of the thoughts I had when I first started.

But this is the practice, and things change day-by-day. So I keep coming back to my mat to see what unfolds.

Loving Thoughts. Loving Words. Loving Heart.