How to do a proper Downward Dog.
Your ankles are just as important as your pelvis in Downward Dog.
If you're not bending your feet at the ANKLE (most people bend through ball of foot) and KEEPING YOUR FEET NEUTRAL WITH YOUR ARCHES ENGAGED (watch my other video on 'Neutral foot Alignment') you're not waking up the posterior chain of muscles and it's likely your knees are collapsing inwards.
When you do DD (Or 3 Legged Dog), play around with alternating a pelvic focused session and an ankle focused session.
1) Get into DD.
2) Are your knees directly below your hips and your ankles directly below your knees?
3) Are you feet in neutral alignment facing straight ahead (not out to the side - this switches off your calves)? (Watch my other video on 'Neutral Foot Alignment' to clarify what I mean)
4) Have you engaged your arches or is the middle line of your feet collapsing inwards? Engage your arches and feel your knee twist into a more neutral position.
5) Now, ignore your pelvis whilst you play, and try and push your ANKLES to the floor. Bend your knees as much as you need to (and possibly bring your feet a bit closer to your hands if needed).
6) Keep all the alignment points above - if you only focus on not letting your knees roll in and ankles to the floor, it should feel quite different eg. harder.
7) Now try and roll an arch into your lower back (this encourages hip hinging and not just rounding into the back).
8) Squeeze your quads to release off the posterior chain of muscles.
Comment below on how it feels for you! Can you feel the importance of watching what your feet are doing?
YogAlignment - Downward Dog postural alignment and fitness ireland | |
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| People & Blogs | Upload TimePublished on 23 Aug 2019 |
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