Spiritual Awakening: basic yoga poses | day 3

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

 

Down Dog on a chair

Sanskrit: Uttana shishosana

How to do it

 

Place your hands on the back of a chair with palms shoulder-distance apart. Step your feet back until they align under hips, creating a right angle with your body, spine parallel with the floor.

 

Ground through your feet and lift through thighs. Reach hips away from hands to lengthen the sides of your torso. Firm your outer arms in and lengthen through the crown of your head.

 

The benefits

 

Downward-Facing Dog is the bread and butter of yoga, but it can be challenging for beginners.

 

This modification shares the same benefits as the classic pose — stretching the hamstrings, opening the shoulders, and creating length in the spine — without all the weight on your upper body.

 

Asanas bring perfection in body, beauty in form, grace, strength, compactness, and the hardness and brilliance of a diamond.