Upward Facing Dog

Hi everyone, welcome to day 5 of class. Today's class is all about Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, or upward facing dog. We've already made it to day 5, that's incredible if you have, you know, stuck with us for so long. So this posture is more about releasing the back, releasing the shoulders, so it's good for lower back pain, it's very therapeutic for asthma, sciatica and even mild depression.

Back bends need to be approached slowly, nothing should be rushed, so go only at your own pace and we will approach this step by step. So when you're ready to begin, come to a comfortable seated position like so, go ahead and just close your eyes, take a moment, observe the breath. And then let's join the palms together. We'll chant Om to initiate the sacred space of the practice, inhale, slowly open your eyes, now we're ready to begin.

So let's get started, as always coming over to the hands and knees to really warm up the full body, opening out the knees about hip distance, shoulders over the wrist. Let's start by warming up the back, inhale and arch the spine, exhale round, inhale arch, exhale round, inhale arch, start to feel the muscles of the back, exhale round, start to pull the belly in, inhale arch, exhale, one more time, inhale and exhale.

Coming over to a neutral spine position, let's extend the right leg back and the left hand forward. So the opposite hand and the opposite leg, try to fix your gaze at one point, be steady, hold it there, one, two, deep breathing, three, if you just look at one point you can hold the balance, four and five. Neatly take the left hand down and then the right leg down.

Let's do it on the other side, go slowly, no hurry, start to extend the left leg back and then the right hand forward, opposite hand, opposite leg. If you can point the toes and hold it there, one, two, calm face, calm breathing, three, just be fully present in the moment, focus on breath, four and five. Start by taking the hand down and then the leg down.

Let's take some rest, coming to Balasana, head down, coming back to the hands and knees. From here we are going to take it over to a plank pose just to activate the shoulders. The asana that we are doing requires some strong shoulders, inhale, arch the back, exhale round the back. Take it over to a plank and hold it in plank for five breaths, breathe, one, two, deep breathing, three, four and five.

Pushing over to downward dog, Adho Mukha Svanasana. Let's open out the hamstrings, absolutely no hurry. It takes some time for the body to open, five, four, three, two and one. Push back for a moment. Let's go back to plank again. The asana we worked on last class, Chaturanga.

Let's just lower the full body down as slowly as we can go, all the way down to the ground. Cross the hands in front of the chin, take a breath and palm over onto the four arms, a plank pose. Take the elbows close to the body. You can keep the feet slightly apart but it's better if you keep it together. Think of both legs as one leg. Press into the hands. Start to take the chest forward and up and let's hold it here. Start to feel the muscles of the back, slowly opening, no hurry, no stress. Breathe deeply, one, two, three, four, five. Going back to the ground.

Take a break. Cross your hands, turn your head to one side. Close your eyes. Come back to the center again. This time we'll only work on the strength of the back alone. You can open your feet slightly about hip distance and now inhale, start off by using your arms and come up and then let go of the hands. So this is only the strength of your back that's keeping you in this position, five breaths here. Press into your feet. Feet are very active, one, become with the breathing, two, three, four and then if you can open the hands for a moment, exhale down. Turn the head to one side. Close your eyes. Take a few breaths, relax. Slowly back to the center.

Now we're ready to try Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, or upward facing dog. Let's start by coming on the toes, hands next to the chest. Inhale, coming up to a back arch. You start by keeping the knees on the ground. Take the shoulders away from the ears and hold it there. If it's comfortable, lift the knees off the mat. So here we are. This is known as upward facing dog, lifting the chest forward and up, hold it for a moment and then exhale, push back to downward dog. Stay there.

Let's try it in a flow. Inhale, come forward. Come to plank. Exhale, drop the hip down and arch the back. You'll notice the knees and thighs are not touching the mat. If it's comfortable, toes face down. Let's hold it for five breaths. One, two, three, four and five. Knees down, child's pose, give yourself a break and slowly come up.

Now we're ready to put all of these elements together. Everything that we did in the previous classes, let's just do it in a continuous flow and this will be our first Surya Namaskar. So we'll try that, coming up, walking over to the beginning of the mat. Feet together, close your eyes for a moment. Samasthiti, feet are together, hands by the side. Eyes are closed.

And now let's open the eyes. Inhale, raise your arms up. Join the palms. Look at the hands. Exhale, start to take the arms to the side. Keep the spine long and move forward. Hold wherever you can. Slightly bend the knee if you need to. Head down. Inhale, knee straight. Lift the chest. Look up. Exhale, hands down. Walk back, walk back. Coming to a plank pose. Inhale here. Exhale, Chaturanga. So slowly start to drop down. You can hold here or if you need to go fully down to the ground.

Inhale to Urdhva Mukha Svanasana. Your knees and thighs not touching the mat. The posture we just did. Open out the chest and then exhale to downward dog. Let's just hold downward dog for five breaths. One, two, breath is calm and steady, three, four, five. Looking forward, walk over to the hands. You can bend the knees. Walk to the hands. Inhale, lift the chest. Look up. Exhale, a little deeper. Head down. You can bend the knees. Try to get the stomach on the thighs. Inhale, take your arms all the way up. Join the palms. Look at the hands and stay steady. Release.

Coming over and sitting down on the mat one more time. Close your eyes. Let's take a few deep breaths together. A nice deep breath in from the chest. A full exhale out. One more time. Inhale, exhale. We'll start working more on Surya Namaskar in the next class. Join the palms together. Deep breath in. Place it over your eyes and open your eyes. Feel free to rest in Savasana for some time after this. I'll see you tomorrow.