Old Moon Yoga

Down dog the wonder pose.  So many uses, so many variations, so many times in a class to get familiar, it should be a piece of cake to teach or do I mean learn?

Down dog is such a great pose that has so many benefits not just for the student but for the teacher too.  Time to take a closer look at down dog I think. After practicing Yoga for a while we tend to forget how hard this pose was at the beginning.

Down dog the beginning. Sweat is dripping from my forehead as the blood vessels in my  bald head start to expand to bursting point, the strain on the shoulders painful, “How much longer do I have to keep my butt in air?” heart is pounding, every muscle already complaining. This could get messy. “Can we take child’s pose now, please?” It’s at this point that my first teacher utters the soul destroying words “In Yoga we use down dog as our rest pose ”.

How can something so simple require so much effort?

Over time, of course, it becomes second nature to get into down dog and after an intensive warm up sequence for 20 minutes down dog does indeed becomes a rest post, but right now….

I hate down dog.

Down dog the messenger.

It’s a new class, one I have not taught before. What levels and abilities do these Yogis have? “Everyone take down dog.”  There, all is revealed, a quick glance around the room and it pretty clear where people are with their practice.

I love down dog

Down dog the basics. Teaching down dog should be easy right?  It’s all about a straight back and stretching those hamstrings, eventually to straight. “Stretch back in a long extended child’s pose, now curl your toes under and gradually start to straighten your knees and push up  to ….. possibly your first down dog of the day.” These are familiar words in my beginner classes.  I glance around the room. Straight legs and curved backs everywhere, it’s more like a school of dolphin. “everyone bend your knees and take you chest back towards your thighs”……  “No, really, bend your knees, chest towards thighs.”  No one can hear me. There is a fierce determination around the room to keep those legs straight at all costs.  “You don’t have to have straight legs. It’s more important to have a flat back. The legs will straighten over time.”  I suggest hopefully. The curse of the English accent strikes again? Apparently no one can hear a word I am saying.

I try down doggn’ next to them to show them. “See it’s not shoulders over the wrists, bend your knees like this and take you chest back to the thighs.  That’s it perfect”  As I turn my back and walk away, like a coiled spring,  the pose rebounds into the familiar arch.

Next class during the warm up I offer an adjustment. Gentle pressure to the sacrum to coax the shape I am looking for.  “Bend your knees a little, take your chest back to your thighs”. The knees bend and stay bent.  The back is looking straighter though. “nice job, that looking good.”  I turn my back.  Boing!

I hate down dog

Down dog to the rescue. Down dog is of course the teacher’s friend. Student needs special attention in a pose. “Everyone take down dog”.  Student feels faint and falls to the floor. “Everyone take down dog”.  Can’t remember where I was going with this sequence, what comes next? “Umm everyone take down dog.”

Of course it’s the ideal pose for transitioning anywhere else too.  Bend you knees and drop into child’s pose. Walk the hands back to forward fold.  Spring up into handstand well may be one day. And of course it’s the ideal place to recover the breath during those fast warm up sun salutations.

I love down dog

Down dog the inversion. Any time your head is lower that your heart it counts as an inversion. So down dog works as the inversion if there is not time or the mood is not right for handstand or some other traditional inversion.

I love down dog.

Details detail details.  Iyengar classes will show you the seemingly never ending list of subtle adjustments that you can make to perfect your down dog, but what a lot of details to remember.

• Spread your fingers wide
• Middle fingers pointing forward, thumbs pointing towards each other
• Weight in all 10 fingers, but more on the forefinger and thumb
• Rotate your arms outwards so the eyes of the elbow joint face each other
• Relax the head
• Flat back, did I mention that already? Flat back
• Work towards straightening the legs
• Reach back with the heels
• Pull up on the knee caps
• If the soles of the feet are on the ground try picking up your toes.
• Align the heels behind the ankle so you can’t see them
• Slightly raise the inner heel and find the arches in your feet
• Push the mat away with your hands bringing your chest closer to your knees.
• Eventually bring your head to the ground or perhaps to a block
• Breathe
• Moola bandha, uddiyana bandha
• …..

Did I mention this was a rest pose?

Down dog adustment.   Then of course there are all of the adjustments once the basic dog is in place.

• Hand on the sacrum
• Two hands around the thighs outside
• Crosses hands inside the thighs, careful men.
• Rotating  the shoulders out
• Pressing down finger and thumb
• Raising the ankles
• Down dog with block
• Strap around the shoulders like some kind of parachute
• etc etc

Down dog variations.   Were not done yet, there are all of the variations.

• Twisted down dog.  Reach back with right hand for left ankle and look under left armpit
• One handed down dog. The other arm along side the body.
• No handed down dog.  Both hands on the along side the body
• Down dog splits.
• Turbo dog
• Puppy pose
• No palms on the floor
• Dog peeing.  Say what? Excuse me, in the US this is know as “Fire hydrant” pose. Sorry there are no fire hydrants where I come from. Beside this pose looks nothing like a fire hydrant. Every other pose in yoga at least looks a little bit like it’s name.

I was in a workshop this weekend and the instructor Andrey Lappa kept telling us how we should be more flexible, more like animals (not fire hydrants).

Maybe he is right   Everyone take down dog.  Perfect!

“Does anyone have any injuries I should be aware of?”  Silence, blank stares, perhaps a guilty look here and there, it is hard to tell. Was the question too hard? Is it my accent again? Now surely the guy at the back with heavy strapping on his ankle and wrist guards has something to share.

Injuries and illnesses, it seems, are very common in Yoga. With football or rugby you might expect injuries.  The difference there, is that injuries happen on the field.  With Yoga it seems like most injuries happen before. I have been surprised by the number of people who come to class because they are injured.

Maybe I should not be, after all I started Yoga because my knees were “complaining” when I played squash. “Body is not good for anything else, I’d better try Yoga.” What a waste of all those years, I realize now.  I remember the early classes. The instructor would ask “Are there any injuries I should know about”….. “not me” I think to myself, well the knees hurt a bit but I’m not sharing that with a room full of 20 something super fit women. I can take care of myself”

“This is good for me right?  The Yoga?” a new student asks at the end of class. In my beginner class I try to give everyone at least a down dog adjustment. The studio checks with students when they sign up that they are ok with adjustments so I get to hear about injuries and sensitivities without having to ask in class. “Yes, Yoga is good for every one” I replied with my usual, bore everyone to death with the benefits of Yoga enthusiasm. “Because I have this slipped disk, number 6…”  Yikes I have just been adjusting this person’s down dog, I had asked before adjusting, of course, why did he not say anything then?

“Well I am not a doctor” I replied. Straight out of the teacher training manual that one.  “You should really talk to your doctor and see what they recommend” I continue. I then blurt on about the general merits of Yoga on Body and Mind, life changing experience, free from injuries and able to fight infection…….  Shaking him gently to wake him back up we leave class. He is promising to talk to his doctor, me vowing to never adjust his down dog again.

So what is the solution? How do I find out who has injuries?

How about getting anyone who has an injury to raise a hand while we are, eyes closed focusing on the breath.  No that does not work; all that achieves is someone sneaking a quick peek.

How about getting everyone in child’s pose early on and having them raise a hand?  No same result, though I see two people struggling to figure out how to raise a hand while in child’s pose.

Visit each student during the early part of class and ask quietly “any injuries I should know about?”,  “no” “any injuries I should know about?”, “no” “any injuries I should know about?”. “Yes I have this swollen wrist and a slightly pulled left calf muscle. My left side lower back has a slight muscle strain and …..”   “ Everyone take child’s pose”  ……..   “….and I fell a little dizzy when I stand up quickly, what do you recommend?”  How about someone else’s class   “Well I am not a doctor….” The stock answer.

We could go around the class like one of those self help groups. “ Hello, my name is Marge and started Yoga because of this back injury”.  “Thank you for sharing Marge, very brave of you, just know we are all friends here”

I observe at the classes I attend to see what other teachers do.  Mostly they don’t do anything.  Is there a secret communication I am missing perhaps? Is it because beyond beginner classes Yogis are supposed to be smart enough to look after themselves? After all the teacher is not a doctor.

My 2-3 Vinyasa class has been going for months. I know the students well, even managed to remember a name or two. As I step in to adjust one if them in Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose) she says “careful that’s my bad arm”.  What, a bad arm, did I know about this?  Well I do now. Of course remembering whether it was the left of the right arm by next week will be a challenge but gradually it all sinks in.

Why is this student in my beginner class using blocks for down dog?   After class I learn she has wrist injury she is trying to placate.

“I feel a little faint” a new student in one of my faster classes tells me as she makes a bee line for the restrooms. She is locked in the bathroom while I continue with the class, one eye, one ear in her direction waiting for a clue, a large crash perhaps.  What can I do, she is locked in there. It is probably not a good idea to stop class and barge in on a young lady in a rest room. What happens when she comes out?  I am not a doctor.

It turned out she had not eaten since noon.  This was a late evening class. Knowing this, and sensing that when she rejoined class she would not take it easy, I adjust things to bring her in gently.  So there is a benefit to knowing someone is injured.

Very few admit to injuries, when they do I have to reply with the lame “I am not a doctor, go careful and don’t do anything that hurts”.  I can’t expect people to tell me about their injuries, especially before they get to know me a little better. It certainly helps to know but extracting the information is hard.

So my solution, no adjustments for first time students; In my experience I will get to hear about their injuries, if they have any, at the end of class. Then it’s keeping a mental log of who has what ailments.  Oddly enough I find that easier to remember that some people’s names.  Perhaps that has something to do with the squeals of pain when I  adjust.

So if you are in my class, feel slightly safer in the knowledge that I may not remember your name but I will remember your injury.  However you choose to tell me about it.