Downward Dog – Downward Facing Dog Yoga Pose
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hey blue Oh what you got there what you
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bringing us this is kind of perfect for
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the yoga show it says love hello
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everyone and welcome to yoga with
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Adriene I’m Adriene and this is blue and
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today we’re going to learn
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downward-facing dog
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the famous downward-facing dog has a ton
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of benefits and you will encounter it in
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a public class and in general it’s just
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great to spend some time with this
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posture so hop on that and let’s learn
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downward-facing dog
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okay so we’re going to begin on all
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fours surprise wrists underneath the
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shoulders knees directly underneath the
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hips and if you have a moment maybe a
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nice little warm-up of cat-cow would be
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good here there’s a video for that and
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you can click in the box somewhere
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around this area and watch how to do
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cat-cow so I’ve taken a couple cat cows
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here to warm up just for the spine and
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I’m actually going to prep my downward
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dog with puppy posture get it puppy
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grows into a dog too many countless
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hours doing kids yoga with children okay
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but um for a puppy posture I’m going to
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actually drop my elbows where my wrists
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are so just in terms of alignment that’s
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a good little marker ah and I’m of
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course going to be mindful of my palms
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maybe playing a little piano here going
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all ten fingerprints rooting just
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sending awareness from fingertips to
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toes even as I prep then from here I’m
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going to create a long neck and then
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keeping my elbows and all ten
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fingerprints where they are I’m just
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going to simply walk my knees back
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letting the spine fall in line and the
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heart release towards the earth forehead
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kisses the mat here my hips are still
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stacked above my knees but I’m
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definitely letting my pelvis rock up
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towards the sky
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so prepping for downward dog here in
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anahatha awesome heart to earth pose and
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I can take a couple breaths here too
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sliding my heart sink to the ground
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sometimes it’s nice if you have tight
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shoulders which I feel like these days
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we all have title word face book so just
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letting the shoulders relax away from
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the ears and taking some nice solid
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smooth deep breaths here after a little
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time in this puppy posture then we’ll
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begin to shift gears growing into
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downward dog
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so I’ll inhale keeping my shoulders
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drawing away from the ears here look up
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gently drawing a nice sweet line with
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mine
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those paying attention to the transition
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here prepping my posture with grace and
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with control I’m going to slowly walk my
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knees forward just a little bit curling
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my toes under and in my public classes I
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did not waste this moment there’s kind
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of like this playful excitement so
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rather than just blasting into downward
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dog I’m just taking the time to enjoy
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how I get into it and then one by one
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I’ll lift an elbow and elbow Annie Annie
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so I’m engaging my core here and then as
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if someone’s pulling me up for my tail
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I’m going to take that same action that
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I did in downward-facing or excuse me in
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puppy posture and grow it into
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downward-facing dog
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Auto mukha peddling the feet here couple
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of action points here we go spreading
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the palms nice and wide especially the
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area between my index finger and thumb
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okay if you have weak wrists or if
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you’re feeling a little bit of fussiness
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in the wrists here press into that area
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between the index finger and thumb
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everyone at first this will be difficult
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for you but hasta bandha hand to earth
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we have to press through all areas of
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the palm equally okay I’m going to grow
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that integrity all the way up to my
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shoulders I’m going to allow my
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shoulders to rotate away from the ears
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here and then gently relax the head and
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neck melting my heart towards my toes
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now I did not fall in love with yoga
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until I fell in love with this posture
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and believe me that took a little while
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took a little practice so my main loving
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tip for you is keep moving in this
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posture if you’re holding like this
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cursing my name making a voodoo doll of
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yoga with Adriene right now it’s this is
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no point right we want to pedal the feet
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we want to keep moving keep the mind at
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ease full with breath as I explore
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through this posture if you’re holding
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static you’re probably going to give up
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and you’re probably never going to watch
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a video again and you’re probably never
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going to practice you over again so we
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have to find ways to fall in love with
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the poses to find what feels good so my
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tip for that is movement with your
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breath peddling the feet if the heels
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don’t touch the earth who cares bend the
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knees generously get that belly melting
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towards your thighs opening the
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shoulders
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shoulders have that sweet external
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rotation the tops of the thighs have the
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opposite rotation they’re spiraling in
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and out towards the wall or in my case
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the door behind me sometimes it’s nice
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to turn in the two big toes in just to
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feel that spiral there and then pedaling
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it back out feet parallel long side body
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heart-melting to the earth relaxed in
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the head and neck tops the shoulders
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drawing away from the ears pressing into
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all areas of the palm in time the heels
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will grow down towards the earth
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sometimes we take our toes to our heels
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here just draw drawing them down melting
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the heart one at a time to come out of
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the pose I inhale in and exhale often
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will shift a little little foreshadowing
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here into another posture or just on an
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exhale melting gently back to all fours
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walking the palms underneath the wrists
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is kind of finding a natural tabletop
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position here and then if you’re a
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beginner maybe bringing the two big toes
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together widening the knees and melting
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it back into extended Child’s Pose which
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we also have a video for click for that
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somewhere over here okay and then
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melting with the breath downward facing
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dog it’s actually you’re not gonna
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believe this a resting posture and when
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I tell my students that in public class
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usually there’s like a big belly laugh
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so my main tip is finding what feels
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good in downward-facing dog because such
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a famous pose and you know I don’t know
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if I’ve been to a hapa class yet hatha
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yoga where we don’t practice downward
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dog so find what feels good keep moving
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don’t be static and still say that
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exquisite stillness for shavasana okay
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so that was the famous downward-facing
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dog
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if you’re a beginner this is a great
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posture to go in with an open mind open
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heart just focus on finding what feels
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good rather than being stuck in doing
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the posture perfectly that goes for all
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of us beginners and
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perience to yogis please visit yoga with
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adriene calm to read more about this
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posture I’m going to talk about weight
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distribution a little more in detail in
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the blog so please check out the blog
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and give the pose a try let me know how
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it goes thank you and namaste