Upward-Facing Dog
Urdhva Mukha Svanasana
(OORD-vah MOO-kah shvon-AHS-anna)
urdhva mukha = face upward (urdhva = upward
mukha = face)
svana = dog
Step by Step
Lie prone on the floor. Stretch your legs back, with the tops of your feet on the floor. Bend your elbows and spread your palms on the floor beside your waist so that your forearms are relatively perpendicular to the floor.
Inhale and press your inner hands firmly into the floor and slightly back, as if you were trying to push yourself forward along the floor. Then straighten your arms and simultaneously lift your torso up and your legs a few inches off the floor on an inhalation. Keep the thighs firm and slightly turned inward, the arms firm and turned out so the elbow creases face forward.
Press the tailbone toward the pubis and lift the pubis toward the navel. Narrow the hip points. Firm but don't harden the buttocks.
Firm the shoulder blades against the back and puff the side ribs forward. Lift through the top of the sternum but avoid pushing the front ribs forward, which only hardens the lower back. Look straight ahead or tip the head back slightly, but take care not to compress the back of the neck and harden the throat.
Urdhva Mukha Svanasana is one of the positions in the traditional Sun Salutation sequence. You can also practice this pose individually, holding it anywhere from 15 to 30 seconds, breathing easily. Release back to the floor or lift into Adho Mukha Svanasana with an exhalation.
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Therapeutic Applications
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Benefits
- Improves posture
- Strengthens the spine, arms, wrists
- Stretches chest and lungs, shoulders, and abdomen
- Firms the buttocks
- Stimulates abdominal organs
- Helps relieve mild depression, fatigue, and sciatica
- Therapeutic for asthma
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Contraindications and Cautions
- Back injury
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Headache
- Pregnancy
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Beginner's Tip
There's a tendency in this pose to "hang" on the shoulders, which lifts them up toward the ears and "turtles" the neck. Actively draw the shoulders away from the ears by lengthening down along the back armpits, pulling the shoulder blades toward the tailbone, and puffing the side ribs forward. If you need help learning this, lift each hand on a block.
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Modifications and Props
Often it's difficult to keep the legs strongly suspended above the floor. Before you move into the pose, position a thick blanket roll below your top thighs. When you are in the pose, lightly rest your thighs on this roll as you press the tailbone closer to the roll.
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Partnering
A partner can help you learn about the lift of the chest in this pose. Come into position with a strap looped around your back torso (across the shoulder blades) and under the armpits. Have your partner sit in front of you, a foot or so away, and grip and pull the ends of the strap, while at the same time pressing his/her feet lightly against the fronts of your shoulders. Release the heads of the upper arm bones away from this pressure as you dig the shoulder blades into the back, away from the strap.
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Follow-Up Poses
- Backbends
- Urdhva Mukha Svanasana will help you learn to lift the chest in poses like Tadasana and Virasana.
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Deepen The Pose
To increase the strength and lightness of this pose, push from the backs of your knees along the calves and out through the heels. The tops of your feet will press more firmly against the floor; as they do, lift the top sternum up and forward.
