Tuesday, January 13, 2015

A Standing Intermediate for Both Dog Poses

1. Take one quiet breath, then rise. Stand two feet from a wall or door, facing it. Feet should be parallel and 8-18 inches apart.
2. Place your palms on the wall above your head, fingers pointing upward, making a 45 degree angle between the wall and the wrists.  

3. Balance your weight evenly on the two feet, and maintain that balance while you draw the hips and buttocks backwards, and lean forward, approaching the wall with your armpits, lessening the angle between the wrists and the wall to a minimum.  

4. Equalize pressure on the two hands. Bring the shoulder blades back, together, and down, stretching the entire front of the chest and abdomen from the throat to the pubic bone. Emphasize arching the thoracic spine, not the lumbar spine, though both are concave in this position.
5. Breathe calmly and symmetrically for up to 1 minute.

6. Then smoothly reduce the pressure on your hands and return the shoulder blades to their resting position. Bring the head and chest back to vertical and pull the hips and buttocks toward the Tadasana position.  

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