hey blue Oh what you got there what you

bringing us this is kind of perfect for

the yoga show it says love hello

everyone and welcome to yoga with

Adriene I'm Adriene and this is blue and

today we're going to learn

downward-facing dog

the famous downward-facing dog has a ton

of benefits and you will encounter it in

a public class and in general it's just

great to spend some time with this

posture so hop on that and let's learn

downward-facing dog

okay so we're going to begin on all

fours surprise wrists underneath the

shoulders knees directly underneath the

hips and if you have a moment maybe a

nice little warm-up of cat-cow would be

good here there's a video for that and

you can click in the box somewhere

around this area and watch how to do

cat-cow so I've taken a couple cat cows

here to warm up just for the spine and

I'm actually going to prep my downward

dog with puppy posture get it puppy

grows into a dog too many countless

hours doing kids yoga with children okay

but um for a puppy posture I'm going to

actually drop my elbows where my wrists

are so just in terms of alignment that's

a good little marker ah and I'm of

course going to be mindful of my palms

maybe playing a little piano here going

all ten fingerprints rooting just

sending awareness from fingertips to

toes even as I prep then from here I'm

going to create a long neck and then

keeping my elbows and all ten

fingerprints where they are I'm just

going to simply walk my knees back

letting the spine fall in line and the

heart release towards the earth forehead

kisses the mat here my hips are still

stacked above my knees but I'm

definitely letting my pelvis rock up

towards the sky

so prepping for downward dog here in

anahatha awesome heart to earth pose and

I can take a couple breaths here too

sliding my heart sink to the ground

sometimes it's nice if you have tight

shoulders which I feel like these days

we all have title word face book so just

letting the shoulders relax away from

the ears and taking some nice solid

smooth deep breaths here after a little

time in this puppy posture then we'll

begin to shift gears growing into

downward dog

so I'll inhale keeping my shoulders

drawing away from the ears here look up

gently drawing a nice sweet line with

mine

those paying attention to the transition

here prepping my posture with grace and

with control I'm going to slowly walk my

knees forward just a little bit curling

my toes under and in my public classes I

did not waste this moment there's kind

of like this playful excitement so

rather than just blasting into downward

dog I'm just taking the time to enjoy

how I get into it and then one by one

I'll lift an elbow and elbow Annie Annie

so I'm engaging my core here and then as

if someone's pulling me up for my tail

I'm going to take that same action that

I did in downward-facing or excuse me in

puppy posture and grow it into

downward-facing dog

Auto mukha peddling the feet here couple

of action points here we go spreading

the palms nice and wide especially the

area between my index finger and thumb

okay if you have weak wrists or if

you're feeling a little bit of fussiness

in the wrists here press into that area

between the index finger and thumb

everyone at first this will be difficult

for you but hasta bandha hand to earth

we have to press through all areas of

the palm equally okay I'm going to grow

that integrity all the way up to my

shoulders I'm going to allow my

shoulders to rotate away from the ears

here and then gently relax the head and

neck melting my heart towards my toes

now I did not fall in love with yoga

until I fell in love with this posture

and believe me that took a little while

took a little practice so my main loving

tip for you is keep moving in this

posture if you're holding like this

cursing my name making a voodoo doll of

yoga with Adriene right now it's this is

no point right we want to pedal the feet

we want to keep moving keep the mind at

ease full with breath as I explore

through this posture if you're holding

static you're probably going to give up

and you're probably never going to watch

a video again and you're probably never

going to practice you over again so we

have to find ways to fall in love with

the poses to find what feels good so my

tip for that is movement with your

breath peddling the feet if the heels

don't touch the earth who cares bend the

knees generously get that belly melting

towards your thighs opening the

shoulders

shoulders have that sweet external

rotation the tops of the thighs have the

opposite rotation they're spiraling in

and out towards the wall or in my case

the door behind me sometimes it's nice

to turn in the two big toes in just to

feel that spiral there and then pedaling

it back out feet parallel long side body

heart-melting to the earth relaxed in

the head and neck tops the shoulders

drawing away from the ears pressing into

all areas of the palm in time the heels

will grow down towards the earth

sometimes we take our toes to our heels

here just draw drawing them down melting

the heart one at a time to come out of

the pose I inhale in and exhale often

will shift a little little foreshadowing

here into another posture or just on an

exhale melting gently back to all fours

walking the palms underneath the wrists

is kind of finding a natural tabletop

position here and then if you're a

beginner maybe bringing the two big toes

together widening the knees and melting

it back into extended Child's Pose which

we also have a video for click for that

somewhere over here okay and then

melting with the breath downward facing

dog it's actually you're not gonna

believe this a resting posture and when

I tell my students that in public class

usually there's like a big belly laugh

so my main tip is finding what feels

good in downward-facing dog because such

a famous pose and you know I don't know

if I've been to a hapa class yet hatha

yoga where we don't practice downward

dog so find what feels good keep moving

don't be static and still say that

exquisite stillness for shavasana okay

so that was the famous downward-facing

dog

if you're a beginner this is a great

posture to go in with an open mind open

heart just focus on finding what feels

good rather than being stuck in doing

the posture perfectly that goes for all

of us beginners and

perience to yogis please visit yoga with

adriene calm to read more about this

posture I'm going to talk about weight

distribution a little more in detail in

the blog so please check out the blog

and give the pose a try let me know how

it goes thank you and namaste