Why do I have to hold that dang down dog for so long!

DOWNWARD-FACING DOG
ADHO MUKHA SVANASANA
(AH-doh MOO-kah shvah-NAHS-anna)

I love the downward dog, out of all of the amazing asanas (poses) that yoga has to offer to the world, this basic, probably most well known pose has remained my favorite to date. Down dog engages your entire body, forces a strong core, strengthens the arms, improves digestive, lymphatic and circulatory systems, and allows elongation from toes to finger tips. It makes me feel strong, balanced, and in control.

But I used to hate it, as I feel a lot of my students do. Because it can be uncomfortable, challenging, confusing, and cause a lot of wrist and shoulder discomfort. But it doesn't always have to be like that, and the thing that allowed me to finally master this pose and turn my anger towards its existence into a fond comforting love, was to practice the heck out of it. 

The first thing I had to do was develop the strength for it. We don't normally hold too much of our weight onto our upper bodies, and this makes them weak. But yoga uses a significant amount of upper body strength, so I figured if I am going to make this my life's work, I may as well develop some upper body strength. If you can't beat em' join 'em, right? More push ups is a great easy way to do this. 

The next thing I had to do was learn my body. In yoga there is a lot of hold this, relax that, squeeze there, pull that belly in AND breath! Umm.... what was the first thing you said? But it takes time. You can't go out and run a 10k the first time you try. You have to practice regularly, train responsibly, and accept that sometimes you may fail, but that you always try again and push yourself even harder.

So next time your in class and your teacher wont seem to stop talking as your holding your dog (did she forget that she just left us here? Hellooooooo!) Instead of focusing on how annoyed you are with the teaching at that moment and with the difficulty of the pose and how bad your arms hurt and the blood is rushing to your head and blah blah blah....

STOP THINKING

And close your eyes and breath. Turn off your brain and listen only to the breath and the words of the instructor. Maybe she has been giving you key points this whole time? Maybe you really like the song that's playing softly in the background, did you even notice it? Oh, push my palms into the ground? That made a difference. Deep breath... Wait... child's pose? We are done? That wasn't so bad after all....

Whatever task you are faced with at the moment, focus only on that task, and embrace all the challenges and experiences it has to offer. And learn to laugh through it all.