Featured Pose: Downward-Facing Dog Variation (Puppy Pose)

by Baxter and Nina

As part of our continuing mission to make Downward-Facing Dog accessible to almost everyone, today we’re featuring the kneeling variation of the pose that is sometimes called Puppy pose. For those of you who cannot do full Downward-Facing Dog pose due to hand or wrist problems or general weakness, this modification is a wonderful alternative. Because your knees are on the floor, you bear very little weight on your hands in this pose. And because your shoulders are lower to the ground, the position of your wrist stays closer to neutral. (When your hands are directly under your shoulders, as in Cat-Cow pose, your wrists are deeply bent; however, in Puppy pose, your hands and arms are more in line with your wrists.)

Even though you’re bearing very little weight on your hands in this pose, because you keep your arms and shoulders active, this pose still helps build upper body strength while also increasing flexibility in the shoulders. Puppy pose activates the triceps muscles in the backs of your arms and the stabilizing muscles of your shoulder blades. As a side effect, if you keep your spine neutral, you also strengthen your front abdominal muscles (and who doesn’t love that).

For upper body strengthening, you can practice this pose on its own as an alternative to full Downward-Facing Dog, or you can use Puppy pose to warm up for practicing the full pose, especially if you are tight in the shoulders.

Instructions: Although we haven’t included the prop in our photo (our bad!), we do recommend that you start by placing a folded blanket on your mat to protect your knees before you come onto your hands and knees. Now come onto a hands and knees position (like Cat pose), with your knees on the folded blanket and your palms on your mat (or the floor). If your wrists hurt in this position, stay on your fingertips.

From hands and knees position, keeping your hips over your knees, slide one hand at a time as far forward as is comfortable. Keep your hands shoulder-width apart and even with each other. At this point, you may be able to get more length between your hands and sitting bones by sliding your sitting bones back away from your hands. If you have tight shoulders, be aware of the tendency for your front lower ribs to drop or your lower back to arch dramatically to compensate. So focus on maintaining your torso  in Mountain pose (Tadasana) alignment.

Once you have aligned yourself in the pose, press your palms firmly into the ground. Then reach your hands down and forward as you create an opposite movement of your sitting bones away from your hands to get a maximum length and stretch in the pose.

Stay in the pose for six to eight breaths, gradually working your way up to one minute. To come out of the pose, you can either swing your shoulders forward and then walk your hands back or simply walk your hands back to your knees.

Cautions: If you have rotator cuff injury or a history of shoulder dislocation, keep your chest lifting away from the floor rather than pressing down toward the floor. Back off if you feel any pain. If you have lower back problems, make sure you keep your lower back neutral (not overly arched) as you enter, maintain and exit from the pose. If you have knee problems, you might need extra padding. Or, you might need to choose a different variation of Downward-Facing Dog pose (see Downward-Facing Dog Variations).

Featured Pose: Downward-Facing Dog Variations

by Baxter and Nina

Downward-Facing Dog pose is one of the most effective and versatile upper body strengthening poses we know. Unfortunately, because the full pose requires you to bear weight on your hands with your wrists bent, many people find this pose inaccessible due to hand or wrist problems, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.

But you just know we’ve got solutions for that, don’t you? Well, of course we do. And, yes, today we’re going to introduce four variations of Downward-Facing Dog pose for people with hand or wrist problems. In the coming weeks, we’ll be covering these poses in detail, but for now we’re just going to show them all together, starting with the easiest first and ending with the most challenging, so you can see what your options are. The first two versions are also suitable for people who find full Downward-Facing Dog pose too challenging due to stiffness or weakness or just too exhausting.

So without further ado, here we go!

1. Downward-Facing Dog with knees on the floor (Puppy pose).

Because your knees are on the floor in this pose, you bear very little weight on your hands in this pose. And because your shoulders are lower to the ground, the position of your wrist stays closer to neutral. However, keeping your arms and shoulder active in this position helps build upper body strength. This pose is a wonderful variation for people who are too weak to do a full Downward-Facing Dog pose. 

2. Downward-Facing Dog with Chair.

Placing your hands on the seat of the chair takes some of the weight off your hands (though not as much as Puppy pose) and keeps your wrists in a more neutral position. Benefits not provided by Puppy pose include leg stretching and strengthening, as well as increased upper body strengthening. Depending on your hand and wrists issues, you can choose between two hand positions: hands flat on the chair seat and hands holding the chair edges (see close-up photos). Because this version is easier than a full Downward-Facing Dog pose, it is suitable for someone who is still building up a enough strength to do the full pose.

3. Downward-Facing Dog with Headstand Arms (Dolphin Pose 1).

This version takes most of the weight off your hands and wrists and keeps your wrists in a more neutral position, while providing the full upper body strengthening for your upper arms, shoulders, back and chest provided by Downward-Facing Dog pose. Most people find having the forearms in a triangle position (headstand position) easier on the shoulders than keeping the forearms parallel. However, the hand position of the next variation may be better for your hands and wrists. Depending on your flexibility, this pose may be as challenging or even more challenging than full Downward-Facing Dog. So take it easy with this one, starting off by holding it for short periods of time and working up to longer holds.

4. Downward-Facing Dog with Parallel Forearms (Dolphin Pose 2).

Like Downward-Facing Dog with Headstand arms, this version takes most of the weight off your hands and wrists while keeping your hands and wrists in a neutral position, while at the same time providing full upper body strengthening for your upper arms, shoulders, chest and back. Use the block between your hands to keep your hands and forearms in a parallel position, about shoulder-width apart. Because this version requires a lot of flexibility in the shoulders, many people—like me, Nina!—find this version more challenging than full Downward-Facing Dog pose (though an excellent preparation for several inverted poses). So take it easy with this one, starting off by holding it for short periods of time and working up to longer holds. 

Do let us know how these variations work for you (or your students)!