Why do you take a step in Down Dog

“Why do you take a step in Downward Facing Dog?” Diane asked me at the end of our third day of the workshop.

She continued “I was taught that my hands and feet stay in the same place when you are doing a Sun Salute. But here during our morning practice the teachers are telling me to move my feet forward one foot length. Why is that?

Do you take a step in a Vinyasa as well?”

First I answered her question about the Sun Salute and the step in Downward Facing Dog.

What is a Sun Salute

A Sun Salute is a series of nine postures that you do to the breath. As you inhale you do one posture and when you exhale you do the next posture.

You do a series of Sun Salutes at the beginning of an Ashtanga Yoga practice session.

Why do a Sun Salute

The movement through the Sun Salutes done to the breath generates a lot of heat in the body. This heat warms the muscles up and prepares them for the stretching to come.

The Sun Salutes also increases your heart rate and gets the blood flowing through out your body. This brings much needed energy to your body that you will need during your yoga practice.

Finally a series of Sun Salutes helps to focus your mind and prepare you mentally for your yoga practice.

Besides these benefits a Sun Salute series is easy to do.

How to do a Sun Salute

You start standing in Tadasana with your arms resting by your side, your feet together and your gaze to the horizon.

Now you inhale and bring your arms up over your head. Bring your palms together and gaze to your thumbs.

Next you exhale, fold forward at your hips, lower your arms to the floor and gaze back through your legs.

Inhaling lift your torso while leaving your hands on the floor beside your feet. Lift your head and gaze down your nose.

From here exhale and jump your feet back and lower down towards the floor. Your body is in a straight line from your shoulders through your hips to your ankles. Your feet are about hip width apart and your gaze is down your nose towards the floor.

Inhale straighten your arms, lifting your shoulders up above your wrists. Lift your chin and gaze down your nose once again.

Exhale and move into Down Dog. Your hips are up in the air, your arms and torso are in a straight line. Take a step forward the length of one of your feet.

Bring your gaze towards you navel and hold here for five breaths.

At the end of those five breaths inhale and bring your feet forward between your hands. Lift your chest keeping your hands on the floor and gaze down your nose towards the floor.

Next exhale, lower your torso and gaze down your nose and through your legs.

Finally inhale, bring your torso up to an upright position and raise your arms up over your head with your palms together. Your gaze is down your nose towards your thumbs.

The Sun Salute finishes as you exhale and lower your arms back to your sides and you gaze to the horizon.

When you get to the Down Dog potion you take a small step forward.

Why do you take a step in Down Dog

When you enter Down Dog as part of the Sun Salute series your hands and feet a just a little bit too far apart. To correct this you take your feet forward one foot length.

This small step changes the alignment of your Down Dog. Now it is closer to a pyramid. The two sides are at 45 degrees. When you feet are in their original position the angle is shallower.

This small change makes it easier for you to support your body in the pose. The weight of your body will flow down through the bones of your body and into your mat.

With the slightly wider stance there is more a force pushing your hands and feet further apart. You need to use more effort to hold your hands and feet in place.

My heels are off the floor should I take a step

If you can’t get your heels to the floor in Down Dog you should still take the step forward. You want the weight to flow through your bones and avoid having your feet and hands sliding further apart.

Eventually your hamstrings will lengthen and your heels will descend to your mat.

Once Diane understood the reason for the small step forward, she asked me once again about the vinyasa and if there is a small step there too.

Do you take a step in a Vinyasa

A Vinyasa is a sequence of poses that you use to move from one pose to the next.

A Vinyasa is like a Sun Salute. It has the same poses and they are all done to the breath.

There is one difference. In a Vinyasa you do not hold Down Dog for five breaths.

Exhale you move from Upward facing Dog into Downward Facing Dog. On the next inhale you jump forward landing your feet between your hands.

You move into Down Dog and then you move immediately out of it and on to the next pose in the sequence. As a result you do not take that small step forward.

Summary

Diane thanked me for the explanation. She knows that the small step in Down Dog only happens when you are going to spend more than a breath in the pose.

The small step improves the alignment and makes it easier to stay in the pose for an extended period of time.

Next Steps

The next time you are doing a Sun Salute, ask your teacher to check your alignment. Your torso and legs should be a 45 degree angle to the floor just like the pyramids. They have been holding up for a lot longer than you will be holding up Down Dog.

Additional Reading

The article Why you need to get your bracing right in Down Dog gives you more in-depth information about getting your alignment right in Down Dog.

Diane knew that you do not move your feet and hands when you do a Sun Salute. This article How to get your hands in the right place for a Sun Salute helps you to setup your hands.

There are three different Vinyasa sequences that you can use in your yoga practice. This article Use the Vinyasa sequence to heat up your yoga practise details the three of them.