Use Down Dog to Realize Your Perspective on Life

Yep, that's a play on the word "realize".  In the first instance it means that you are coming to understand, becoming aware of, your perspective on life.  In the second instance it reminds you that something can help you to 'realize' more fully the person you want to become….and that is the fullest, most unencumbered you!

Yoga is great because it gives you so many instances to see yourself clearly.  In this case Down Dog is a fundational posture, and in vinyasa flow is even used as a resting posture before resuming a flowing yoga sequence once again.  How you think, feel and act in Down Dog can tell you a lot about how you view life and your role in it.

If you are bored in Down Dog it is seen in your flaccid feet and hands, dead-energy flopping arms and lack on overall energy in the posture.  Boredom can mean you are uninspired by life and can't think of what it is you want to do or how you could get there.  Or you have just given up letting your light shine fully.  And it shows in your Down Dog.

If you are always struggling in Down Dog, always working hard to get deeper (ie. better)  it's pretty certain that you feel like to have to push hard to get anywhere in life.  You don't feel safe and you sometimes try too hard--at work, at home, with friends.  You feel like you give out a lot of energy and don't get enough back.  You are always doing, driven, going.

If you are comfortable in Down Dog you are exploring and stretching into an edge in the posture and then alternately softening and letting to posture nourish you.  You are not putting out undue effort.  Not fighting. But you are being present, breathing into your body back chest, stretching your fingers and feeling them flat on the floor.   Alive, you are connected, beautiful, curious.  Happy with your body, understanding of its limits and working in a fun co-creation to explore how this feels.  All is well. "This practice is for me", you say to yourself.  "I am becoming my best self to interact with my world around me."

The last Down Dog sounds great right?  Next time you practice, or just go into Down Dog right now wherever you are, play with the posture.  Look honestly at how you approach it, then give yourself a break and do it the delicious way.  Be alive and relaxed in the posture.  Distributeyour weight equally between your hands and feet so that is almost effortless to stay in the pose.  Then back off a bit.  Then go a little deeper.  Notice how you feel.  Can you hear your internal dialog?  Let the posture feed you instead of you expending energy into and for the posture (and what it represents for you).

Your body is always talking to you.  It is a blueprint for your thoughts and emotions. The symbolism is usually pretty simple and straight-forward if you listen. (Lousie Haye has written wonderful books on the subject.)  Your body  is a blueprint for your mind's habits, and your thoughts are pretty obviously expressed in your body's movements, stance, attitudes, aches and pains, places that are glowing with life and energy and places that are dead and abandoned.  In the hundreds and hundreds of classes I have taught I have seen sad backs, scared shoulders, fearful timid hamstrings, angry quads, open eager hearts, closed protected hearts, exhuasted necks, worried jaws…..

Next time you stretch into Downward Facing Dog really check into your body.  What can you see about yourself?

Warm regards--Tiffany

YogaUniverse

P.S. Wherever you are in your day, check in, did you do anything to nourish your spirit today?  Soothing, creative, exciting, quiet….whatever you need.  Now if you haven't---don't beat yourself up--- just go do it.  Now!