Standing · beginner

Downward-Facing Dog

Adho Mukha Svanasana

The pose most people picture when they hear 'yoga' — a full-body stretch that doubles as a resting position once it stops feeling like work.

Downward-Facing Dog Photograph coming soon

A rigged MakeHuman figure animated into Downward-Facing Dog from this guide's own alignment cues — not a photo or scan of a real instructor. Same avatar as Mountain Pose and Warrior II; the clip is one round trip — a standing forward fold, lowering to hands and knees, the hands walking forward one palm length, toes tucking, the hips lifting, then all the way back to the fold — with the hands and feet driven to measured floor contacts on every frame, and the held pose's hip solved geometrically from those contacts rather than hand-posed. Keeps a generous knee bend throughout, matching this guide's own caution against straightening the legs at the cost of a rounded lower back. Built with MPFB2 from the MakeHuman community CC0 system assets.

How to do it

  1. From hands and knees, tuck your toes and lift your hips up and back.
  2. Keep a generous bend in your knees at first — length in the spine matters more than straight legs.
  3. Press the floor away through your whole hand, especially the index-finger knuckle.
  4. Let your head hang between your arms; ears in line with your upper arms.

Why it helps

  • Lengthens hamstrings, calves and the whole back line
  • Builds shoulder strength and stability
  • Opens the ankles, which most runners and lifters need

Common mistakes

  • Straightening the legs at the cost of a rounded lower back — bend the knees instead.
  • Dumping weight into the wrists rather than pressing through the full hand.

Before you try it

  • Ease off with wrist pain, and skip or modify with uncontrolled high blood pressure or recent shoulder injury.

This is general information, not medical advice. If you're working with an injury, a health condition, or you're pregnant, check with a doctor or physical therapist and tell your teacher before class.

Make it easier

  • Bend the knees generously.
  • Forearms down (Dolphin) to take the wrists out of it.
  • Hands on a wall at hip height for a standing version.

Where this pose shows up

Styles power hot yoga

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