Teachers: Do you ever hear your students complain about wrist, elbow and shoulder pain in Downward Dog? It can be pretty common especially in beginners. Why do you think it’s a common experience? Well, when you think about the direction of the pose, it’s upside down! And, if there’s no counteracting force to draw the weight out of the upper body (which is now facing the floor) then guess what? That’s where the weight is going to fall.
So, in order to help your students avoid this, you need to help them connect to the power of their legs. One little trick I like is to have them squeeze a block between their thighs as they are in the pose. This helps them engage the quadriceps and bonus: the muscles of the core, especially the rectus abdominus!
Once they engage these muscles, they will start to feel the weight LIFT out of their wrists and will potentially feel a more engaged body overall and therefore, less exhaustion in the pose. There’s nothing like seeing students in Downward Dog with their arms bending and shaking and wondering as a teacher: “How can I help them?” This is an idea.
I usually have them put a block close to their mat (which they should have anyway) and in Downward Dog have them grab it. I instruct them to “squeeze in” towards the block and also try to “roll their inner thighs towards the back wall” thus creating the action of internal rotation. These two actions together will help them tap into muscles like the quadriceps, gluetus medius and adductor magnus.
For more on this in a video, watch my Facebook live session in my anatomy workgroup on Facebook. To join, click here.
For more information on different kinds of YOGA CUES that can help your students out, watch my FREE webinar on cues by clicking here.Â
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