When after a long trip you come back home feeling extremely tired, what do you do? Most often, you take some kind of energy drink or eat a nutritious food to recover from the fatigue immediately. But, have you ever tried a yoga asana to feel relaxed? Do the Upward Facing Dog next time you feel exhausted.
The Upward Facing Dog pose is considered an intermediate level of asana and is extremely easy to perform. No doubt, the health benefits of Upward Facing Dog are many as it is also an important part of the Sun Salutations. The pose enhances your prospects to build an overall physical strength.
Steps for doing the Urdhva Mukha Svanasana
Step 1: First of all, lie down on the yoga mat keeping your stomach towards the floor. Make sure that your feet are also facing downwards and the arms are placed beside your body.
Step 2: Now gently fold the elbows and place your palms close to your lowest rib.
Step 3: Now take a deep breath in and push your hands on the floor in order to lift the knees first followed by the hips and torso. Do observe that the weight of your body is now spread across the top of your feet and the palms.
Step 4: Now, look in front by slightly tilting your head in the backward direction.
Step 5: Make it a point to keep your wrists in line with the shoulders. Do not try to overstretch your neck to keep it safe from any kind of stiffness.
Step 6: Try to be in this pose for a few seconds. Then exhale slowly and come back to the original position to experience the strength.
Below listed are the benefits of Urdhva Mukha Svanasana that you can get after a regular practice:
Healthy Lungs: The Upward Facing Dog pose is found to improve the capacity of your lungs to hold the oxygen for a longer duration. While doing this asana, when you expand the upper chest and take it slightly backward, the muscles get a great stretch in the chest, making the way for more voluminous lungs and the diaphragm. You can also recommend this pose to someone who is suffering from asthma for a deep and relaxed breathing pattern.
Zero Back Pain: While doing this pose, your lower back remains pressed closer to the surface of the ground. This effective way of touching the floor results in the tightening of the lower back muscles. Besides, it also reduces any sort of stiffness and pain in your back.
Stronger Shoulders: You bear a substantial amount of body weight on your shoulders and arms while practicing Urdhva Mukha Svanasana. So, in order to tighten the shoulders, you can consider this pose as it will require you to get the maximum stretch out of these.
Activated Glands: The deep stretch in the neck, chest, and the head while doing this asana helps in activating all the glands of the body. With a better flow of the essential glands, the mind becomes alert and ensures freshness all the time!
Toned Lower Part of Body: In the Upward Facing Dog pose, try to keep the lower part of the body slightly lifted from the floor. With the hips, buttocks, hamstrings, calves, and legs not touching the ground, tightness can be felt in the muscles. This stretch leads to a stronger and well-toned lower part of the body.
Smooth Blood Circulation: This pose requires you to stretch from the head to toe, keeping a special focus on the spine. Stretching to this much extent obviously improves the blood circulation of the entire body that leads to a better functioning of all the organs.
Improved Posture: One of the high points about this pose is the lasting impact that it creates on your posture. This happens due to the proper alignment of the head, spine, arms, shoulders, lower back, legs, and feet.
Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned yogi, practicing the Urdhva Mukha Svanasana fulfills your many purposes at the same time. If you want to stay relaxed and enjoy the beauty of yoga, do include this pose in your routine to ensure numerous health benefits of Upward Facing Dog.
To Know more about Upward Facing Dog, join yoga teacher training in India.
