Exercises on the side, 2

[Guest guest]

I thank you all so much for your advice! I will

take much of it. Alan, your advice will really help.

So far in Ashtanga class I am "mostly" just putting

my knees down instead of going into upward dog

(doing this makes my muscles start to shake & give in

rather early in class), but in my other yoga classes I

am practicing salutations with upward dog since I

know we won't be doing them throughout class. This is

where I'll make sure to pay attention to the advice you

sent.<br><br>Another question...I have a really long torso which

throws some difficulty into some poses (like lifting

myself off the ground while sitting cross-legged)(It

also helps with many poses).<br>When I asked what the

ultimate downward dog positioning of the hands & feet

would me my teacher suggested extending my arms

palm-down ahead of me while sitting on my heels in the

kneeling position & then curling my toes & pushing up into

downward dog. This seems to be great but when I come out

of the proper lunge position into dog while doing

salutations, my feet are way behind my "ultimate" dog

position.<br>My teacher said to readjust each time this happens

but it seems during Ashtanga that theres no time to

do this! Any suggestions? Do any of you experience

this or the long torso?

[Guest guest]

>This seems to be great but when I come out of

the proper lunge position into dog while doing

salutations, my feet are way behind my "ultimate" dog

position.<br>My teacher said to readjust each time this happens

but it seems during Ashtanga that theres no time to

do this!<<br><br>I think it's obvious that after

upward dog (urdhva mukha svanasana) one's feet are

further back than in downward dog (adho mukha svanasana)

We're also told to readjust our feet during the first

inhale in downward dog, ie. to take a step towards the

palms, and I think there's plenty of time for doing

that. Also, what is "the proper lung position"?

[Guest guest]

The proper lunge position of basic sun

salutations, not the salutations of Ashtanga. Proper being

with the shin vertical (or the ankle under the knee)&

your other leg stretched back to give the ultimate

stretch in the hip. Are you familiar with this. If not

I'm sure I can explain the pose in more detail.

[Guest guest]

Leaving aside any semantics about what is

"proper", "basic" or "standard", if you really get that

"ultimate stretch" in that pose as you describe it, I find

that it does tend to get your feet a bit wider than

you want them for downdog, especially when you do it

with your back foot remaining up on the toes. So if

that is happening to you I think it is not anything to

worry about.