Upward Facing Dog Pose is a very interesting and versatile pose in Yoga, but is often confused with cobra pose. It is used to connect Yoga movements together, especially in Vinyasa Yoga. What's more, it brings many benefits to both your soul and your health. In this article, we will learn about the wonderful benefits of Upward Facing Dog Yoga pose, as well as how to perform this pose so you can enjoy a healthy and balanced life.
What is Upward Facing Dog Yoga Pose?
Upward Facing Dog Pose (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana), is a Yoga pose in which you lift your chest and head upward, creating an upward curve. This pose mainly affects the back, lumbar, and chest areas.
You can see that the Upward Facing Dog Yoga Pose is not only a beautiful pose but also brings many health benefits and body improvements. Doing this pose regularly can help you feel stronger, more flexible, and more relaxed in your daily life.
The difference between Upward Facing Dog pose and Cobra pose
Upward Facing Dog Yoga Pose and Cobra Yoga Pose have distinct differences. In Cobra pose, there is less flexibility in the spine, the legs, hips and feet remain in contact with the floor, and there is a slight bend in the elbows. Meanwhile, in Upward-Facing Dog pose, your legs, hips, and feet are all lifted off the floor, and your arms are straight, allowing you to curve your spine more.
Benefits of Upward Facing Dog pose
Upward Facing Dog Yoga Pose, also known as Upward Facing Dog Pose, is a very interesting pose and has many valuable benefits for your health and body. Here are some key benefits of this pose:
- Reduce stress: Upward Facing Dog pose is not only a physical exercise but also helps you focus on your breathing and feeling your body. This can help you reduce stress and relax your mind.
- Increase strength of muscle groups: This pose mainly works with important muscle groups such as back muscles, arm muscles, shoulders, glutes, thigh muscles and leg ligaments. This helps increase the strength and stability of the entire muscular system.
- Increase flexibility: This is a back bending posture, helping to increase the flexibility of the spine. This is possible back pain relief and improve your mobility in daily life.
- Expand your chest and shoulder muscles: This pose stretches and opens the chest and shoulder muscles, helping to improve posture and relieve pain caused by sitting for long periods in the office or using cell phones too much.
- Energy Boost: Upward Facing Dog pose will help increase alertness and energy in the body. It is an important part of the exercises Vinyasa Yoga and can help you wake up alert and ready for a new day.
How to practice Upward Facing Dog pose
- To do this pose, lie on your stomach close to the ground, with your arms across your chest. Stand on your hands and stretch your spine forward, creating an upward curve.
- Next, gently tighten your abdominal muscles, buttocks, and thigh muscles, push into your arms and shoulder joints, lift your thighs and body off the ground, and continue to lengthen your spine. Don't forget to open your shoulders and chest and breathe evenly.
Errors and alignment when performing Upward Facing Dog pose
- A common mistake is not lifting your thighs off the ground or resting on your toes. Stand firmly on your toes and lift your thighs off the ground.
- The second mistake is that you let your shoulders drop or close them inward, which will cause neck and shoulder pain. Open your shoulders, keep them firm, and open your chest forward.
- The next mistake is that you try to reach too high or tilt your neck back, which can cause back or neck pain, especially if you have degeneration and hernia. Extend your spine and neck forward, avoiding bending your neck and lower back.
Nguyen hopes that the above sharing will be effective and useful for your practice of Upward Dog Yoga pose. Besides, there are also many articles about health and Yoga at Nguyen's blog, especially Youtube channel Nguyen has many other useful exercises and movements, please follow and look forward to Nguyen!
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