Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

Downward-Facing Dog, or Down Dog for short, is a foundation pose in many styles of yoga. Your hands and feet stay on the floor and your hips become the highest point, so your body forms an upside-down V. In flowing classes it links other poses together, and it is also a place to pause and breathe.

The shape looks simple, yet it can feel like hard work at first. Your arms and shoulders hold up part of your weight while tight calves and hamstrings pull your hips down. The answer is usually to bend your knees and put a long back ahead of straight legs. This guide covers the setup, the cues and easier versions with a block, a chair or a wall. It is part of our pose library. New to yoga? Start with yoga for beginners.

In this guide

1. How to do Downward-Facing Dog
2. Alignment cues
3. Common mistakes
4. Make it easier (props)
5. Variations
6. Poses to do before and after
7. Who should skip it or ask a doctor first
8. What the research says
9. Frequently asked questions
10. Sources

How to do Downward-Facing Dog

1. Come onto your hands and knees on a non-slip yoga mat. Set your hands shoulder-width apart and slightly in front of your shoulders. Place your knees under your hips or a little behind them.
2. Spread your fingers to a comfortable width, middle fingers pointing forward. Turn your hands so the creases of your wrists run straight across, parallel to the short edge of the mat in front of you.
3. Press down through your whole hand, especially the base of your index finger and your thumb.
4. Tuck your toes under, with your feet about hip-width apart.
5. Breathe out and lift your knees off the floor. Send your hips up and back.
6. Keep your knees bent for now. Lengthen your spine from your hands to your tailbone.
7. If your back stays long, start to straighten your legs. Let your heels sink toward the floor without forcing them down.
8. Keep your head between your upper arms, in line with your spine. Relax your neck, but don’t let your head dangle. Look back toward your knees or feet.
9. Stay for 3 to 5 slow breaths. To come out, breathe out, lower your knees to the floor and sit back toward your heels.

Alignment cues

• Hands: keep the knuckles at the base of your index fingers pressing down, so your weight doesn’t roll into the outer edges of your wrists.
• Arms: straight but not locked. Turn your upper arms slightly outward, the right arm to the right and the left arm to the left. This widens your upper back and gives your neck more room.
• Shoulders: let them move away from your ears instead of shrugging up.
• Head and neck: in line with your spine, ears roughly level with your upper arms. Don’t lift your head to look forward, and don’t tuck your chin hard.
• Back and hips: long and fairly flat from your hands to your hips. Lift your hips up and away from your hands, toward the wall behind you.
• Legs: knees point forward. Firm your thigh muscles as you straighten your legs, so your thighbones move back toward the wall behind you.
• Distance: if the pose feels cramped or stretched out, reset it from a plank: lift your hips up and back without moving your hands or feet.

Common mistakes

• Straightening the legs at the cost of the back. If your lower back rounds when your legs are straight, bend your knees until it lengthens again.
• Chasing your heels to the floor. Tight calves and hamstrings keep the heels up for lots of people. Reaching toward the floor is enough.
• Collapsing into the shoulders. If your chest sinks and your shoulders hunch toward your ears, push the floor away and lift your hips.
• Sinking into the wrists. When your weight rolls into the heels of your hands, your wrists take the strain. Spread the load across your fingers and knuckles, and shift more weight back into your legs.
• Locked elbows. If your elbows bend backward when you straighten your arms, keep a tiny bend in them.

Watch out for: sharp or pinching pain in your wrists, shoulders or lower back. Lower your knees, rest in Child’s Pose and try one of the easier versions below.

Make it easier (props)

• Bend your knees generously. This is a complete version of the pose, not a cheat.
• Hands on blocks. Put two yoga blocks under your hands, at a low or middle height. The floor comes closer, which can make a long back easier to find.
• A blanket or rolled mat under your wrists. Fold a blanket, or roll up the front edge of your mat, and rest the heels of your hands on it with your fingers on the floor. This eases how far your wrists bend.
• Wall dog. Stand facing a wall and place your hands on it at about hip height. Walk your feet back until your arms and back are roughly parallel to the floor, feet under your hips. Your wrists carry far less weight this way.
• Chair dog. Push a sturdy chair against a wall so it can’t slide. Rest your hands on the back of the chair, or on the seat for a deeper version, and step back until your back is long.
• Forearms down (Dolphin). Lower onto your forearms, either on the floor or on two blocks set at their lowest height. This takes the weight off your wrists, though it still asks a lot of your shoulders.

Variations

• Pedaling the feet. Bend one knee while you press the other heel toward the floor, then switch. It’s a gentle way to warm up your calves.
• Three-Legged Dog. Reach one leg up and back in line with your body, foot flexed, with both hip points still facing the mat. Lower it and switch sides.
• Puppy Pose. Keep your knees on the floor under your hips and walk your hands forward until your chest lowers toward the mat. Skip it if you have a recent shoulder injury.

Poses to do before and after

• Before: Cat-Cow warms up your spine and wrists from the same hands-and-knees start.
• Step forward: from Down Dog, step one foot between your hands into a Low Lunge.
• In a flow: in sun salutations, Down Dog often follows Cobra Pose or Upward-Facing Dog.
• After: rest in Child’s Pose. Or walk your feet up to your hands and roll up slowly to stand in Mountain Pose.
• Read next: how long to hold a yoga pose and yoga for tight hamstrings.

Frequently asked questions

Do your heels have to touch the floor in Downward Dog?

No. Your heels only need to reach toward the floor. Bend your knees, keep your back long, and let your heels stay wherever they land.

How long should you hold Downward-Facing Dog?

Start with 3 to 5 slow breaths, then lower your knees and rest. As the pose gets easier, you can build up to about a minute. There is more on timing in how long to hold a yoga pose.

Is Downward-Facing Dog an inversion?

A mild one. Your hips are higher than your heart, and your head is below it. That is why people with glaucoma or severe high blood pressure should check with a doctor first. It asks far less of you than a headstand or shoulder stand, which the NCCIH advises newcomers to avoid.

Is Downward Dog safe during pregnancy?

Ask your doctor or midwife first. The NCCIH says to get checked by your health care provider before you exercise in pregnancy, and notes that you may need to modify some yoga poses. If you get the OK, keep your knees bent and come down at any sign of dizziness or nausea.

Is Downward Dog supposed to hurt?

No. A strong stretch in your calves and the backs of your legs is normal. Sharp or pinching pain is not. As with other exercise, yoga can cause injuries (NCCIH). In a study that followed 354 people from two yoga studios for a year, about 1 in 10 developed new pain caused by yoga (Campo et al., 2018). Ease off, use the wall or chair version, and see a doctor or physical therapist if the pain lasts.