viklikesfic, are you looking for suggestions for how to work around the slippy-hands-in-down-dog problem? Or more sympathy?
I get where you're coming from; when I'm on a slippery enough surface, I do still slip even though the dog is one of my favorite and most solid poses otherwise. You could probably tell how much I like it by how much I have to say about it below :-D ; read on if you would like suggestions.
I second jumpuphigh's suggestion for self-adjusting. Though I don't think it's a surefire cure for slipping, it may help (maybe a lot), and it may benefit your practice in other ways.
There's so much going on in Down Dog, that to find stability may call for changes in more than one part of the pose. For instance, the hips/low back, calves and ankles--where you said you experience tightness-- are very involved in the balance of the whole pose. Sometime when you're not worried about keeping up with a video, you might try just playing with Down Dog, changing one body-position variable at a time to experience all the variations available in the position. Some of them may feel more secure. Changing alignment can also bring the stretch to different areas of the body --you might find a version that better releases the tightness you feel.
Yoga Journal has an article by Paul Grilley on the mechanics of Downward Dog, especially longer or shorter stances. Sounds like a shorter stance, or with bent knees, might be useful for you to experiment with.
When you're working with a video, and you want to do something to keep up with the video's sequence of poses without so much frustrating slipping, you might try substituting another pose for Down Dog in the flow. Depending on what fits with the poses before and after, a high plank (make sure shoulders are directly over wrists), puppy pose, dolphin pose. This isn't "dumbing down" -- Dolphin, especially, can be more work for the upper body and more stretch for the hamstrings/calves than Down Dog. Puppy is an excellent stretch for the shoulders, high plank is a core and upper body strength builder.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-10-10 03:52 pm (UTC)I get where you're coming from; when I'm on a slippery enough surface, I do still slip even though the dog is one of my favorite and most solid poses otherwise. You could probably tell how much I like it by how much I have to say about it below :-D ; read on if you would like suggestions.
I second
There's so much going on in Down Dog, that to find stability may call for changes in more than one part of the pose. For instance, the hips/low back, calves and ankles--where you said you experience tightness-- are very involved in the balance of the whole pose. Sometime when you're not worried about keeping up with a video, you might try just playing with Down Dog, changing one body-position variable at a time to experience all the variations available in the position. Some of them may feel more secure. Changing alignment can also bring the stretch to different areas of the body --you might find a version that better releases the tightness you feel.
Yoga Journal has an article by Paul Grilley on the mechanics of Downward Dog, especially longer or shorter stances. Sounds like a shorter stance, or with bent knees, might be useful for you to experiment with.
When you're working with a video, and you want to do something to keep up with the video's sequence of poses without so much frustrating slipping, you might try
substituting another pose for Down Dog in the flow. Depending on what fits with the poses before and after, a high plank (make sure shoulders are directly over wrists), puppy pose, dolphin pose. This isn't "dumbing down" -- Dolphin, especially, can be more work for the upper body and more stretch for the hamstrings/calves than Down Dog. Puppy is an excellent stretch for the shoulders, high plank is a core and upper body strength builder.
Best wishes.