There are many ways to enter Downward Dog, the two most common being from a tabletop position on your hands and knees or from Plank Pose.
- From your hands and knees, spread your fingers wide and ground down through your hands, particularly the joints of your thumb and index finger
- Imagine you have suction cups on the tips of your fingers and connect them strongly to your mat to help strengthen your arms and relieve pressure from your wrists
- Spiral your upper arms outwards (away from the midline) and draw your shoulders away from your ears
- Tuck in your toes and lengthen your hips as far away from your hands as possibly can before exploring straightening your legs (concentrate more on lengthening your spine - hips away from hands - than from getting your legs straight right away)
- Continue working these two opposing lines of energy: hands grounding down into the mat and hips lengthening away from them; heels lengthening down towards the mat and hips reaching up and away
- Breathe deep