Yoga Quick Tip: Down Dog to High Lunge Transition | Baxter Bell
so thanks for joining me I’m dr. Baxter
Bell and I’m gonna be talking and
working with you a little bit today in
this tutorial session on the transition
from downward facing dog pose into the
high lunge pose
now you might ask me why bother with a
whole tutorial on this particular little
transition well as it turns out in
America these days the most commonly
practiced vinyasa flow sequence is the
Sun salute the Sun Salutation which if
you’re listening in now you’ve done yoga
at all you’ve probably done this many
times as I’ve been traveling around the
country and teaching workshops on the
therapeutic benefits of yoga over the
years I often bring Sun salutes into my
practice and I teach those to my
students and I like to do them on my own
but what I’ve observed through time and
actually pretty consistently from all
parts of the country as this that this
little transition within the midst of
the Sun salute of being in downward dog
and then having to bring one foot
forward between the hands into the lunge
position as we transition back to the
front of our mat is extremely difficult
for many many folks in fact if I had to
guess on average I would say that only
about 50% of the students that I observe
can actually successfully bring that
foot all the way up between our hands on
the first attempt in a safe and healthy
way
what do i define as a safe and healthy
way so that’s a good thing to start with
so we’re stepping from a down dog
position and we’ll look at some
demonstrations of this in just a moment
into the high lunge and the quality of
the movement should be such that the
body is coordinated in its movement
towards the high lunge position that
that that leg that’s coming forward can
bend deeply at the hip joint that the
knee can bend deeply and that the foot
can land softly between the hands and a
lot of times something in that chain of
events of swinging forward bending
stepping and placing the foot down seems
to go awry
and there’s certainly lots of things
that could potentially cause problems
and if we have some time we might get
into some of those individual issues
that can arise for you but what I notice
is that one of two things happens either
the foot is forced much farther forward
than it seems to be able to go naturally
or the foot just doesn’t get very far at
all and then the person is is struggling
with how do they bring the other foot
forward without kind of dropping all
their weight into their hands and trying
to get their weight back into their feet
so we’re going to talk about a couple of
ways that you know you could call them
yoga cheats but there are little ways
little modifications that you can make
in the transitioning time that might
potentially bring you closer to your
goal or provide you with an alternative
way of coming forward towards the front
of your mat into the forward fold
position that eventually brings us up
and out of the Sun salute well let me
just say that in terms of the Sun salute
it’s this is probably a relatively
modern invention and because of that I
feel like me as a modern practitioner I
have that opportunity to modify things
so that the the general experience of
Sun salute works better for my body and
I want you to I want to give you that
freedom also in realizing that your
teachers around the country might only
have one way that they teach this to you
they might insist that that foot comes
forward as far as possible each time but
I would like you
to take responsibility in honoring the
unique structure of your body the unique
history that you have with this body
injuries or limitations that might
require that you reinvent the transition
forward from the back of your mat and
down dog to the front of your mat into
standing forward fold
so let’s just take a moment to look at
the normal transition through a Sun
salute so I’m just gonna do one side in
other words I’m going to lead with one
leg into the Sun salute and out and show
you you know some some possibilities of
kind of the closest thing to the ideal
that’s often presented now I’m gonna
mention right up front that you may
notice that as I come forward I come up
onto my fingertips a little bit and that
allows me an extra couple of inches of
space between the floor and my chest to
bring that knee up and through into the
lunge so that alone is already in in my
practice one way that I can accommodate
for some limitations that I have in the
proportionality of my body and the
flexibility of my hips right so I’m just
gonna go through this one time and I may
give you some little pointers as we go
through but just as a way to visually
see what the sunsalute looks like at
least one version the sense of there’s a
lot of versions so bear with me that
this is the one that I’m gonna use today
for demonstration purposes so inhaling
and then exhaling into a forward bend
now you can have the leg straight if
your fingertips don’t get to the floor
easily you might bend your knees to
bring the fingertips down more easily at
this point I’m going to shift my weight
and step one foot back into the back
into the high lunge now as I do that I’m
gonna bring my hands back so they line
up with my foot and then sometimes the
transition back can be equally
challenging but lifting the hips
slightly placing the hands down and
dragging the foot or lifting it and
coming back to down dog so I’m not in
down dog quite yet but now as they come
into the full down dog I’m going to be
thinking about how I’m gonna get that
foot forward so sometimes the breath
alone can be helpful
so sometimes inhaling and stepping
forward on an exhalation so I notice I
come up onto my fingertips I can get
that leg up and through pretty easily
for my body it’s not true for everyone
and then I’m going to step the back foot
forward
I could try and straighten the legs a
little bit maybe bringing the hands
under the shins and then coming up
smoothly to finish a little mini Sun
salute so obviously in longer versions
of Sun salute you can put back bends in
the middle and you can even bring in
standing poses as is done with the
Ashtanga primary series in which you use
warrior one within your within your
sense of salutation but today we’re just
gonna be focusing on that transition of
the foot coming forward so what I’d like
to show you is couple of things that I
see very commonly in fact the one thing
I see most commonly is the following so
I’m just gonna come down into a Down Dog
and what I see people do is I see them
kind of very quickly kind of thrust the
foot forward and it only gets to about
here so they don’t really start by
bringing the shoulders forward they’re
just kind of step that foot as far
forward as they can and then when they
try to step the back foot to match they
can’t even get their heels down so they
have to back their hands up or they have
to make a lot of other maneuvers to be
able to come back up to standing so
already that’s pretty pretty frustrating
it’s a little jammy to both the foot the
knee and the ankle and even the hip and
so it’s not ideal right but that’s what
happens for a lot of folks the other
thing that they’ll do is they’ll get
that foot to here and then they’ll kind
of grab on and they’ll kind of jerk it
forward and set it down really hard to
get it all the way to the front of their
mat now it is reasonable to step the
foot forward and then really get things
strong and very gently see if you can
bring the foot forward so that’s a very
reasonable kind of midpoint transition
that you can make to get that foot up
there and make that transition a little
more smoothly and then step the back
foot for it sometimes they only get to
here so a couple of things you can bend
your back knee and use it as a spring
and then spring forward and lean forward
a little bit to swing the foot in
position if you’re watching you can
usually match those feet up so sometimes
bringing the back foot forward can also
be a little bit tricky so one thing that
you might decide is you know what no
matter what I do even swinging my
shoulders for that foots not going to
make it up all the way so then using the
hand on that side to gently step it
forward is this I strongly recommend
that as an alternative to kind of
jamming the foot forward and then having
a hard
I’m getting the other foot up to meet it
another option is if you’re fairly close
to getting your foot forward and you
don’t feel like messing around with that
extra step of using your hand to bring
it forward because that’s an extra
second or two and you might feel like
you’re gonna fall behind you can do a
neat little trick which is simply to
match the back foot with the front foot
as you step forward and so I’ll show you
what I mean by that and I’m gonna step
forward in my left foot this time just
to alternate things so as I step forward
I get to about here but I don’t get all
the way forward so I’m not quite at the
front of my mat so instead of like
messing with this leg you can step the
back foot forward to match the front
foot inhale come up and then as you
exhale the hands in front of the heart
just simply step forward until you’re
back at the front of the mat so then you
have the full space behind you to
utilize in your next time through when
you go through the whole Sun Salutation
so again stepping the foot for as far as
it can go it’s pretty reasonably far
forward just step the back foot to meet
it and then step back to the front of
your mat as you finish up another option
that can sometimes make a little more
space a lot of times it’s this knee to
chest space it’s really tight so when
you come straight through the thigh
meets the hip or the belly and that foot
just can’t get any further forward
especially if your proportions are such
that it’s not that easy to do so another
option is to make a little extra space
for that foot as it comes forward so one
of the niftiest things that I learned
somewhere along the line in my practice
of yoga was the use of an arm out to the
side so there there is a momentum of the
shoulders needing to come forward as the
foot comes forward so this kind of
action so sometimes just practicing that
a few times
inhaling and then as you exhale and then
inhale go back so don’t even put the
foot down just see how far you can go
forward back and forth with your breath
maybe the other side a couple times
inhaling exhaling you might lightly
touch down I think light is really good
as opposed to jamming really hard which
can be hard on your joints so another
option is as you step forward and swing
the shoulders forward like you’re coming
to the plank
you take the arm on the side that you’re
going to be going toward you to lift it
up and out to the side so let me show
you what that looks like
so I inhale exhaling I move the arm out
to the side and the foot has all this
space because the chest lifts up a
little bit and there’s a little channel
of opportunity for that foot to come all
the way forward do it on the second side
inhale on the exhale now the arm goes up
and out to the side I got to bring it
right back down and then come up so that
my arms are nice and even and the chest
comes back into its even position so the
arms swing to the side is a nice
alternative for those of you that are
having trouble getting that foot all the
way forward the foot foot is a nice
alternative as well so that you don’t
have to worry about being all the way to
the front of your mat and then
considering some of your yoga poses that
could actually help the hips have a
better chance of coming into the high
lunge I have a couple of suggestions for
you to play with one involves a chair
and the other one involves your mat so
let me just show you how I would work
with this so anytime we can get into the
the deep fold or the leg a little more
cleanly and deeply it can be very
helpful so I’m just gonna step back and
I’m gonna step a foot up onto the chair
with my legs straight and then I’m gonna
bend the knee and I’m gonna lean forward
now my back heels on the floor but I can
let it come up because I’m really
interested in this area here the groin
area and I’m interested in bending the
knee and letting the hips come forward
so I get a lot of good stretch in my hip
joint so this kind of opening of a leg
and then if my back knee bends a lot I
really want to work with that back leg
as well because it might be that the
tightness in the front of my back leg is
somehow affecting my front hip so high
lunge really to a chair seat so your
hands are on the back of the chair your
foots on the seat of the chair and of
course at home I have a couple of metal
folding chairs that I got at the at the
hardware store for about ten dollars and
those are really great cos are super
sturdy this is a little it’s not
unsturdy but it’s got all this
cushioning on it which is unnecessary
for my purposes and then to come up you
come out and bring the foot back
and kind of notice how that feels this
is nice because you don’t have to get
low to the ground to do this and
sometimes it’s nice to be a little more
upright as you play with these little
variations and then the second side leg
comes up and you’re gonna bend your knee
come a little forward and put your hands
on the chair as you come up I would go
ahead and let that back foot come almost
into the same position it would be if
you were in a high lunge to the back leg
straightens and then come forward and
through now at a certain point as I bend
forward my back knee may try to bend a
little bit like this so work the back
leg very cleanly and clearly to press
back into the heel a little more
actively so I’m getting some action both
at the front of the back leg and deep in
the gluteal area of the front leg which
is great because that’s all going to be
important in that transition into the
high lunge from the downward facing dog
and then slowly come up and back and
then release so that’s one way that you
can work with trying to improve your hip
flexibility the other way that you can
work is by utilizing a fairly commonly
taught variation reclining variation
which is something called happy baby
pose and I’m sure some of you have done
this in your regular classes but it’s
particularly helpful when you’re
thinking about the high lunge position
and kind of getting those hips open for
it so coming down onto your back drawing
your knees in and taking your legs and a
happy baby now obviously the knee goes
out to the side when we’re in happy baby
but a nice way to work this is to take
the opposite leg up you can have your
arm out to the side and try to keep that
knee down so you really have this nice
deep fold on the right side and then
lower the left leg slowly forward and
down so that essentially now I’m in an
upside-down lunge position
I’m just working the opposite way with
gravity that I would if I was in regular
lunge position and I could hang out here
for a number of breaths
I could focus on seeing if this area of
the groin crease between my thigh and my
pelvis could deepen and soften a little
bit more and if there’s some chronic old
tension in that area I might be able to
loosen that up and bring that into the
transition from down dog to high lunge
to my advantage after you’ve done that
side for a little while
the other foot up take the right leg up
arm out to the side try to keep this leg
where it is if the hips are really tight
as this leg goes down this foot may try
to follow so you want to really keep
that leg in position if possible
the heel can be off the ground or if
you’re very open in the front hip at the
bottom leg you could bring that down and
then again work for a couple rounds of
breath and really encouraging the knee
you come down
try not to overpower your common sense
with this left arm so if you’re getting
feedback that enough is enough there’s
some pain or discomfort there that don’t
go any further let’s see what you can
find sometimes working for a minute
90 seconds two minutes can actually
reveal a lot of opening that you might
not have known you had otherwise another
area to be mindful of is the lower back
make sure that the lower back in both
sides feels okay here and then come back
into the full happy baby pose maybe for
a breath or two and then release the
feet down and then just as a nice treat
to the front legs take the legs out on
the floor and just coming to the
shavasana position for a moment
releasing those legs so one final
thought is that it may turn out that you
have something going on in your body say
you have some chronic arthritis in one
hip joint or you have a knee that is
very sensitive maybe the anterior
cruciate ligament has been repaired or
it’s injured and you want to be very
careful with it that and not overdo the
deep end of the knee or there’s
something else going on with the ankle
or the foot that just makes that step
forward in some ways not a very smart
thing to do for your body in that case I
have another alternative for you and
it’s a little bit odd but I’ve actually
worked it into one of my alternative
sunsalute sequences and that is you
bypass stepping forward completely and
you actually back up from downward dog
so in other words you’re in your
downward dog let me show you what I mean
you’re in your downward dog and your
classmates if you’re in a public class
might be stepping forward and forward
but you might bend your knees and use
your hands to back up to the back of
your mat and then when you come up and
out you simply walk back to the
of your mat and you’re ready for the
first part of the Sun salute with your
special ending so in summary the
transition from downward dog to high
plank I’m sorry to high lunge
in my estimation and from my
observations is actually one of the more
difficult transitions in all the yoga
practice and all the modern yoga
practice and my hope is that by
presenting you with several options both
of how to modify how the foot comes up
how to move body parts out of the way to
make more room and how to work with the
body to improve flexibility you might be
able to get closer to the goal of the
foot coming forward between the hands if
that’s important for you if that’s not
that important for you you can then
modify your transition so that it’s very
peaceful and gentle on the body you’re
still working very diligently in your
sunsalute to really garner all the
benefits that Sun salutes bring to our
body which is a lot of great stuff like
mobilizing the muscles warming the
muscles taking the joints through
certain full ranges of motion it’s
really not all the ranges of motion they
can do but many of them and so it’s a
nice practice to to have both for your
home practice and for those classes that
you take out in the community and then
finally you might decide that that
particular transition is actually
detrimental to the health of your body
in your joints in which case you also
have the option of backing it on up the
other thing that I didn’t show you so
far and I’ll just mention in closing is
that you can also from downward dog
allow your knees to lightly come down
bring a foot forward and then come up
and you’re in the high lunge
so even breaking down your transition
into two parts can be a very compassion
and wonderful way for you to still enjoy
the full bennett’s benefits of Sun
Salutations the Surya Namaskar while
making the transition between the
downward dog and the high lunge a much
more beneficial one for you thank you so
much for tuning in I hope you’ve enjoyed
this tutorial brought to you by yoga you
online
I’m dr. Baxter Bell have a great day
