Hands Down

Guide your students to bear weight on their hands with mindfulness so they avoid injury and gain upper-body strength.

By Julie Gudmestad

Then, invite them to come to hands and knees, with the heels of their hands under their shoulders. Prompt them to look down at their hands and spread their fingers so that they have the same amount of space between each finger. Their fingers should be out straight and long from the palm of their hands and be actively pressing down the base of each finger where it joins the palm. (One of the gifts of Downward-Facing Dog is stretching the fingers out of their habitually flexed, or curled, position.) From the base of the little finger to the base of the thumb these knuckle joints form a half-circle of contact points, and inside that arc is the natural arch of the hand, which should be light and lifted off the floor.

Instruct your students to keep those contact points pressed down firmly as they lift their knees up and come into Downward-Facing Dog. From the grounded finger bases, remind them to keep stretching each finger out of the palm, and at the same time they should feel that they're lifting their forearms up out of their wrists. If the bases of the fingers share part of the weight, less weight (and compression) will rest on the heels of the hands and wrists. From the lift of the arch of the hand, it's possible to lift and lengthen all the way up to the hips, uncompressing your wrists, elbows, shoulders, and spine along the way.

Build upon the Foundation

When your students have learned how to distribute weight more evenly through the hands, they will be able to begin apply that knowledge to more challenging poses like Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Facing Dog), Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand), and other arm balances. These poses are more challenging than Adho Mukha Svanasana because there is more weight on the hands, and the wrists are at 90 degrees instead of the more open angle of Downward-Facing Dog.

Keeping grounded around the periphery of the palm, and lifting from the arch, can bring a new lightness and better balance to these challenging poses.

Julie Gudmestad is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher and licensed physical therapist who runs a combined yoga studio and physical therapy practice in Portland, Oregon. She enjoys integrating her Western medical knowledge with the healing powers of yoga to help make the wisdom of yoga accessible to all.

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