Walking Your Dog

and other fun yoga play

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

-George Bernard Shaw 

Yoga as play…but why?

Some people tell me they’re not flexible enough to do yoga; others might say kids are too wiggly and wild to do yoga. My answer? Yoga is for everyone.

You may have noticed that over the past several years, all kinds of styles of yoga have cropped up, some of them pretty absurd (sorry, Goat Yogis, I can’t quite get with the program. Nothing against goats, I just don’t envision practicing asana with them:). 

My point is, though, that yoga is best practiced with individuals in mind — it’s more about the people than the poses.  The question becomes: how can this yoga practice best serve me in this moment, given my lifestyle and physical/mental/emotional condition? And then, let go of that striving to bend your body into a pose for no particular reason.

Alignments can be helpful for facilitating balancing, focusing the stretch or bringing strength and stability to a specific area, directing the flow of energy, stimulating or calming your nervous system, and preventing injury. But did you know that sometimes pushing yourself to get into prescribed alignments can even cause injury if the pose is not modified to suit your unique body? Dr. Garrett Neill shares his wisdom as a chiropractor and yoga teacher on this matter in his article Human First, Yogi Second. You can read all his articles from the same publication through this link, too; if you are serious about understanding alignment, they are a must-read.

I mention all this because I want to invite you to play with alignment. For a moment, let go of the shoulds and self-doubts about alignment and sense into your own  body when you do a particular pose. Ask yourself, does this feel good? Can I shift my leg or arm this way or that way to adjust it? Is there wiggle room in the pose so that I can bring small movements in? What about big movements?

Aside from playing with alignment, I invite you to play with your little ones, too. I often long for a quiet, solitary practice, but there’s something said for just doing yoga anyway with the kids around. You might have the same obstacle I do, though: my three-year-old son loves to treat me as his little horsey to ride whenever I get down on the rug into cat-cow or tabletop pose. The nice thing about the practice I’m going to share below is that it will probably encourage those little horseback riders to follow along with what you’re doing! Try it and let me know how it goes:)

Of course, this practice can be nice and invigorating even without kids around. It can serve as a great warm up, especially on cold days. Take motherhood as an invitation to be young-at-heart and to play with yoga!

What Are Animal Walks?

The practice I’m sharing in this post is what I call Animal Walks. I first enjoyed it in kids yoga classes and capoeira classes. I currently practice it at home when I need a lift, or to work out some anxiety or restlessness. As you may have guessed, ‘walking your dog’ is simply a walking version of Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog), but it’s different than what yoga teachers mean in a mainstream class when they say “Now walk your dog” (usually that just means to pace your heels, alternately lifting left and right heel as you stay in the same spot). Here, I’m talking about actually walking around the room in Downward Dog Pose — forwards, backwards, even sideways!

Then there’s Crab (sometimes called Tabletop, but we gotta stay with the animal theme, right?) and Elephant (basically a Wide Stance with hands interlaced and arms swinging side to side). Next, we have hopping from a squat, which could be called either Frog or Bunny Hops, and Snake could be a sort of army crawl that begins with Sphinx Pose. Here’s a little demo: 

 

The other day I came across this old video of my daughter doing dog walks. See how much kids love it?

 

Benefits

These Animal Walks help build strength and flexibility at the same time; there can be a little cardio in there, too, if you move fast enough or do it for long enough (a few minutes or more). The Downward Dog Walk is an inversion, so it brings more circulation to the brain and can have the same benefits as inversions (calming, increase circulation, provide gentle traction on the spine).

Oh yes, and there’s the added benefit of letting loose and having fun. Sometimes yoga asana practice can be serious or even rigid. Here’s a chance to break out of that stoic, stiff mindset and you can use it as a bonding moment with your kids, too.

Resources

If you want to keep with the animal theme, here’s a blog post I wrote about an Animal Sound Salutation for kids (or the young-at-heart:) and another post about Animal Yoga Books I recommend.

Feel the need to warm up before plopping down and walking around the room like various animals? Here’s a link to some gentle pre-yoga warmups and a little love for your wrists in this article, since some of our animal walks put pressure on the wrists.

As always, if you’re new to yoga or if you have any injuries or medical conditions, please consider consulting your health professional before trying these practices! And even if you don’t have injuries or medical issues, listen to your body and only practice if it feels right for you.

Did you try it? Let me know how it went! This is really about bringing levity to your yoga practice and doing things a little differently than you may be used to. If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it.

And if you enjoy Urban Yoga Mama in general, I always appreciate it when people spread the word. Now if you haven’t already, go walk your dog:)

Winter is almost here! Next week is the Winter Solstice and I’ll be starting a new 6-week cycle of posts. Why six weeks? I explain it at the end of the post linked here.