Chasing Grace

Like many people, I battle with depression most days. It’s something I’ve had to manage, in various stages of intensity, since childhood. I’ve tried the drugs, and talked to the shrinks, and changed my diet and all that. Some things help and some things don’t. But these days, when the depression demons come to visit me, I just sic my Dog on them.

Adho Mukha Svanasana, also known as Downward Facing Dog, is one of the poses in the traditional Yoga Sun Salutation sequence. But it is also practiced as an asana on it’s own. I think it may be my favorite pose right now. It certainly has helped alleviate my dark moods.

According to Yoga Journal magazine, Downward Facing Dog,

• Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
• Energizes the body
• Stretches the shoulders, hamstrings, calves, arches, and hands
• Strengthens the arms and legs
• Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
• Helps prevent osteoporosis
• Improves digestion
• Relieves headache, insomnia, back pain, and fatigue
• Therapeutic for high blood pressure, asthma, flat feet, sciatica, sinusitis

Notice the very first thing they mention is calming the brain and helping to relieve stress and depression. It’s really uncanny. I don’t know how it works, but it does. Yoga for Women says,

With regular practice, Downward Facing Dog rejuvenates your whole body. An inverted pose, it allows for the reversed flow of gravity and increases the flow of blood to the head and heart.

Perhaps the increased flow of blood to the heart and head has something to do with it. However it works, it is certainly helping me. After coming out of this asana, I feel a tremendous sense of peace that stays with me for the rest of the day.

Child Pose is the recommended counter-pose for Downward Facing Dog. I actually use Child Pose a couple of times in my practice. It really stretches out my back, which is also a source of trouble for me. It’s the perfect compliment to the Dog. But the Dog still rules. It’s the highlight of my daily practice.

Downward Facing Dog and Child Pose are my one-two punch against depression. If I had little time for yoga on a given day, I would still do those two asanas. I don’t think I’d want to face the day without them.