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Yoga poses

Puppy Pose: A Deep Stretch for Tight Shoulders

From hands and knees, walk your hands forward and let your chest sink while your hips stay high over your knees. Stretches the shoulders, armpits and side ribs.

Long hold · Shoulders · Upper back · 2 min read

Why it works: Chapter 23, Stiff people work harder for every stroke

How to do it

  1. 1

    Hips stay over the knees

    From hands and knees, a folded blanket under sore knees, walk your hands forward a little at a time. Leave your hips where they are: high, right above your knees. From Child's Pose, keep your hands where they are and bring your hips forward and up instead.

  2. 2

    Melt the chest, not the belly

    Let your chest sink toward the floor and rest your forehead on the mat, or on a folded blanket if it does not reach. Keep a little length in your lower back rather than letting your belly drop.

  3. 3

    Arms long, elbows up

    Reach through straight arms, palms pressing down, elbows lifted off the floor. Hands about shoulder width apart, or a little wider if your shoulders feel tight.

  4. 4

    Let it keep sinking

    Breathe slowly into the sides of your ribs. On a long hold your chest keeps settling lower by itself; let it, rather than pushing it down.

  5. 5

    The test

    A long opening through your armpits, the sides of your ribs and the fronts of your shoulders. Mostly lower back means your hips have drifted back. A pinch at the front of the shoulder means walk your hands back a little or take them wider. To come out, walk your hands back and sit on your heels.

Watch for

  • Hips drifting back to your heels. It turns into Child's Pose and the stretch leaves your shoulders.
  • Elbows resting on the floor. Your arms stop reaching and the stretch goes out of your armpits.
  • Belly sagging toward the floor. Your lower back arches to fake the range your shoulders do not have.

Questions

What is the difference between Puppy Pose and Child's Pose?

In Child's Pose your hips sit back on your heels and you rest. In Puppy your hips stay high over your knees, so your chest sinks lower and the stretch moves into your shoulders and armpits.

Is Puppy Pose the same as Downward Dog?

No. Downward Dog puts your feet on the floor and lifts your hips, so the backs of your legs share the stretch. With your knees down in Puppy, almost all of it goes to your shoulders and the sides of your ribs.

Why is Puppy Pose so hard?

It takes your arms fully overhead, a range tight shoulders rarely reach in an ordinary day, and your high hips stop you sitting back to escape it. Widen your hands, rest your head on a blanket and breathe out slowly, and your chest sinks a little further each time.

How long should you hold Puppy Pose?

Two minutes in Post-Strength Yoga · 01, the routine that follows a slow, heavy kettlebell session. In Post-Ride Yoga · 01 it is one stop in a slow loop with Child's Pose and Sphinx, and you keep moving. There is no daily target: hold it when your training day has that routine.