Vinyasa Five (Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana — Upward Facing Dog)

Initiating the movement with an inhalation, straighten your arms and draw your chest forward, rolling the toes over until the feet point away from you. Press the tops of your feet down into the floor, using them as brakes to resist the forward-dragging action of the arms. Combined, these actions put the back in traction and elongate the spine.

Rather than rolling the shoulders back (which pinches the shoulder blades together by contracting the rhomboid muscles and leads to a closing behind the heart), keep the shoulder blades wide (serratus anterior muscle) and draw them down the back (latissimus dorsi). Rolling the shoulders back will free up the chest to move forward and puff out proudly like that of a lion. Imagine the arms as the upright support of a swing, the shoulder joints as the fulcrum, and the chest as the seat of the swing. Slide the heart through the arms to gain length in the spine. The lowest ribs now move forward and lift upward.

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