Following the basic principles of sequencing instructions, guide the building of full Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose) from the ground up and from what is at most risk of strain or injury: the wrists, shoulders, and hamstrings. We will look alternatively at the upper body (from the hands up) and lower body (from the feet up).

Adho Mukha Svanasana is an excellent asana for learning and embodying the principle of roots and extension. Encourage students to press firmly down into the entire span of their hands and length of their fingers, paying close attention to rooting the knuckle of the index finger as a way of balancing pressure in the wrist joint. This rooting action should originate at the top of the arms. With it, ask students to feel the “rebounce” effect of this rooting action in the natural lengthening through their wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints. 

The fingers should be spread wide apart, the thumbs only about two-thirds of the way in order to protect the l...

We often hear the instruction to spread the fingers and thumbs as wide as we can in Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose) and other hand support asanas.

Don't!

The idea behind spreading the fingers and thumbs as wide as possible is to establish a more firm and balanced foundation in the hands. A firm (yet resilient) and balanced foundation in the hands is important in reducing potentially injurious pressure in the wrists, and it's also important for stability in arm balances. 

However, with the thumb stretched as far as one can place it from the index fiinger (abducted), we overstretch the commissural ligament that traverses the traingular thenar space between the thumb  index finger. We can also place undue pressure on the palmar cutaneous branch of the median nerve.

In practicing and teaching hand support poses, we want to emphasize spreading the fingers as wide as one comfortably can, the thumbs not so wide. Reduce the space between the thumbs and index fingers by ab...