The Health Benefits of Dolphin Pose

By CNY Healing Arts Published on

We at CNY Healing Arts invite you to try this invigorating shoulder-opener. Dolphin Pose is a mild inversion and a great alternative for those who cannot perform Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose) because of pain or discomfort in their wrists.

To perform this pose with a licensed yoga practitioner, check out our yoga class schedules for each branch of CNY Healing Arts (Syracuse, Rochester, Albany).

Getting Into Dolphin Pose:

Begin on your hands and knees. Place your forearms on the floor parallel to each other, palms down. Your elbows should be directly beneath your shoulders, knees right under your hips. Actively press your hands and forearms into the floor.

Curl your toes under then straighten your legs as if coming into Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose). If fully straightening your legs causes your back to round, keep the legs at least slightly bent. Lift your sitting bones up toward the sky as you lengthen your spine through the tailbone. Extend down through your heels and keep your shoulder blades firmed against your back.

Don’t rest your head on the floor, which will tempt you to use it as support, or allow it to hang freely. Instead, hold your head between your upper arms in direction with the V-shape of the pose. Breathe deep and slow in Dolphin Pose for 3-8 breaths, then release your knees back to the floor.

Benefits of Dolphin Pose:

  • · Stretches your hamstrings, calves, and arches
  • · Opens your shoulders, chest, and inner armpits
  • · Strengthens your arms and legs
  • · Helps regulate digestion
  • · Tones your core muscles
  • · Therapeutic for menopause, asthma, high blood pressure, flat feet, and sciatica
  • · Relieves back ache, fatigue, stress, and mild depression
  • · Helps prevent osteoporosis