Downward Dog Heels Can T Touch Floor

Yes tight hamstrings and calves can make heel to floor contact more challenging as a person with extremely tight calves i know this.

Downward dog heels can t touch floor.

Some people s heels might touch the floor in down dog and some people s might not. Whether or not you have the range in your ankles. Your heels are supposed to touch the floor. Some of us have tight calf muscle and back lines and this will mean we can t get our heels down.

1 if your heels aren t touching the ground in downdog and it bothers you or prevents you from fully lengthening the hamstrings and calves you can compensate by bringing the floor up to you. This is only one example of how the zaichik stretching technique in our downward facing dog program can demonstrate the ease of movement provided through a yoga pose or exercise. As long as you are pushing to stick to butt to the sky in your downward dog then you are progressing it. Since the pose primarily focuses on lengthening the legs and spine if the heels are flat on the ground the pose can no longer grow.

During my yoga teacher training with yandara yoga institute we watched a video by paul grilley who has a phd in anatomy and is a world renowned yoga teacher. Say you ve been working hard on your downward facing dog and still can t get your heels to the floor. And it may or may not have anything to do with flexibility. I read your post earlier and could not touch floor with my heels in downward dog but today hurray i actually managed to do it.

Having your heels touch the floor require you you keep working on your hamstrings yes but more importantly whenever you are doing a seated forward fold or some variation point your toes toward your face. Hypomobility not typically the biggest problem for yogis can be local as in the example above or generalized. Stretching can change that. So all that to say.

Yes that is completely normal. Everyone s body is different. Slowly you might build on flexibility and you might be able to do it. Stay tuned for the next tip to get your heels closer to the floor in downward facing dog if you still need an extra push after this exercise.

Thus a tight gastroc soleus complex can keep you from getting the heels to the floor in dog pose. You can roll up a thick towel or two depending on how much height you need and lay it on your mat so your heels can rest there instead of remaining suspended above the ground. This cue can give you and your students that extra bit of length in the calf muscles and enable you to lower the heels. I think its a matter of time and flexibility.

My personal opinion would be stretch a bit but don t overkill yourself. The down dog cues i use encourage students to keep feet hip width and heels reaching towards the floor but slightly off the floor.