For me, the yoga moves downward dog and upward dog involve moving an actual dog from the bottom of the mat to the top of the mat and back again.
Sir Scruffalot the Chicken Slayer, when he’s not slaying chickens or charging up a mountain looking for jackals, loves a bit of yoga. In fact, I’m lead to believe that the yoga mat is his.
I have moved in and out of yoga stages my whole adult life. I tend to always be looking for the next big thing that is going to turn me into Super Woman on the road. Everything needs endless research and trying out and there are only so many hours in a day, thanks to the pesky need to work for a living.
But I always come back to yoga and then wonder why I ever left it. Done properly, using the correct breathing, only half an hours practise leaves me feeling calm and strong. I have only recently learnt how to breathe correctly during the Sun Salutation, which turns a random collection of stretches into a powerful sequence, and has taught me how important the breathing is. You should be able to feel yourself breathing into and releasing all the tense bits of your body.
And, according to Sir Scruffalot, you can survive any situation by just focusing on the breath - yes, even a fast and furious jackal chase.