Upward-Facing Dogऊर्ध्व मुख श्वानासन
Ūrdhva Mukha Śvānāsana — an intermediate backbend that works the spinal erectors, chest, triceps.
15–30SECONDS HELD
One line on the timetable. Upward-Facing Dog is held 15–30 seconds, with the breath moving throughout — and it takes its place inside one of the practices posted on this site.
ਸਰੋਤ·YogaPath sequence data — stay times as taught·one breath ≈ 5 s at an even pace·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
How to do Upward-Facing Dog
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Lie face down with the hands beside the lower ribs and the tops of the feet on the mat.
Press the hands down and straighten the arms, lifting the chest and the thighs clear of the floor.
Only the hands and the tops of the feet stay in contact with the mat.
Roll the shoulders back and down, and lift the sternum forward between the upper arms.
Firm the thighs and lengthen the tailbone, then hold before lowering or moving back to Downward Dog.
Hold: 15–30 seconds. Keep the breath moving throughout — if you are holding it, the pose is too much for today.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Upward-Facing Dog does
Described mechanically — what the movement does to muscle and joint. Not a list of conditions it treats, because a pose does not treat conditions.
- Extends the whole spine while the arms and legs hold the body clear of the floor.
- Loads the wrists and triceps under bodyweight in an extended position.
- Lengthens the hip flexors and the abdominal wall with the thighs lifted.
Upward-Facing Dog is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 60 poses rated intermediate. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Upward-Facing Dog, or change it
- Pregnancy from the second trimester — the shape is not available once the belly needs space.
- Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome, since the whole upper body loads through extended wrists — take Cobra instead.
- Disc injury or spondylolisthesis: substitute Sphinx.
- Shoulder impingement — keep the shoulders low and the chest lift modest.
- Recent abdominal surgery.
General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts. If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or managing any health condition, ask your doctor before starting a practice, and learn the pose itself from a qualified teacher who can see you move.
Common mistakes in Upward-Facing Dog
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeThighs dragging on the mat so the low back hinges at one point.
FixPress the hands down hard and lift the knees clear; the legs must work.
MistakeShoulders hunched up around the ears with the head thrown back.
FixDraw the shoulder blades down the back, keep the neck long, and look forward rather than up.
How the energy figure on a yoga timetable is reached
- Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart, so no per-pose figure is published here — not by this site and not by anyone.
- The pose is matched to the nearest style of practice in the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Upward-Facing Dog sits at code 02150, ਯੋਗਾ, ਹਠ, 2.5 MET.
- That MET value is put through the standard ACSM relationship for a stated reference adult of 70 kg.
- The result is the cost of a practice of that kind for as long as you practise — not the cost of holding this one shape.
- Scale it to yourself: the relationship is linear in body mass, so multiply by your own weight in kilograms and divide by 70.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200
= 2.5 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200
= 3.06 kcal per minute
The same practice, hour by hour
Read it the way you would read a timetable: pick the length of session you actually sit down for, and that is the figure.
| Time practising | 10 ਮਿੰਟ | 20 ਮਿੰਟ | 30 ਮਿੰਟ | 45 ਮਿੰਟ | 60 ਮਿੰਟ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
ਸਰੋਤ·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·code 02150 · 2.5 MET · 70 kg reference adult·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
The whole activity dataset, including everything that is not yoga, is at BurnLab.
Asked before class
How do you do Upward-Facing Dog?
Lie face down with the hands beside the lower ribs and the tops of the feet on the mat. Press the hands down and straighten the arms, lifting the chest and the thighs clear of the floor. Only the hands and the tops of the feet stay in contact with the mat. Roll the shoulders back and down, and lift the sternum forward between the upper arms. Firm the thighs and lengthen the tailbone, then hold before lowering or moving back to Downward Dog. Hold for 15–30 seconds.
What does Upward-Facing Dog work?
Primarily the spinal erectors, chest, triceps, with the shoulders, glutes, wrists assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: extends the whole spine while the arms and legs hold the body clear of the floor.
Who should not do Upward-Facing Dog?
Pregnancy from the second trimester — the shape is not available once the belly needs space. Wrist injury or carpal tunnel syndrome, since the whole upper body loads through extended wrists — take Cobra instead. Disc injury or spondylolisthesis: substitute Sphinx. Shoulder impingement — keep the shoulders low and the chest lift modest. Recent abdominal surgery. This is general information, not medical advice — if any of these apply to you, ask your doctor and learn the pose with a qualified teacher rather than from a page.
Is Upward-Facing Dog suitable for beginners?
Not as a first pose. Upward-Facing Dog is rated intermediate here: it assumes a working base of strength and range, and a teacher who has watched you move. Build up through the backbends poses marked beginner first.
How many calories does Upward-Facing Dog burn?
The honest answer is that nobody has measured a single asana. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values for styles of yoga, not for individual poses. Upward-Facing Dog sits closest to Compendium code 02150, yoga, Hatha, at 2.5 MET — about 92 kcal for 30 minutes of that kind of practice for a 70 kg adult. Holding one pose for a minute is a rounding error either way.
Sequences that use Upward-Facing Dog
The rest of the backbends on the wall
More backbends — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.
Asana names are traditional. Every step, benefit and caution on this page is written for YogaPath rather than reproduced from any book, studio or other library — see how this site is written ਅਤੇ what it is written from. General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts.
ਸਰੋਤ·Published asana references·asana names, alignment and cautions as taught·ਸਮੀਖਿਆ ਜੁਲਾਈ 2026
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