Confession: I used to hateee upward facing dog.

But then, I learned to engage my GLUTES. (No pun intended).

Yep. I said it: engaging my butt.

Let’s talk about it! (Not mine specifically, but bums in general, but in cobra/up dog. You get it. Anywayy)

The glutes are a big, powerful muscle group. They’re strong; even if youre like “oh but my butt is so small” your glutes are still going to be one of the strongest groups in your body! So that engagement in the bum – all that strength activated on purpose – supports the low back, which is considerably more fragile, while its finding that backbend, allowing us to lift higher and open the chest and shoulders more, find more length (and eventually, flexibility) in the spine in general, and even finding more freedom in the front sides of the hips and legs because it encourages the hips downward more.

And just like that, my cobras and up dogs (and even my wheels and bridges) feel DELICIOUS, and I love these poses.

Hope you do too! What do you think?