Slippery hands

[Hanu]

Hello,

I seem to ask a lot more questions than I can help to answer, but I'm fairly new, so I guess that's the way it will be for quite a while!

Anyway.... I would like to improve my downward facing dog. I can easily touch my heels to the floor, and I think my posture is good (except that my teachers always pull my hips back, which makes it much harder - I never quite understand why theey do this - if I knew where I was going wrong, perhaps I can correct myself..?)

That's an aside. My actual question is about slippery hands. I usually use a towel on my mat because when I do downward dog, my hands start to slide forwards. I feel as though I am grounding my hands into the floor quite well, but it still happens.

I would rather not use the towel as my teacher says I have a tendancy to not spread my hands as wide when I do, but I find my hands far too slippery without it.

Does anyone have any tips to stop this happening, please? Is it caused by a lack of strength when I ground my palms into the mat?

Any insights would be great.

Thanks

Hanu

[InnerAthlete]

Hello Hanu.

Three things come to mind relative to your question.

The first is to redistribute your weight in the pose so that you have more weight in the legs than in the arms - while still maintaining the rooting and recoiling actions appropriate for the hands and feet.

The second is to move forward on your mat and place your hands on the bare wood floor where you practice. Of course this presumes a bare wood floor and one that is clean and not varnished in such a way that it is slippery.

The third is to purchase a mat that has a more tacky finish. The Jade Harmony mats are very tacky - though I don't care for their smell and don't recommend them for that reason, among others.

[Techne]

I'm sitting here at my desk imagining what I'd have to do to slide my hands forward in downward facing dog . . . huh. Talk to your teacher about what precisely is "much harder" when your hips are adjusted back. You might find something fruitful to explore there.

[suryadaya]

There are many reasons you could be slipping, but I'll agree with Inner Athlete that the possibility could be in your performance of the asana. I found that I also used to slip a lot in this asana and when correcter to focus on redistribution of weight, the tightening of my abdominal muscles, and focus on lengthening the back - I stopped sliding, even in very hot and humid weather. Your best bet would be to discuss with you teachers a way to avoid this, and to ask them what they see in your posture that asks them to pull your hips backwards.

Good luck!

[jlg]

and how often do you wash your mat?