Ardho Mukha Svanasana ("Dog pose") in the ropes has been a significant component of my practice for some time. It offers my spine the experience of length, of traction. Side waist long, intercostal spaces open. Scapular stability is afforded by specific use of different parts of the hands, either directly on the mat, or on blocks (which emphasises the length, and the articulation of hands to ribs in my body).
My scoliosis has a right thoracic component; if I take my right hand a little wider, turn it out at a small angle, I can "drive" my spine more central, and anchor the scapular more cleanly. Of course, I have to match this by breathing into my left back lung and stabilising my left hand to scapular dynamic as well.
This asana is not an opportunity to "hang", to go unconscious and sleep. I have to work my legs with clarity, pressing my heels back and down (specifically the inner heel skirt), taking my inner thighs back and wrapping my outer calves in, and reaching my sitting bones back and "down".
Action and observation. Breath. Sensation. Refinement.
