How to move from upward facing dog to downward facing dog

How do you get from here:


image courtesy leo.prie.to on flickr - click photo to see original



to here:
image courtesy myyogaonline on flickr - click photo to see original






with some amount of grace? (Leaving aside the obvious of needing to go from a deserted beach at sunrise wearing very little clothing to a sunlight studio at midday wearing rather more clothing. That takes a plane, probably, and a suitcase full of clothing definitely.)

More succinctly, I've been struggling with how to move from Urdvha Mukha Svanasana (upward facing dog) to Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward facing dog) without just flopping down and flipping my feet, or just putting my feet right and then going into the pose, but rather in one solid movement.

This morning I was having a hard time staying self-foucused, but it actually worked out for me, I think, because I watched the woman in front of me do it and I realised that I'd been trying to lead by rolling-over-toes with my body following, but I watched her lead with her hips, with the rolling-over-toes occurring as a kind of side benefit. And lo and behold, I did it! So here's my advice to the interwebs: from up-dog, engage your core even more, lift your hips up then back, and - as if by magic - you'll roll over your toes and find yourself in down dog.

Which is to say, 45 minutes of yoga this morning. Philippa is back from Mysore. She's very involved, I like it already.