This blog entry is going to be short and sweet. How we use and position our hands in yoga and/or other exercises is so important when they are bearing weight.
Spread your fingers wide (pinky and thumb are far away from each other) and feel your inner palm lift up (think arches of your feet). Your hand is active-it is pushing the ground away.
If we collapse our weight onto our hands, and not use our hands to push into the floor (thus creating a lifting feeling), we will no longer be able to use the strength in the palm arch to help support our weight.
I began to have wrist issues in Down Dog at some point in my yoga practice and once a teacher told me to spread my fingers and use my palm as an arch, the pain went away. Do not collapse into gravity, push the floor away. Keep working on this arch and strengthening your hands and fingers :-)