Sun Salutations

Happy Sunday fellow bloggers!

This week, I want to talk about Sun Salutations. Most yoga warm ups start a sequence of Sun Salutations. Sun Salutations combine deep breathing with flowing poses, and there are multiple variations of Sun Salutations. However, the most common and basic is “Sun Salutation A”.  I am going to go through the steps of Sun Salutation A, so you could start practicing Sun Salutations at home.

Step One. Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
Stand with your feet parallel to each other. Stretch your arms down your side with your palms turned out. Keep your shoulders relaxed.

Step Two. Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Salute)
Inhale and swing your arms overhead in wide arcs. Bring your palms together, drop your head back, and look up at your thumbs.

Step Three. Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend)
On your next exhale; release your arms in wide arcs as you fold forward. Bend your knees, so your stomach is resting on them. Relax your neck, so that your head hangs towards the ground.

Step Four. Ardha Uttanasana (Half Standing Forward Bend)
Inhale and place your fingertips onto floor. Straighten your elbows, and then lift your stomach away from your knees.

Step Five. Repeat Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend)

Step Six. Plank Pose
On this inhale, place your hands on the floor, step back, and go into a plank pose.

Step Seven. Chaturanga Dandasana
Exhale as you bend your elbows and lower down to Chaturanga. Lift your thighs off of the ground, and lengthen your tailbone toward your heels. If you can't hold this pose, keep your knees on the ground.

Step Eight. Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Facing Dog Pose)
On the next inhale, straighten your arms, and make your way up into Up-Dog by lifting your chest.

Step Nine. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Down Dog)
Finally, exhale back to Down Dog. Use your arms to push into the ground, and lift your chest back.


Repeat the Sun Salutation sequence 7-12 times for it to be most effective.

(Imagine from https://moonladyyoga.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/sun-salutation-the-dawning-of-a-ritual/)

Comments

  1. Ive recently incorporated yoga into my morning stretching routine! I have already experienced many benefits!

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  2. Wow, that's really interesting! I've been incorporating yoga more into my life and this actually helped my back ache I've been having! My muscles do feel sore though. How often should I do this if I'm completely new to yoga?

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    1. I would say maybe 3-5 times a week! May be most beneficial to do it in the morning.

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  3. I think this would be a great technique to relax or release stress. I will definitely be doing this next time I feel stressed out about school work!

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    1. Yay! Glad to hear. It would definitely help with stress. But it may also be good to do it as a "break" from school work to get your body moving!

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  4. I have to try some of this techniques. I find that when I am doing school work or seating down to long I have back aches. Do you think that some of these techniques may help?

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