Traditional Sun Salutation

Transcript

today we'll spend some time exploring the traditional Sun salutation start by just coming up to stand at the front of your mat and bring the feet together arms loose alongside you close the eyes and just take a few minutes there to tune into the breath and then slowly start to deepen the breath just the inhale full and the exhale a little longer just slowly cultivating this even steady Rhythm we'll take this first cycle of sun salutation to break everything down we'll take more time in each of the poses so bring the hands to prayer center of the chest and start with an exhale empty the lungs on the inhale reach the hands forward up overhead look up Arch back a little bit and then as you exhale start to fold forward bend the knees as you come forward keep the spine long hands all the way down and just bend the knees enough that your chest can rest against the thighs relax the head down can wiggle around a little bit from there Palms come down inhale step the right foot back and knee comes down work that foot all the way back to your full range then sink the hips look look up roll the shoulders back this is the lunge from there Palms come down plank pose step the left foot back to meet the right and you're looking for one line through the body feet and legs together just a transition here and as you exhale lower the knees down and slowly with control chest comes down like a pushup keep your elbows right in against your sides you'll have more strength than if they're out and that will keep you from just collapsing down now as you build more strength in this transition you can lower the chest down and still keep the seat up now keep hands and feet right where they are inhale roll forward belly comes down Cobra arms are bent roll the shoulders back squeeze the elbows back towards each other look up you can press a little higher but keep the arms bent and from there exhale tuck the toes under press back to down dog inverted V can rock through the Torso a little bit seat lifts up and back on the inhale step the right foot front now this is one of the more challenging transitions so if you need to drop the knees down first and just work that right foot front any way that works for you you can experiment here you might find it easier to kind of swing that right leg around the side just bringing it all the way up in between the hands from there back knee down sink the the hips look up again roll the shoulders back lunge exhale left foot comes front utanasana this is the forward fold bend the legs again now this first time will come up with hands to waist so inhale lift up to stand then arms come up so do that to keep the spine long try it once more this time inhale extend the arm straight ahead and just noticing that's harder or the same then exhale prayer position so take a moment here just pause and again check in with the breath see how the heart rate is moving so you can always take this pause in between rounds and just find that Center Point again where you feel settled before you move into the next round now in the next round we're going to move with more speed and you'll see that instead of them being these separate poses it's really a fluid movement through the whole thing this unbroken movement just riding on the breath so it's like the shape just forms in and around the breath in and around the inhale and exhale hands to prayer if they're not already there feet together exhale and then as you inhale reach up overhead look up and exhale fold bend the knees hands come all the way way down relax the head inhale left foot steps back through the other side knee down look up and plank right foot back feet together exhale knees chest chin down keep your seat up elbows in against your sides inhale Cobra arms bent roll the shoulders back look up Tuck the toes exhale press back to down dog inhale left foot comes front up between the hands sink the hips look up and exhale right foot comes front bend the legs inhale follow the breath up reach up Arch back a little bit and then exhale prayer inhale reach up overhead exhale fold this time if you have more range you can try legs straight inhale right foot steps back back knee down and plank left foot back exhale knees chest chin inhale Cobra exhale down dog inhale right footsteps front back knee down look up exhale left foot front deep inhale look up overhead exhale to prayer so just watch this last round so you can kind of notice everything is fluid and that there's not more importance placed in the pose versus the transition that it's all the same even movement so here hands and feet stay grounded and that's going to set up the length for down dog and still same place through the hands so not a lot of extra movement there and then following the breath up and back to prayer position so go ahead and do one last round on your own or you can scroll back and just follow along through that last round you want to do an even number of rounds two or four basically one on each side where you're stepping right foot back and right foot front and then the next round left foot back left foot front once you finish go ahead and lay all the way back and we'll finish with a brief relaxation so this is part of the ASA practice is that you give some space at the end of the practice to really let the benefits of the poses integrate into your system and the gauge here for how long you want to spend in this position is just how long it takes for your heart rate to return to its resting rate that might be one minute it might be five minutes and as you're laying back you can scan through the system and just release any tension or fatigue that you [Music] find so if you need any more information if you have questions about these practices or would like to learn more you can Brooklyn yoga school.com or send us an email info Brooklyn yogas school.com enjoy the practice have a great day