After our previous installment, which you can read here, you surely liked the first basic postures for those who are just starting in yoga. In this installment we present the sequence known as “Salutation to the Sun” or Suryanamaskara in Sanskrit. This is a sequence of postures that make your body more flexible and stronger.
It is always recommended that at the beginning of your routines, you include a warm-up or previous preparation in your body. Then you can perform the postures that we presented in the previous article, and at the end of your routine you can include three “Sun Salutations”. Ready? Started:
Sun Salutation Sequence
- First placement: “Mountain Posture” or Tadasana. Lengthen your body, seek your center and breathe deeply, then exhale through your nose slowly. Free your arms and relax shoulders.
- Second placement: “Posture of the Mountain upwards”. In this placement you raise your arms and breathe deeply. Your sight is in the sky, join the palms of your hands.
- Third placement: “Posture of the Stork” or Uttanasana. You lower your arms and torso, while you exhale slowly and look with your forehead for your knees and hands go to your ankles.
- Fourth placement: “Posture of the frontal fold” or Urdhva Uttanasana. Take a deep breath by raising your head forward, achieving with it the height of the pelvis and lengthening your entire back. Be careful not to force your knees back.
- Fifth placement: “Posture of the Iron” or Chaturanga Dandasana. Also known as “Push up” or lizard. You should exhale while bringing one leg back and then the other, to stretch both and align your body. The elbows are always attached to the waist and you should stretch your legs very well to protect your knees. Don’t hang your pelvis or head.
- Sixth placement: “Face up Dog Pose” or Urdhva Mukha Svanasana. Take a deep breath as you lower your pelvis to the floor and raise your head. Be very careful not to force your elbows; It is best to bend them a little and release the shoulders down.
- Seventh placement: “Upside down Dog Pose” or Ardho Mukha Svanasana. You can reach it directly by raising your pelvis and lowering your head. When the body is not strong enough, to avoid injury to the spine, it is best to first lower your head, rest your knees and hands on the floor, and then raise your pelvis by stretching your legs, pushing your heels to the floor and lengthening your back, as if bringing your chest to your knees. Exhale as you arrive at this placement.
- Eighth placement: “Posture of the Frontal Folding” or Urhva Uttanasana. You return to this posture by inhaling, first bringing one foot forward and then the other, to raise your head and torso forward. Exhale as you descend back to “Stork Pose”, lowering your hands to your ankles and your forehead to your knees.
- Ninth placement: “Posture of the Mountain upwards” you reach it by raising your arms from the sides, your head and torso seek direction to heaven and your hands join above. Breathe as you rise.
- Tenth placement: “Mountain Posture” or Tadasana. Exhale slowly and lower your arms to rest at hip level.
