Wake Up with the Sun
Wake up with the sun, and I don’t mean the actual sun, unless you’re a morning person! Wake up with the sun salutations. The yoga sun salutations, or surya namaskar, is a full body warm up. You can take these postures at any pace, modify the positions, add things in, and can be a great foundation to your practice. If you only have 10 minutes, doing a few sun salutations is a perfect way to get your movement practice in for the day. In this post, I’ll share the conventional version we experience in most vinyasa yoga classes. Then, I’ll offer one of my favorite versions of this warm up.
Traditional Sun Salutation A
Start standing in mountain pose (tadansana)
INHALE reach your arms up to the sky (urdhva hastasana)
EXHALE forward fold (uttanasana)
INHALE halfway lift (ardha uttanasana)
EXHALE halfway push-up (chatarunga)
INHALE upward facing dog (urdhva mukha svanasana)
EXHALE downward facing dog (adho mukha svanasana)
INHALE prepare
EXHALE step/ jump to the top of the mat
INHALE halfway lift (ardha uttansana)
EXHALE forward fold (uttanasana)
INHALE rise to stand (urdhva hastasana)
EXHALE hands to heart center (tadansana)
Now that you’ve met/experienced the traditional sun salutation, here is my favorite version. I enjoy this one in my body because it truly moves the spine in all directions and adds more hip extension into the flow. By adding more hip extension into the flow, you find more balance between flexing the hip than the traditional version.
Start standing in mountain pose (tadansana)
INHALE reach your arms up to the sky (urdhva hastasana)
EXHALE lean to the right, INHALE to center, EXHALE to left, INHALE center
EXHALE forward fold (uttanasana)
INHALE halfway lift (ardha uttanasana)
EXHALE step right foot back (option to drop knee or keep lifted)
INHALE lunge (anjaneyasana)
EXHALE step back to plank pose
INHALE hold plank
EXHALE halfway push-up (chatarunga)
INHALE upward facing dog (urdhva mukha svanasana)
EXHALE downward facing dog (adho mukha svanasana)
INHALE right leg lifts behind you
EXHALE step right foot forward (option to drop knee or keep lifted)
INHALE lunge (anjaneyasana)
EXHALE step forward
INHALE halfway lift (ardha uttansana)
EXHALE forward fold (uttanasana)
INHALE rise to stand (urdhva hastasana)
EXHALE hands to heart center (tadansana)
REPEAT with left leg beginning stepping back and forward
Do you prefer one of these versions to the other? What are your favorite variations of sun salutations?