Surya Namaskar: Sun Salutation series part A

Traditionally, those who practice Yoga as a lifestyle rise with the sun to cleanse our bodies and minds. We spend time in quiet meditation and prayer focusing in on the dawning of a new day in ourselves and in the world around us. We perform Surya Namaskar (sun salutations), to greet the daylight, and to greet our re-awakened spiritual selves.

Surya Namaskar are essential parts of Hatha and Ashtanga Yoga. They are physical gestures that manifest our inner spiritual needs and obligations. They are the foundation upon which we base the rest of our day, in a Yogic sense, but also in a very physical real sense. Performing sun salutations every dawn reminds us that we are miraculous beings of light and wisdom, to be honored, respected and loved by ourselves and others. As we walk this earth, we are obligated, as the sun, to serve by bringing light and knowledge, learning, wisdom and growth to all we meet. Sun salutations promote self love, self healing and vitality, all of which are necessary to first plant within ourselves before we embark on bringing them to those around us. How can we nurture and create harmony in the world if we arselves are malnourished and out of tune?

Surya Namaskar A

: Before beginning, make sure you have prepared yourself body and mind. Spend some time in quiet meditation, measuring and witnessing your thoughts, breathing paterns, and heart rate. Spend time having inner dialogue with your body and heart. What is going on inside of you today? How do you feel at this moment? Why do you feel that way? What things can you focus on during your Yoga practice to either build upon or release these feelings? Find a mantra, a thought, phrase, idea or vocal sound that embodies the essence of what you’d like to accomplish with your practice this morning.

Once you feel centered, begin your yoga practice for the day with some pranayama, or breathing exercises. If you are familiar with the vocal breath, or ujaia pranayama (victory breath), spend several minutes using the ujaia breath to cleanse, purify and open your body.

Most Yogis begin practice with a mantra repeated three times, such as a long single note sung “Om.”

Next, begin with some soft stretching, warming up the spine, awakening the hips, and releasing any lingering tension. Find your body’s flow and rhythm, let your body and your breath guide your motions, slow, easy, and without force.

Once you have stretched out and feel prepared to begin, come to the top of your mat in tadasana (mountain pose), hands palm to palm at heart center in Namaste mudra. Let your thumbs softly graze the heart chakra, and feel the connection from hands to heart to soul. Take a moment to awaken the chakras and let the energy circle through you. Greet the flow, fill yourself with the gifts of the new dawn, and let yourself bathe in the magic of life and re-birth, new and full of potential.

Closing your eyes, draw in a deep inhale through the nose, and raise the hands over head. Draw the shoulder blades down the spine, planting the feet hip-width apart, or let your big toes touch for an ashtanga-based pose.

Clasp your hands above your head, and point the index fingers to the heavens. Stretch up, reaching for the light and the knowledge this new day will bring you.

On the exhale, swan-dive into utanasana (forward fold), either sweeping the hands to the knees, shins, or to the floor. Find the pose that feels most comfortable to you at this moment. You may have reached the floor yesterday, but today you may only reach your shins. That’s okay. Let your body guide itself to full wakefulness. Letthe crown of the head hang toward the floor, and let the spine lengthen and curve gracefully from the hips toward the ground. Bring the chest in toward the thighs. Don’t lock the knees, let them be as they are, fluid, slightly bent if need be.

Inhale, and bring the hands to the knees, stretching the spine out parallel to the floor, bringing the crown of the head toward the front of the room, or toward the rising sun, if you are facing east.

Exhale, and let your hands slide back down your legs to a comfortable place, letting the spine bow and the head hang toward the ground, Release any tension in your neck and shoulders, letting the head hang as if only held there by the bones.

Place your hands flat on the mat, fingers slightly splayed, palms pressing into the mat. Inhale deeply, and on the exhale, step or jump your feet behind you to the top of a push up.

For beginning Yogis, you may wish to place your knees on the floor to help keep your back aligned. Keep the heart aimed eastward at the sunrise, and resist the temptation to let the heart fall down toward the floor, Let your shoulder blades draw down the spine, and come toward each other. Keep the elbows in near the ribcage and keep the eyes (if you were to open them) focused in front of your hands on the floor. Be sure not to crane the neck up which forces the chin forward.

For more advanced Yogis, try practicing the jump back as a full Ashtanga movement, bringing the weight borward over the hands, and using just your arms to go from the top of a push up to the bottom of a push up and into Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (upward facing dog) all in one fluid motion. This takes practice, and should ultimately be accomplished in one exhale.

Come down to Chaturanga Dandasana (four limbed staff pose, or the bottom of a pushup), and either let your body rest completely on the floor, or hover just above the floor in full chaturanga dandasana, supporting yourself on just your hands and the balls of your feet. Make sure the palms are grounded, and your weight is evenly distributed, with all five fingers engaged in holding you up. The face should be to the flor, forehead on the mat.

On the next inhale, if your knees are on the floor, bring the hips down as well. Arch your back, bringing the heart forward, then bringing the eyes back up to that place in front of your hands. Again, make sure the shoulders are drawing down the spine. Either place your elbows on the floor and come into sphinx pose, or push up with your hands, and come into Bhujangasana (cobra pose.) Keep the elbows close to the ribs, and the gluts relaxed and supportive. It’s important to resist the urge to begin this pose with the head. Rather, start from the bottom up, letting your heart lead, and your head and eyes come up last. This keeps your spine strong and in line, and allows your lungs to freely expand on the inhale.

If you are in chaturanga dandasana, press the tops of your feet firmly on the floor, and lift up into Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (upward facing dog.) Again, make sure to lead with your heart, not your head, and keep the spine long and strong.

From either sphinx, cobra or upward dog, tuck your toes under, hike the hips up, lower your heels, and push with the hands, back into Adhomukha Svanasana (downward facing dog.) Keep pressing the heels toward the floor, lengthening the spine, drawing the hips back and up, letting the head hang, widening the ribcage and the shoulder blades, letting your body relax deeper into the pose with each exhale. Remain here for five full deep breaths, and don’t cheat yourself. This is a resting pose, and your body loves it, even if it doesn’t feel all that great early in the morning. With each exhale, listen to your body’s feedback, and if it feels right, let yourself move deeper into the pose, shifting the hips back, pulling down on the heels, and letting the head sink toward the floor.

On your sixth inhale,step or jump the feet forward between the hands.

Exhale the body into utanasana (forward fold), long, graceful, supple and strong.

Inhale, and come up slowly, either reaching he arms out to either side, or sweeping them up before you and over the hed.

Exhale, and bring the hands to heart center, completing suria namasgar A.

As you move through the various poses, remember that you are bowing to and witnessing the light within yourself, within the day, within all things.
Start off with a slow, easy Surya Namaskar, and as you feel ready to advance your practice, pick up the speed of your practice. Repeat as a vinyasa, a flow, at least five times to get the blood flowing and allow the body to start cleansing and functioning correctly every day. Bringing the head below the heart allows blood to defy gravity and pour into the brain. Engage the leg muscles, and work every part of your body from your toes to the facial muscles to allow old blood to drain from the muscles and new oxygenated fresh blood to flow in.

Benefits: Helps with back pain, immune system, headaches, heart trouble, digestive movement, overall muscle toning, good therapy to build strength back up in injured hamstrings. Releases stress tension, helps to alleviate nasal congestion.

Please remember to listen to your body, and go at a pace that feels comfortable. Results may vary and only you know how each asana feels to your body. Asana literally means “seat.” Each pose should be a challenge, should be something which actively energizes and engages you, but it should also be a seat for the body, mind and soul. In each pose, bring your mind to the movement of your body, and find a mental as well as a physical reason to be in that pose.

As you go through your day, carry the reverence and respect gained from Surya Namaskar with you. Remember, Yoga isn’t just something we do on the mat, it’s a way of living, a way of existing. Yoga means unity, a yoking of mind, body, soul, heart, spirit, life. We are all irrevocably bound and yoked together.

May your new dawn be blessed with light, truth and knowledge,
May that which is beyond time lead you forward, and may you be taught that which is true and divine,
May peace be your companion, truth and wisdom be your guides, and courage be your sword.

Om Shante, shante, shante om (peace, peace, peace)


Namaste,

Akaljeet Kaur