Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation)

Hi everyone. Welcome back to class. Today we're going to explore Surya Namaskar. Surya Namaskar is the foundation for every yoga practice. Usually we always begin with Surya Namaskar. It's a complete practice in and of itself, so it has within it all back bending, forward bending, twists, and even arm balancing. Everything is included in Surya Namaskar alone. Just do it slowly, do it mindfully, and most importantly go with the breathing as always. Today we're going to jump right into it. Use any of the previous classes if you need a little bit more of a warm up.

So let's start by standing all the way up and walking to the beginning of the mat. Okay? Coming to a posture called Samasthiti, your feet are together, big toes touching, and hands are loosely by the side. Close your eyes. Start to pull the kneecaps up. Feel a sense of a very strong foundation in your legs. Your chest is nice and open. Shoulders are away from the ears. All facial muscles are relaxed. Take a moment, don't hurry. Start to observe the breathing. Nice long inhalation. Deep exhalation. Then join the palms in front of the chest. We'll chant Om together. Deep inhale. Slowly open your eyes. Release your hands.

The most important thing in Samasthiti is you equally distribute the weight on both sides of the body. So just take a moment, observe how you're balancing your weight. Spread the weight evenly on both sides. Unknowingly we tend to shift our weight to one side. So before you begin itself, let's find balance in just standing.

Now release the hands loosely by the side. We go very slowly for the first one. Take your time. No hurry. Inhale. Open up the shoulders. Raise your hands. Join the palms. Look at the thumb. We're not arching back. It's a nice vertical position. Pull the stomach inside. Look up. As you exhale, start to open up the shoulders, push the hips back, and bend forward. Feel the length in your back. Hold wherever you can. If you can, take your fingers down. Slightly bend the knee. For the first few times, take the head down.

Inhale. Lift the chest. Look up. If your fingers don't reach the floor, hold wherever you can on the feet. Lengthen the spine. Look up. Bend the knees. Hands to the ground. Let's just walk back for the first one. Right leg back. Left leg back. Come to plank pose. Exhale. Drop the knees down. Very slowly, with a lot of control in the shoulders, start to drop the chest down. Slowly. Upward facing dog. Toes facing down. Inhale. Come up. Lift the knees and thighs off the mat. If this is difficult, just do Bhujangasana, which you can keep the knees and thighs down. Okay? As you exhale, push back to downward facing dog.

We're going to stay in downward dog for five breaths. Keep your feet apart, hip distance. You should spread the fingers. Don't keep the fingers together. Open up the fingers. Lengthen through the back. Remember, when we did downward facing dog, when we practiced this before, if your heels are not going down, you can bend the knees. For the first one, let's just paddle out the legs. Five. Deep breathing. Remember the Ujjayi breathing that we practiced earlier. Four. As much as you can, maintain that. Three. Two. Good. And one. Okay, enough.

Look forward. Let's take the right leg forward. Take the left leg forward. Feet together, immediately feet together. Inhale. Lengthen through the back. Exhale. Head down. Try to get this stomach to touch the thigh. You can bend the knees. Head down. Inhale. Come all the way up. Open the chest. Join the palms. Look at the hand. Samasthiti.

Second round. We'll just go a little faster. Inhale, hands up. Exhale, hands down. Keep a nice long back. Head down. Inhale, head up only. Exhale, left leg back, right leg back. Inhale, plank pose. Exhale, we'll try to do Chaturanga. Okay? So without the knees going down, only if possible. Otherwise keep the knees down. Inhale, arch the back. Exhale, push back.

Five breaths in downward dog. Hold your pose. One, open the feet apart. You can look at the knees or the thighs. Two. If you're very comfortable, you can look at the stomach. Three. Four. Five. Switch the gaze forward. Take the left leg forward. Look up for a moment. Take the right leg forward. Feet together. Beginning of the mat. Inhale, head up. Exhale, head down. Inhale, come up and stand. Join the palms. Look up. Samasthiti.

A few more times. Inhale, hands up. Exhale, bend. Inhale, head up. Now some, you know, we're going to take a hop back. So slightly bend the knees. Take the hands a few inches in front of the legs. See how much I'm bending my knees. Okay? You should bend the knees nicely and just start to bounce a little bit. See if you can hop back. So now we've come to plank. Inhale, exhale, go down. Inhale, arch the back, come up. Exhale, downward dog.

Stay in downward dog for five breaths. As you start to jump back and jump forward, there'll be increased heat in the body. Don't be alarmed if your heart starts beating faster. It's completely normal. Three. Focus on the breath. Two. One. Look forward. Bend the knees towards the chest. Keep the hips high. Inhale, take a hop. Head up. Exhale, head down. You can bend the knees, no problem. Inhale, come and stand. Samasthiti.

Fourth round. Inhale, hands up. Exhale, bend. Pull the stomach inside as much as you can. Inhale, lift the chest, look up. Exhale, hop back or walk back, no problem. Plank pose. Exhale, lower down. If you need to go all the way down, no problem. Inhale, come up. Open the chest. Exhale, downward dog. Five breaths in your downward dog. Hold there. One. Don't be worried if your heels don't touch the floor. No problem. Keep the knees bent. Two. Three. Four. Five. Looking forward. Inhale, take a hop or walk to the hands. Head up. Exhale, head down. Inhale, come up and stand. Samasthiti.

We should do one more to make it five. So inhale, hands up. Exhale, bend. Keep this spine long and go down. Inhale, lift the chest, look up. Exhale, jump or walk back. Inhale, plank. Exhale, very gently lower the body to the ground. Urdhva Mukha. Inhale, come up. See if you can get the knees and thighs off the mat. Exhale to downward dog. Five breaths here, breathe. One. Two. Anytime it gets too intense for you, you can keep the knees down like this and still hold the pose, if not keep the knees up. Three. Four. Five. Now if jumping is uncomfortable, look forward and just walk forward. No problem. Inhale, head up. Exhale, head down. Inhale, come up and stand. Samasthiti.

Now we're going to start Surya Namaskar B. We're going to do three more rounds of this. Go slowly, go at your own pace. Come back to Samasthiti, beginning of the mat. Get ready. Inhale, fully squat and come up. Take the hands up. If it's comfortable, join the palms. Look at the hands. If not, keep it apart and look straight ahead. Exhale as you bend forward, all the way down, head down. You can bend the knees. Inhale, lift the chest, look up. Great, exhale, keep it simple for the first one. Just walk back. Inhale, plank. Exhale, knees down. Very gently, chest down. Urdhva Mukha, inhale, arch the spine. Exhale to downward dog.

Turn the left leg about 45 degrees. Take the right leg forward. Slowly position yourself. Inhale, find the balance, release the hands. Come and stand. Join the palms. Look at the hands. Very gently, take the hands back to the mat. Inhale, step back. Exhale, knees down. Chest down. Urdhva Mukha, inhale, arch the back. Adho Mukha, exhale. We have to do that on the left side. Turn the right leg. Left leg comes forward. Find the balance. Don't hurry. Start to find your balance. Inhale, hands up. Exhale, slowly hands down. Inhale, plank pose. Exhale, knees down. Chest down. Inhale, come up. Exhale. We're going to stay here for five breaths. Deep breathing. One, inhaling, exhaling. Two, three, four, five. Look forward. Let's just walk forward for the first one. Inhale, head up. Exhale, head down. Inhale, bend the knees, squat and come up. Samasthiti.

Second round. If you need to, just take a break before you continue. If you're ready, we'll continue. Inhale, squat and come up. Exhale, bend. Inhale, lift the chest, look up. Exhale, jump or walk. Inhale, plank. Exhale, Chaturanga, go down. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha. Exhale, Adho Mukha. Five breaths. Hold here. One. Anytime it's too intense, keep the knees down. Two. Good. Three. Try to keep the navel pulled inside. Four. Five. Looking forward, bend the knees. Inhale, jump, head up. Exhale, head down. Inhale, squat and come up. Samasthiti.

Last one. Give it your everything. Do your very best. Inhale, come up. Exhale, bend. Inhale, head up. Exhale, jump or walk. If you can, go directly to Chaturanga. Inhale, come up. Exhale, push back. Left leg, right leg forward. Inhale, come up. Exhale, hands down. Inhale, plank. Exhale, Chaturanga. Inhale, head up. Exhale, forward. Inhale, hands up. Exhale, hands down. Inhale, exhale, go down. Inhale, come up. Exhale, back. Five breaths here. Deep breathing. One, two, listen to the sound of the breath. Three, four, five. Look forward, jump or walk. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, squat and come up.

And we're done. Let's just take a moment. Close your eyes. Listen to the heartbeat for a moment. Listen to your breathing. Maybe the heart is beating a little fast. No problem, that's normal. As you keep doing it, it will get better. Join the palms. Inhale, slowly open your eyes. Thank you for joining me.