“Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, ‘You owe me.’
“Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, ‘You owe me.’
Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.” — Hafiz, Persian Poet, taken from “The Gift”and translated by Daniel Ladinsky.
Warning: If you rise up early, attune your heart, mind and body with nature, and move the body in sun salutes, you may fall in love: with the sun, the meditative practice, or someone special, yes — but also with your increased stress resilience, deep gratitude for life, and the fact you feel, look and think better.
This is the third in a three-part series on the sun salute, a yoga sequence consisting of twelve stations composed of eight different postures.
1. Cobra Pose
Sliding forward low to the ground, gently place the chest, belly and legs on your mat. Place your hands under your shoulders with your fingers pointing toward the top of the mat. Hug your elbows into the sides of your body. Firm your legs straight back, toenails touching the ground. Elongate and spread all ten toes as you press the tops of feet, pubic bone and pelvis downward.
Exhale, engage the abdominals to support and protect your lower back. As you inhale, curve your spine upward, lifting head and chest. Allow your arms to straighten contentedly, without too much weight. The main support comes from your core.
Draw shoulders back as the heart moves forward. Lengthen the neck and soften your mouth into a Mona Lisa smile. Receive the gift of life. Let burdens and worries release as your shoulders relax away from your fears, tears and ears.
Tip: Straighten your arms to deepen the stretch as your practice advances but avoid straining the easily bent lower back at the expense of the upper back. Curve the spine evenly.
2. Downward-facing dog pose
Exhale to lift the abdomen and hips toward the sky. Roll over the tops of the toes and press the soles of your feet into the mat, reaching your heels and head toward the ground.
Inhale deep into the lungs and engage your whole body effortlessly. Check hands to see they are in line with elbows, shoulders and hips. Lift your shoulder blades and rib cage toward the tailbone, which aims high into the sky. Press the palms into the ground and rotate the triceps toward the ears to stabilize the shoulders.
Bathe in the rivers of prana. Consciously let go of any negative feelings or thoughts on the exhale. Inhale to let fresh life permeate and cleanse every gland, cell and molecule with radiant light.
Tip: When pushing down on the hands, weight has a tendency to fall unevenly on the outer edges of the palms. Spread the weight to find that place of equilibrium, where the hands and feet touch the earth with genuine caring.
3. Right Leg Lunge
Inhale and raise your right leg forward. Push down with the ball of the left foot to step the right foot forward into a lunge. This second lunge needs some a little more flexibility to accomplish.
To make this move easier, round your back to lift higher and make more space for the right leg to come forward. Shift your center of gravity by bringing your pelvis forward and swinging the right leg to place the foot between the hands. For some, you might need to grasp the right foot with your right hand and plant it underneath the knee. Whatever it takes, do it carefully and mindfully.
4. Return to center
Exhale, press your left toes into the ground to push yourself into forward fold. Bring the left leg forward, placing the foot parallel to the right foot at the front of the mat.
Repeat the first four poses of the sun salute, but in reverse: forward fold, upward fold, sun arms and heart centering in mountain pose.
This completes one sun salute set on the right side. Each sun salute round consists of two sets, one leading with the right leg, and another set with the left leg leading.
5. Success with sun salutes
In all aspects of yoga practice — or any exercise regimen or love itself for that matter — your excellence depends on commitment and regularity. Daily practice is best, but you might aim for four times a week. If possible, don’t skip more than a couple of days in a row and alternate between a brisker pace that generates heat to cleanse the body-mind and a more moderate speed to create a moving meditation.
Besides giving us good health, sun salutes shows us how the world works by reconciling the opposites: body and mind, giving and receiving, joy and sorry, up and down, breathing in and breathing out.
We unify polarities. With renewed balance, strength and ease, we develop more skillful means for genuine loving. That’s a daily exercise worth cultivating!
Contact writer at marya.mann@gmail.com.
Marya Mann, PhD, co-author of “Healing Our Planet, Healing Our Selves,” is an energy medicine specialist and yoga teacher at Kona Coast Wellness, Kealakekua Ranch Center and Yano Hall.