![]() The ‘peak’ pose is Ashtangasana or 8-prone pose. The rising and lowering in the physical poses represents the rising and setting of the sun in its daily cycle. For example, with the classical variation, the 12 postures represent the sun’s annual cycle through the 12 constellations. “Sun Salutations are a ritual to reunite individual rhythms with bigger cosmic rhythms. Our Asana practice has deep historical roots, and it’s a good reminder to know where our traditions come from and why we practice them in our yoga flows every time we step onto our mats. It’s what we show to the world – in public, out loud, every day. Sun Salutes build heat in our bodies, opening up the forward facing, or ‘sun side’ of our bodies and personalities. We’ll begin our Asana exploration with Sun Salutes or Surya Namaskar. (Though we modern day yoga teachers do like to add elements of creativity!) That would be overwhelming and not as fruitful as covering a few basic foundational shapes that are common to nearly every yoga practice, shapes that are always the same when done traditionally. In writing about the yoga Asana practice, we could take years to cover individual shapes and poses, each with their own sacred geometry. As you move through your Asana (physical) yoga practice, occasionally play with the idea of “comfortable seat” and see if you can bring that element of ease into even your most challenging postures see where your mind goes when you make this leap from ‘challenging’ to ‘comfortable,’ which can be as easy and as difficult as noticing your breath and your inner dialogue. Asana has been defined as a “comfortable seat” and has evolved to include all physical yoga poses, shapes, and flows. You can’t jump the line.” ( Paths to God, Ram Dass) Isn’t it interesting how, over time and westernization, we’ve jumped right into the physical practice and largely pushed aside the first two more philosophical aspects to explore later – if at all? We associate this third limb of Asana with Hatha Yoga, another umbrella of yoga that encompasses our modern Vinyasa practice. The first things necessarily precede the last things, and you move through the sequence in order. ![]() As Ram Dass said, “The ordering of these eight steps is not random. For strict practitioners of the Ashtanga path, each limb was to be explored and integrated in order, so before the Asanas were even explored, one had to integrate the Yamas and Niyamas into their lives in numerical order and then (and only then) could they move on to the physical practice of Asana. So this brings us to the third limb of Asana. The first two limbs along the path are the Yamas and Niyamas, which we covered over the last 10 months. WELCOME to our adventure as we delve into the next chapters of Asana and Pranayama over the coming months!Ī large part of our modern Vinyasa Yoga heritage stems from Patanjali’s 8-limbed path, or Ashtanga Yoga, articulated by Patanjali sometime between 200 B.C. Repeat this basic sun salutation A sequence a few times, or until your body feels warm and ready for your yoga practice.Photo Cred: we celebrate and embrace the fresh, new year of 2020, we launch our blog into its next phase of exploring yoga and philosophy both on and off our mats. Tucking the head in, engage your core, bending your knees if you need to, and… Roll up to stand Look up for one breath, then exhale into… Extended standing forward bend, head tucked under After the last exhalation, inhale and jump or step the feet back into… Standing forward bend, extended spine Push-upĪt the bottom of your push-up, either lie on the floor face down then inhale and move into the next move, or inhale and lift yourself back up without laying all the way down (this is harder) moving into… Cobra or Upward-facing dogĮxhale, lifting the buttocks to… Downward- facing dog If this feels strained, do the push-up with knees on the floor, or only come down half-way. Inhale and extend your spine, looking up to… Standing forward bend spine extended, looking upīend your arms and bring your body down into a push-up, keeping your head in line with your spine, looking forward. If your hands don’t reach the floor, simply bend your knees. Yoga for anxiety: top tips to find your inner calmīasic sun salutation A sequence for beginners Mountain PoseĮxhale to… Extended standing forward bend, head inįold forward from the hips and bring your hands to the floor.Power yoga workout: stretch, strengthen & burn calories.What is yoga? Benefits and basics for beginners.Try doing a few rounds after completing our full-body yoga warm up, then move on to our energy-boosting yoga sequence. Follow the instructions for each move, flowing from one to another and synchronizing your breathing as directed. ![]() Both meditative and energising, this classic opening sun salutation A sequence uses basic poses to stretch and warm your body.
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