The best way to master the Sun Salutation is to learn a little bit at a time.
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This sequence uses the Wood Chopper, the Puppy and the Cat. It's a good idea to check out the postures pages and be comfortable with these poses first before learning the sequence.
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- To master the full Sun Salutation, first learn a few basic movements, such as in this simplified Sun Salutation below.
- Modify the movements so that they will work safely and effectively for your abilities. A teacher can help you with this. You can also email Corinne for tips.
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- Once you are very comfortable with a few movements, start adding to them, one or two at a time, becoming solid about each new movement before learning more.
- Then practice when to breathe!
Once you have these basics in place, you can use different breathing themes when you practice the Sun Salutation. These will help you gain more flexibility, help you drop stress, and help you achieve whatever mental-emotional state you would like out of your Sun Salutation pratice on any given day. |
Basic Movements of Sun Salutation 1.
Order Your Own 81/2 x 11, High Resolution, Laminated Chart. Double sided with versions at different levels. |
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Details
(Click on the names of the poses to learn even more about each position.) |
- Start in Mountain Pose, with your arms by your sides.
Tip Having your arms in line with the sides of your hip bones makes you fairly straight, without you working hard at it.
Take a moment to elongate your spine: feel yourself growing 'taller' fer slightly, as if your vertebrae are separating very slightly.- Take time to feel your body letting go, sinking down, as you breathe out. Relax your body bit by bit, with each breath out. (See Mountain Pose.)
|  | - Now you are ready to bring your hands up into Namaste position (prayer position) as shown here. Match the movement with your breath like this:
- Breathe in and sweep your arms open wide, stretching them high over your head.
- With your hands over head, join your palms
- Breathe out and lower your joined palms in front of you. Rest them in position in front of your heart.
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Step 1 - Wood Chopper
Go into the Wood Chopper
| | The extreme backward stretch of the Wood Chopper is shown here. If you're not up to to it, or you have back injuries, simply stretch up, without stretching back. Or stretch back just a little. Let pressure in your lower back be your guide to when you're going to far. As you come forward, for part 4, fold forward like a door closing, keeping your arms fully stretched. Imagine you're drawing a circle from high over your head, down to the floor. Don't hunch your back. Keep your spine elongated and arms fully stretched until they are ready to touch the floor. Tip: As you fold forward, keep your arms fully stretched and in line with your ears as long as possible before touching them to the floor.. In the forward bend, in part 4, you can bend your knees in order to touch the floor. Try to keep the amount of bend even between both legs. Bend only as much as you need in order to avoid pain in your back or legs. Once your hands are in touch with the floor, pause, let some weight sink into your hands, and check to be sure your spine is still fully elongated. | | Safety Tip If you feel pressure in your lower back during part 2, the back bend part of the Wood Chopper, you are leaning back too far. Ease off. You will make more progress by respecting this warning than by pushing yourself. | Safety Tip 2 Keep your spine fully elongated and your arms stretching fully as you arch back and as you bend forward. This will allow you to arch farther and will take the strain off your lower back during both movements. |
| For the Wood Chopper:
Stretch up while Breathing In.
Stretch back while Breathing Out.
Breathe In while you stretch up again.
Breathe Out when you fold forward. |
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| Tip From here on, try to keep your hands in place, on the same spots on the floor. If you can't manage to do this, don't worry about it. In time you will become more and more comfortable with the movement, so that keeping your hands in place feels natural. | Tip If you can't keep your hands in one place during the Sun Salutation, the most likely reason is that you didn't stretch your legs far enough back during the opening Lunge. |
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| Step 2 - Puppy |  | Go onto your hands and knees.
Breathe In |  | Slide your hips back into the Puppy
Enjoy the full stretch up your arms and back.
Do this while Breathing Out. |
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| Step 3 - Cat |  | Sweep along the floor into the Cat.
Do this while Breathing In.
As you finish the arch, get a little extra breath in!
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| Step 5 - Wood Chopper |  |
Lift your knees and walk your feet forward, preparing to stand up.
Do this movement while Breathing Out
This puts you into the forward bend part of the Wood Chopper again.
Do this movement while Breathing In
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| Now you're back where you started.
You can continue into another round of the Sun Salutation if you like.
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| To close off the Sun Salutation 1 |
| Here is a meditative, restful way to finish your Sun Salutations. For your last round, do the Sun Salutation until you get to the Puppy. |
 | After the Puppy
Curl into a ball, with your arms by your sides.
This is the Child Pose.
This can be an excellent position for your closing meditation.
If this position is difficult for you, see our posture page on the Child Pose for modifications. |
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For beginners, an excellent closing meditation is this:
Notice how the weight in your body drops downward and relaxes as you breathe out. |
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