Sun Salutation
Thank you to Morgan Heese, our previous physio student (and new grad!) for contributing this blog! Enjoy!
Sun Salutation is a sequence of yoga poses completed one after the other. Like the name suggests, it’s a great practice to introduce some movement and mindfulness into your morning, but you may complete this sequence any time of day. This practice incorporates several postures that can help you work on spine and shoulder mobility, hamstring and calf flexibility, and core strength.
Equipment: All you need for this sequence is a yoga mat! If you do not have one, a towel or blanket can be used instead, or doing this sequence on a carpeted floor will work well too!
“The sun is a daily reminder that we too can rise again from the darkness, that we too can shine our own light.”
Begin this sequence by standing up tall in what is called mountain pose. Arms are straight down at your side, palms facing forward. Feet are hip distance apart, toes facing forward.
Next, sweep the arms out to the sides and bring them straight overhead. Reach up tall to feel a nice stretch in your side body.
Bring the hands together overhead, then bring them down to chest level with elbows bent and palms together (also known as “prayer position”).
Now bring a slight bend into the knees, and slowly bend forward to bring the chest towards the knees. Reach as far down towards the floor as you can within your comfort.
Next, come up slightly as you bring your spine from a curved to a flat position. Hands can rest on shins or just above the knees, whichever you prefer. Pause here for a breath.
Bring the hands back towards the floor now. We want our palms to touch the ground for this part, so if you need to bend the knees to get there, please do so.
With the hands placed firmly on the ground, shoulders over wrists, come into a plank position by placing both feet behind you. If a plank is not available to you today, feel free to place knees onto the ground for modified plank, or come into all fours for tabletop position. Pause for one breath here.
Next, bring the elbows into a bent position, and lower your body down to the ground. Untuck the toes and bring the tops of the feet to the ground.
We are now going into upward facing dog pose. From here, push into the hands and begin to straighten the elbows and bring some extension into the spine. Only straighten the arms as much as you feel comfortable. Keep the pelvis and legs on the ground.
From here, we are moving into downward facing dog pose. Bend the knees on the ground, tuck the toes, then push the hips up and back. Try your best to straighten the legs and think about bringing the heels towards the ground.
***If upward facing dog and downward facing dog don’t feel good on the wrists and/or spine, we can take a modified version by coming into cat-cow pose on all fours (as shown in the two images below).
Come out of downward dog or cat-cow pose by walking the feet towards the hands, and slowly come back up into standing.
Sweep the arms out to the side and overhead and bring the palms together in front of the chest.
Congratulations! You have completed one round of the Sun Salutation sequence. I hope you have enjoyed the practice. Please feel free to cycle through this sequence as many times as you would like. I like to complete five in a row to help me feel grounded and calm.
“Yoga does not transform the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees.”
Want to try more yoga? YouTube has many awesome yoga teachers, but I will list a few of my favourites below! Having a home yoga practice is a great way to incorporate movement into your day. The best part is there’s no cost to participate, and you can choose to practice any time of day!
1) Yoga with Adriene offers hundreds of yoga videos for all experience levels, many of which are perfect for people who are just beginning their yoga journey. They also lead a 30-day yoga challenge every January!
2) Yoga with Kassandra offers classes in the styles of Vinyasa (fast paced flow yoga) and Yin (slow paced, deeper stretches). Many of her classes are geared towards the intermediate level yogi.
3) Jess Yoga offers a variety of classes for all experience levels, plus meditation videos! Her classes place a focus on breathing and relaxation, which is why this channel was my go-to during physiotherapy school.
Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed the contribution from Morgan!
