This Sun Salutation has an interesting spinal twist with the step back. It is sometime nice to do postures like this before doing deeper spinal
twists like Revolved Triangle when both legs are straight.
This spinal twist is
good to add to sequences to prepare your body for the deeper twists.
After Crescent moon posture we flow into a posture known as Child
pose which is where this Vinyasa flow
gets its name.
On the way forward this Sun Salutation flows trough Triangle,
Reverse Triangle, Warrior 1, Warrior 2 and warrior 3 prep which is a
pose normally done before warrior 3.
Instructions
Stand in Tadasana.
Inhale into a backbend.
Exhale into a forward bend.
Inhale and step the right leg back.
(Make the effort to look forward.)
Exhale and twist the body raising the left
arm up and using the right arm for support.
Inhale and unwind. Raise the arms up and
allow the right leg to drop down.
This pose may aggravate sacral problems.
Exhale back into Child pose.
Careful on the knees if they are not flexible. Take them back
into a mild stretch. Do not lean with all your weight on a
stiff knee. Be sensible.
The leg can be raised higher if the pelvis is tilted and the
hips are taken out of horizontal alignment. The forces down
the arms become uneven when this is done but provides for a
larger motion when swinging the leg forward.
Inhale step the left leg forward between
the arms.
Exhale and straighten the left leg. The
right leg steps sideways and the right arm stretches up. The
left arm can be placed on the left leg or down on the mat.
Inhale on the transition.
Exhale deepen Reverse Triangle right arm
down left arm up.
Inhale wind round and bend the left knee.
Stretch the arms up into Warrior 1 Pose.
Perform
Ujjayi Pranayama. Stage 3
Inhale and restrict the air flow to make the sound "sssss". Keep the
sound constant and smooth. Exhale make a sound with the mouth closed
that sounds like "hhhhha".
Don't hold the breath yet just warm up and work on smooth sound when
inhaling and exhaling. Work on the changes in breath becoming
smoother and longer also. This occurs when the breath crosses from
inhalations to exhalations and exhalations to inhalations.
Download the
Ujjayi Pranayama mp3
Do this for at least 5 minutes.
Then progress towards holding after the inhalation
and then the
exhalation as well.
Inhale restrict the air flow to make the sound "sssss". Keep the
sound constant and smooth.
Samavrtti pranayama
is a method of breathing in yoga where equal time is spent
in each of the parts of breathing.
Stage 4 Inhale and count on the inhalation.
Pause at the top of the breath for half the time of the inhalation.
If its comfortable pause for the same amount of time as the
inhalation otherwise slowly increase the duration.
Exhale for the same amount of time.
Pause at the bottom of the breath for half the time of the
exhalation.
(Bahya kumbhaka).
Gradually work up to even parts of inhalation, retention,
exhalation and retention.
Do the retentions for a a few seconds. keep them shorter
but so that they are still felt and not rushed. Towards the end of
the Pranayama practice lengthen the exhalation and use less strain.
Focus on smooth transitions and a good quality of sound.
Perform Ujjayi pranayama for at least five minutes.
Then rest in
Savasana if you want to feel more energy after practice.
