Start Your Day With Yoga!
Through daily yoga practice, you can begin to improve your body, mind, and soul. This practice may include asana (physical posture) practice, meditation, pranayama (breathwork), mantra practice, reading/studying, journaling, spiritual devotion, prayer, and more.
We work in this daily practice to balance ourselves and inner peace, clarity, and a true wisdom deep within ourselves. A wisdom that inherently knows that our divine light inside is what drives us, and nothing can dull that light. When we have complete clarity and mindfully practice self-re ection, we learn to respond to the stress of life with more ease, less con ict, and greater fortitude. It is through the yoga practice that we spark that inner, divine light to gracefully lead us down this path we call life.
The practice of yoga asana is the act of placing the body in speci c physical postures for physical and mental bene t, to keep the body healthy and strong, and to be in harmony with nature (Light on Yoga BKS Iyengar pg. 21). One of the most widely practiced sequences of asanas is the Surya Namaskar, or Sun Salutation.
The daily practice of Surya Namaskar has just as many bene ts as any asana practice! The mental bene ts include a calm and focused mind, increased energy levels throughout the day, clarity, and increased mood. What more could we need?! Fortunately, the yoga practice can also assist in conditioning the body, burning calories, lowering blood pressure, relieving low back, shoulder, and hip pain (when practiced correctly), decrease migraines, and encourage a stronger digestive and respiratory system, just to name a few things.
The classical Surya Namaskar consists of a series of 12 postures. These postures are practiced in the style of one breath per movement, inhaling to transition into one posture and exhaling to transition into the next. Surya Namaskars can be practiced one after the other to build heat, endurance, and focus throughout the practice.
Jess McNally is the owner of Purple Blossom Yoga Studio, located at 302 Evans Street in Uptown Greenville. Check out classes, workshops, and yoga instructor training offerings at www.PurpleBlossomYogaStudio.com. Register for classes on-line, through the studio’s app, or by calling 252.364.2917.While there are 12 postures in a Surya Namaskar, the foundation of them all is Tadasana or Mountain Pose. Tadasana is a posture that allows one to know how they stand, physically and mentally.
How they hold them selves, how they feel… and guides you to that innate wisdom of how to realign yourself towards your inner light. Knowing this, we acknowledge that all postures have aspects of Tadasana in them, using the physical alignment to and mental alignment. Practice these postures, starting and ending with Tadasana (Mountain Pose) in sequence each day to begin your yoga experience.
English: Mountain Pose
Stand with the feet together or slightly apart, all 10 toes facing forward. Engage the muscles of the legs. Lift through the sides of the body and lift the chest. The chin is parallel to the floor, with the arms by the sides, the palms face the thighs.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, and…
Sanskrit: Urdvha Hastasana
English: Upward Facing Hand Pose
From Tadasana, straighten the arms overhead. Press through the bones of the feet and reach through the fingertips, send energy in both directions.
Exhale, and…
Sanskrit: Uttanasana
English: Intense Forward Stretch Pose
Hinge from the hips, fold the upper body over the legs, bring hands beside feet. Like Tadasana, lift from the outer ankle to the outer hip and firm the legs.
Modification: if hands do not reach the floor, bring the hands to blocks and bend the elbows to the side.
Inhale and…
Sanskrit: Ardha Uttanasana
English: Half Intense Forward Stretch Pose
Lift the chest, press the tops of the thighs back and reach the chest forward.
Exhale and…
Sanskrit: Plank to Chaturanga Dandasana
English: Plank to Four Limbed Staff Pose
Bend the knees and plant the hands beside the feet. Step to plank, press forward on the toes and bend the elbows. Lower down to have the elbows bent 90 degrees.
Modification: lower the knees down first to lessen the weight on the wrists and work on building core muscles. Lower all the way down to the abdomen.
Inhale and…
Sanskrit: Buhjangasana
English: Cobra
Hands beside low ribs, press tops of feet down, lift head and chest. Reach through the feet and chest.
OR
Sanskrit: Urdvha Mukha Svanasana
English: Upward Facing Dog
Hands beside the low ribs, lift the chest and press into the tops of the feet, lift the thighs off the floor and straighten the arms.
Exhale and…
Sanskrit: Adho Mukha Svanasana
English: Downward Facing Dog
Lift the hips up and back, press into the hands and let the heels pull towards the floor. Press the tops of the thighs up and back. Take 5 long breaths here.
Inhale and…
Sanskrit: Ardha Uttanasana
English: Half Intense Forward Stretch Pose
Lift the chest, press the tops of the thighs back and reach the chest forward.
Exhale and…
Sanskrit: Uttanasana
English: Intense Forward Stretch Pose
Hinge from the hips, fold the upper body over the legs, bring hands beside feet. Like Tadasana, lift from the outer ankle to the outer hip and firm the legs.
Modification: if hands do not reach the floor, bring the hands to blocks and bend the elbows to the side.
Inhale and…
Sanskrit: Tadasana
English: Mountain Pose
Stand with the feet together or slightly apart, all 10 toes facing forward. Engage the muscles of the legs. Lift through the sides of the body and lift the chest. The chin is parallel to the floor, with the arms by the sides, the palms face the thighs.
Breathe!
Sanskrit: Urdvha Hastasana
English: Upward Facing Hand Pose
From Tadasana, straighten the arms overhead. Press through the bones of the feet and reach through the fingertips, send energy in both directions.
Exhale, and…
How was your practice? Leave a line below!
This article was featured in the June 2019 issue of Pitt County Women’s Journal.