Namaste!
It's Evelina here.
Welcome to my channel!
Today I will guide you through the practice of Surya Namaskar,
Sun Salutation of Hatha Yoga.
We will go through six rounds of the Surya Namaskar.
And our very first round we will do really,
Really slowly.
So in general you would practice Surya Namaskar one movement,
One breath.
However,
That very first round we want to understand the alignment of each of the asanas,
Each of the postures from the Hatha Surya Namaskar.
So that later on you can bring more dynamic into the practice.
But first,
We really want to understand all the small things about each of the poses,
So that we can make sure that you are putting yourself into the safe and stable alignment.
Surya Namaskar would be ideally practiced in the early morning time on an empty stomach.
This practice is a wonderful way to prepare your whole body for the day.
It helps you to stretch and to strengthen all the areas of your body.
So if you don't have a lot of time in your morning routine for the practice of yoga,
You can just dedicate even this few minutes to yourself to do a little bit of sun salutations.
We will begin our class with a mini warm-up,
A little bit of connection to the breath,
And right after we'll move to the practice of Surya Namaskar.
So,
Let's begin the practice by taking a moment to just simply sit in any comfortable position.
You want to focus that your spine is nicely lengthened.
Your chest is open,
Shoulders relaxed.
And take a moment to close your eyes.
Let's begin breathing long and steady breaths.
With every inhalation feel how the area of your belly You're a reaper.
Your chest.
Gently expand while it's filling up with the air.
And with every exhalation,
Observe how your chest ribcage,
Belly.
Are softening,
Gently coming back in.
Continue breathing long and deep breaths in your own comfortable rhythm.
Allowing your belly to be freely completely relaxed.
So with every inhalation,
Allow it to expand gently.
Like a balloon which fills up with the air.
With every exhalation observe how it's softly coming back in.
Let's stay here for 3 more breaths.
Gentle and effortless.
And then slowly.
.
.
Prepare for your practice of Surya Namaskar.
Taking a moment to set up intention for the practice.
Intention of whatever you would like to invite into your day.
Into your practice.
And then slowly open your eyes.
Let's begin.
By doing a little bit of movement with our spine.
So we will be inhaling while rising the hands up.
And the CXK will twist to the left side.
Inhale,
Come back up,
Reach your hands up.
And exhale twist to the other side.
Let's repeat it again.
Inhale,
Come back up.
Exhale twist.
In her comeback up.
Exhale twist to the other side.
Inhale,
Come back up.
On exhale,
Drop your left hand down and lean to the side,
Stretching the side of the body.
Focusing on remaining grounded with both hips and opening your chest up towards the ceiling.
In her Kamba.
And next,
We change the side.
Steady breath.
And in hell come back.
Exhale,
Release the hands down.
Bring the fingertips behind you and with the next inhalation lift your chest up,
Expanding it.
Exhale,
Bring the hands forward and gently fold forward,
Releasing your head down.
With the next inhalation,
Slowly come back up.
And then move couple of times your wrists in the circular movement.
And then turns the other direction.
And then interlock your fingers and nicely stretch.
Exhale,
Release.
All right,
Let's move to standing at the top of your mat in.
.
.
Tadassana.
So we will stand.
At the very front of the mat with our feet parallel to each other.
So if you would draw the line between.
.
.
Starting somewhere in the area between the second and third toe,
Towards the mid-ankle.
These two lines will be more or less parallel to each other.
It means also that if your feet would be together.
.
.
The area of your big toes would touch,
But in the area of your heels you would have a space more or less of just one.
Finger apart.
However,
We are standing with our feet.
Hip width apart.
So feet are right underneath your hips parallel to each other.
Grounding your heels firmly on the floor.
And then also grounding the mount of the big toe,
Which is right here.
And the mount of the small toe,
Which is right on the other side.
So we want to distribute the body weight equally over the back and the front of our feet.
Then spread your toes,
Lift them up.
And then send them down to the ground.
Ensure that you're not collapsing the inner arches,
Neither the outer.
Neither that you're not leaning too much to the front.
Au revoir!
So try to be.
.
.
In the center.
Now,
Awareness to your knees.
Micro-bending them,
So instead of hyper-extending,
In order to avoid any pressure on the knee joint,
We want to just give it a tiny micro bend.
Tiny,
Tiny softening.
And then this will also enable us to engage our quad muscles.
This engagement in the muscles will protect the joint from any kind of injury and will also support the movement.
To build up more and more strength in the muscles surrounding the joints.
Now awareness to the pelvis.
We want it in the neutral position.
We don't want to bring it too much back.
Neither too much front.
So you can do this movement couple of times.
Moving your pelvis front and back.
To the anterior position,
To the posterior position.
And then trying to find something right in the middle between both of them.
Where your pelvis is in its most neutral position,
With tailbone elongated down towards the ground.
Now draw the awareness upwards throughout your spine.
Think like someone would be pulling you upwards from the top of your head,
Helping you to grow up taller and taller.
To create axial extension in your spine,
So kind of more space between the vertebras.
Once you get that nice elongation in your spine,
Roll the shoulders back and down.
Placing your hands on either side of the body.
Elongate the back of your neck by gently inviting the chin in the direction of your chest.
And this is our Tadasana,
Mountain pose.
Let's begin our practice of Surya Namaskar.
And between each round,
We want to come back to that steadiness,
To that stability.
Starting with the feet,
Going all the way up till top of the head.
Let's begin by bringing the palms to the heart center into Pranamasana.
Take a deep breath in and out before we start.
And then we'll inhale,
Lifting the hands up,
Arching the back.
You want to open the chest.
Let's stay here for couple of breaths.
In order to understand what's happening in the body.
Focusing on elevating the chest and pushing the hips gently forward.
With your next exhalation,
Slowly fold forward and here we can bend our knees.
Trying to bring the ribs closer to the thighs.
Hands on either side of the body and head down.
Stay here for a moment as we just want to really explore the alignment of all the postures from Surya Namaskar.
What is important here,
Ensure that still you have the same alignment of the feet as we began the practice.
So that the inner arches doesn't collapse.
So that the body weight is equally distributed over your feet.
Nah,
Grilla.
Spine elongated.
Complete the next exhalation.
And with your next inhale,
Place the hands on the floor and step the right leg far away,
As far away to the back as you can.
Drop the knee gently down and open the chest.
You may be on the fingertips in here and just try to really open the chest,
Expand it.
Ensure that the knee doesn't go too much to the front.
You would like it ideally somewhere on top of your ankle.
Ensure as well that it's not going somewhere to the side.
But is stuck right on top of the uncle.
The back leg.
If you would be too close,
Then you may experience some pressure on the knee joint,
If the hip is right on top of the knee.
In that case,
We would move this leg a little farther,
So that instead of being on the knee,
You can send your hips forward and be more on the lower area of your thigh.
Let's take last breath in here.
And with the next exhalation,
Place both hands on the floor and step the other leg back into Parvatasana.
Here we were focusing on lengthening the spine.
So it means that if your knees are straight and you feel your back is curving,
Then it would be much better to choose to gently bend your knees and focus on lifting your tailbone up,
Elongating the spine.
Keep your shoulders rolled away from the ears.
Continue breathing long and steady breaths.
Exhale fully and then with the next inhalation we'll just move the body weight to the front and as you exhale drop your knees down chest in one line with your palms and chin to the floor Try to hold your navel gently drawn inward so that you can support the lower back.
If chin on the floor is too much,
You could also have your forehead.
And with the next inhalation we'll slide gently forward.
Place the belly and the pelvis on the floor.
Point the toes.
And gently lift up.
We are holding our elbows close to the body.
Shoulders rolled back and down,
Thighs engaged.
Belly,
Especially lower belly,
Is gently drawn in.
So that you can support your lower back.
And with the next inhalation we can use the support of our knees to transfer.
Bhakti Parvatasana.
Through the knees bent and then just slowly moving back.
Again,
Remember you can stay with your knees bent.
Or,
In case if it's not affecting the position of your spine,
You can straighten them a little bit.
With the next inhalation,
We will lift up a little bit onto our toes so that we can create more space.
To bring the right leg forward.
Let's try it out.
Inhale,
Lift up,
Create space.
And step the right leg to the front.
If you did not reach all the way to the front,
You can Try to crawl a little bit with your toes to the front.
Drop the back knee down.
Maybe you need to be on the fingertips,
Then please do so.
Breathing long and steady breaths.
This first sound salutation,
We're really taking time to feel everything that's happening in the body.
So take time to make use of understanding the alignment.
So that we can go a little faster later on.
Ensure the knee is right on top of the ankle and then prepare.
Take another deep breath in.
And with the next exhalation,
We're going to move forward into forward fold,
Uttanasana.
And your knees may be bent as much as you need to.
Keep your neck relaxed.
Ensure that your feet are now parallel to each other.
So that they did not get out of the alignment,
Which we started with in Tadasana.
Exhale completely once again.
And inhale,
Prepare to lift up all the way.
Baaand bye!
Exhale,
Back to Pranamasana.
Awesome.
I hope you're doing well.
I hope you already felt some more worms happening in the body.
Now we will go a little faster.
So we'll try to do one movement,
One breath.
Let's try.
And sure you're again back in your Tadasana alignment,
Feet parallel,
Body weight equally distributed over your feet.
Knees micro-bent,
Pelvis neutral,
Long straight spine,
Shoulders back and down.
Gazing forward,
Bringing your palms into the heart center in Pranamasana.
Take a deep breath in and out before we start.
And staying connected to your breath,
Inhale,
Lift up.
Arch back,
Pushing the hips forward.
Exhale,
Forward fold.
Uttanasana.
Inhale,
This time left leg far away to the back.
Drop the knee down,
Try to have the front knee right on top of the ankle.
Chest open.
Next exhale,
Bringing the right leg back to join into Parvatasana.
Inhale,
Shift the body weight forward and as you're exhaling,
Drop the knees,
Chest and chin onto the mat.
Keep your belly gently in to support the lower spine.
As you inhale,
Slide forward.
Open the chest,
Expand it.
Toes pointed.
As you exhale,
Move through your knees.
Tuck the toes in and step back into Parvatasana.
Inhale,
Again lift up to the toes,
Create the space and bring the left leg to the front.
Drop the back knee down,
Chest open.
Exhale,
Join the right leg forward and fold.
Inhale,
Lift up,
Arch back.
Exhale Pranamasana.
Amazing!
Let's keep going.
Inhale,
Lift up,
Arch back.
Exhale,
Fold,
Bend your knees as much as you need to.
Inhale,
Right leg far away to the back,
Gaze front,
Drop the knee down,
Chest open.
Exhale,
Smoothing through.
With the left leg also to the back,
Extend the spine.
Bend the knees if you need to.
With the next inhalation,
Move the body weight forward.
As you exhale,
Drop the knees,
Chest in one line with your palms,
Chin down,
Elbows close to the body.
Inhale,
Keeping your navel in,
Drop the belly down on the floor,
Point the toes,
Open the chest.
Exhale,
Moving through the knees.
Into.
Parvatasana.
With the next inhalation first create the space by lifting to the toes,
Send the right leg front,
Drop the knee down.
Exhale,
Join the left leg to the front and sure feet are parallel to each other.
Fold.
Inhale,
Go all the way up and back.
Exhale Pranamasana.
Amazing.
One more and then we will take a little break.
Inhale,
Out.
Exhale,
Fold forward.
Inhale,
Left leg far away back.
Chest open,
Gaze front.
Exhale,
Send the other leg.
Parvatasana.
Inhale,
Shift the body weight forward and drop the knees,
Chest and chin as you exhale all the way down.
Keep the navel gently in.
As you inhale,
Open the chest,
Point the toes,
Elbows close to the body.
As you exhale,
Move back,
Elongate the spine.
With the next inhalation again create a space and then send the left leg to the front between the palms.
Drop the Buck knee down.
Exhale,
Join the other leg,
Feet parallel,
Head down.
Inhale,
Go all the way up,
Bend back.
Exhale Pranamasana.
Release your hands for a moment and just take couple of steady breaths.
Feel the warmth.
Rising up in your body.
Feel the blood circulating.
Feel your breath and allow it to become long and steady.
Let's continue.
Palsy in front of the heart center.
Pranamasana.
Feet parallel,
Bodyweight equally distributed,
Knees micro-bent,
Pelvis neutral,
Long straight spine.
Inhale,
Lift your hands up.
Hasta uttanasana.
Exhale,
Fold forward.
Uttanasana.
Inhale,
Right leg far away to the back,
Drop the knee down,
Chest open.
Exhale the other leg back.
Lengthen the spine.
Inhale,
Move the body weight forward,
Drop the knees,
Chest,
Chin down into Ashtanga Namaskar.
As you inhale,
Point the toes slight forward,
Open the chest.
Bujanga sana.
As you exhale,
Move back into the lengthened spine position.
Parvatasana.
Inhale,
Lift up and then move the right leg front,
Drop the knee down.
Anjaneyasana.
Exhale,
Join the left leg,
Feet parallel,
Head down.
Inhale,
Go all the way up,
Arch back.
Exhale,
Prana Masana.
Left side.
Inhale,
Up,
Arch back.
Exhale,
Fold forward.
Inhale,
Left leg far away back.
Drop the knee down,
Chest open.
Exhale the other leg back Parvatasana.
As you inhale,
Shift the body weight forward and with the next exhalation,
Ashtanga Namaskar,
Mistress Chin.
Inhale,
Belly on the floor,
Pelvis on the floor,
Toes pointed.
Lift up.
Exhale.
But what a sunnah!
Inhale,
Left leg front.
Just open.
Exhale,
Right leg front,
Fold.
Inhale,
Go all the way up,
Arch back.
Exhale,
Prana Masana.
Releasing your hands onto either side of your body.
Closing your eyes for a moment.
And connecting with your slow steady breath.
Take a moment to notice how you feel.
And then slowly make your way down,
Back to the seated position.
Sitting in any comfortable posture.
And just take a moment for a few long and steady breaths.
Place one hand onto your belly,
The other onto your chest.
Close your eyes and take a long,
Very gentle breath in.
Filling up your belly,
Your chest with the air.
And as you exhale,
Feel how your chest,
Your belly are softening,
Coming back in.
Two more times.
Deep,
Steady breath in.
Aaaaaand out.
One last breath.
And out.
Bring your palms together in front of your heart center.
And then rub your palms.
Make them warm.
Place them on top of your closed eyes.
Take a deep breath in.
As you exhale,
Open your eyes.
And you move your hands down.
Thank you so much for joining me for this practice of Surya Namaskar.
I hope you enjoyed it.
And I hope you will keep practicing every day in order to remain healthy,
Happy and peaceful.
Have a wonderful day.
Lots of love.
