Yoga Warm-Up Sun Salutation B

11 Minutes, Intensity 3, Complexity 1, Full Body, Lower Body, Endurance, Strength.
The strongest of the classical Sun Salutations, the "B" variation includes step throughs and standing lunges to get you to heat up the whole body pretty intensely. Learn the fundamentals of this classic yoga warm-up while getting your body ready for what comes next.

Transcript

Hi everyone, This is Carrick. This practice is focused on Sun Salutation B, Which of the three Sun Salutations, Assuming there might be more than three, But there are traditionally Sun Salutation A, Sun Salutation B, And Sun Salutation C. A is sort of the standard baseline that you'll see in a lot of the beginning of many yoga classes. C is a much gentler sun salutation, Warm-up, And B is the most active of the three, Okay? So turn to one side of your mat and come into downward-facing dog. Let's just start here. Sun salutation is very common for warming up the body because they use so many of the big muscles of the body. And what I like about sun salutations is you can do a bunch of them to warm up the body and you won't feel burnt out, Or at least you shouldn't. And then you can scale up or down with the sun salutations. A, B, And C are different levels of intensity. And then within sun salutations A, B, And C, There's room for modification. And I will try to point some of those out as we go. Okay, Walk your feet to the front of the mat. Inhale to lengthen, Reach your heart forward. Exhale to fold, So just. Relatively quickly, I'm going to show you some of the elements of Sun Salutation B. Bend your knees deep and stretch your arms overhead for what we call chair pose. Move your knees back. Make sure you can look down and see your toes. If you can't see your toes, Your knees will be really far forward. So take some of the pressure off the knees by moving the knees back. Push your hips back and then lower your hips. I try to get to hips about as low as my knees. You can go lower, You can go butt down if you want, But let's just say here, Like as soon as I go all the way down, Now I'm not using the muscles in my legs anymore. I'm just resting my hips on my heels. It's just a flexibility thing. So let's go hips to the level of the knees, Arms overhead, Straight arms, Lift your chest. Good, Inhale to stand. Okay, So that's one of the elements. Of the sun salutation. Here's another element. Your right foot back. And your left leg forward. Come into a lunge. You can start with your hands on the ground. All right, So bend the front knee to a square, Back leg is straight. Stretch your arms up over your head. All right, And then, So this is Crescent Lunge. You have the option of spinning the back heel to the ground. So you'll notice I step my foot wider. And I take the heel down. So Warrior One, Your hips are facing the front of the mat, More or less. And stretch your arms over your head. So you can choose. Let's just switch sides, Step both feet up. You can choose between crescent lunge. Which is the back heel lifted, The crescent refers to the. . . The curve of the upper body. And making that C shape between my left leg and my hands. Or the full warrior one. Traditional Warrior One is with the back heel down on the ground. Okay, When you're doing the sun salutation, B, You can choose between crescent and crescent. Or warrior one. Okay, Here's the last big element. That you'll need for sun salutation B. Let's just lower it to the bottom of the pushup. Flip your feet over. Straighten your arms, Pull your shoulders back, And pull your chest forward. So in up dog, My hips. And thighs are lifted off the ground. I'm only on my hands and the tops of my feet. I'm pulling my shoulders back, Reaching my chest forward. The modification for this, The easier variation, Is to release the hips to the ground. Bend the elbows in cobra. But traditionally, Sun salutation B is up dog, Hips and thighs off the ground. Okay. So walk your feet in. Place your hands on your hips. Inhale to stand. Okay, So here we go. Sun Salutation, B. We'll do a few. Feet about hip width apart. Bend your knees deeply. Touch your fingertips to the ground. Hips as low as the knees. Stretch your arms over your head. Exhale to fold, Forward bend. You can bend your knees if you need to. Inhale to lengthen, Heart forward. Exhale, Plant your hands. In the traditional sunbee, It's a jump back. So I'll bend my knees a little bit. I time it so that my feet hit the back of the mat. When I'm in the bottom of the push-up. So I'm targeting this. This is the bottom. Inhale to, Oh sorry, Up dog. Hips and thighs stay lifted. They never touch the ground. Exhale to down dog. Inhale, Step your left foot up between your hands. I'm going to stay in crescent lunge for the first round. It's just easier, It's quicker. Hands to the ground, Step back and lower to the bottom of the pushup. And how to up dog. X out to Down Dog. Right leg forward. Reach the arms up over the head. Hands back to the ground. Step back and lower to the bottom of the pushup. And now to UpDog. Excel's a down dog. On the next round, I'll coordinate everything with the breath. Okay, Just a couple of breaths here. So it's really one breath per movement in the traditional Sun Citation B. And we specifically move. . . On an inhale versus an exhale depending on the movement. All right, So exhale. To hop your feet. To the front of the map. In how to lengthen. Exhale to fold. Bend your knees deep. Inhale, Arms overhead. Stay for an exhale. Inhale to stand. Exhale, Draw your hands to your heart. Next round, I'll focus specifically on the breath coordination, Okay? So inhale, Bend your knees deep, Stretch your arms up over your head. Exhale, Fold, Touch the ground. Inhale halfway forward. Exhale to the bottom of the push-up. Inhale to upward facing dog. Exhale to downward facing dog. Inhale, Left leg forward. Reach your arms over your head. Exhale all the way to the bottom of the pushup. Inhale to up dog. Exhale to down dog. Inhale, Right leg forward, Reach the arms up. Exhale, Hands to the ground. Step back and lower to the bottom of the push-up. Inhale to upward facing dog. XL to Downward Facing Dog. Now, If you find yourself. . . Falling behind my pace. It's okay, Just follow your breath, Okay? Move with your breath. I'll always give you time to catch up. Between sun salutation. So we'll take three to five breaths right here in Dundalk. Look forward. Bend your knees on an exhale. Jump your feet to the front of the mat. Inhale to lengthen. Exhale to fold. Bend your knees deep. Inhale, Stretch your arms over your head. Stay for an exhale. Inhale to stand. Exhale, Draw your hands to your heart, Okay? So then a couple other modifications you can make. The Sun Citation B. A little bit easier. With modifications. Or you can make the Sun Citation more challenging. Inhale, Bend your knees. Stretch your arms over your head. Exhale and fold, Touch the ground. Inhale to lengthen. Try keeping your legs straight as you jump back. Chaturanga, Straight legs. I have to lean forward. And then more weight goes into my shoulders. And then almost like my feet are on roller skates. Inhale, Up dog. Exhale, Down dog. Here's more challenging variation. I spin my back heel to the ground, And then I reach my arms up. It challenges my hips a little bit more. To square my hips forward. Exhale, Hands to the ground. Lower to the bottom of the pushup, All on the exhale if possible. Inhale, Up dog. Exhale, Down dog. Inhale, Right leg forward, Sweep the arms overhead, All on the inhale. Exhale, Hands to the ground. On the exhale to the bottom of the pushup. Inhale, Up dog. Exhale, Down dog. When you get that. Down Dog in between. Each sun salutation, And that's your time to. . . Slow down the breath. To settle your mind. Right, And then prepare for the next round. As you jump forward. Land with your legs straight. You'll have to get your hips really high. You have to pull your belly up. Land with straight legs. Here we go. In how to lengthen. Exhale to fold. Keep your knees a little soft. Inhale, Reach your arms up over your head. Exhale, Hands to your heart. Last one at speed. Inhale, Chair. Exhale, Forward bend. Inhale, Halfway forward. Exhale, Chaturanga. Inhale, Up dog. Exhale. Down dog. Inhale, Warrior I or Crescent. Exhale, Chaturanga, Bottom of the pushup. Inhale, Up dog. Exhale, Down dog. Inhale, Right leg forward, Back heel spins flat, Warrior one. Exhale, Hands to the ground. Step back and lower to the bottom of the pushup. Inhale to upward facing dog. Exhale to downward facing dog. Good, Pause. And just check in with your breath. Has the breath sped up a little bit? Mine has. And so I just take a couple of breaths to try to slow it down to bring me back to equilibrium. Maybe three to five. Then look forward. Bend your knees, Jump forward. Inhale to lengthen. Exhale to fold. Keep the legs steady. Oh, Sorry, Chair, I almost forgot. In how to stand. Exhale, Hands to the heart, Okay? So that's Sun Salutation B. You can do. . . A set number of them. Five is a good number. Or you can do sun salutations for a set number or a set amount of time. As a warmup. So I'm already sweating after 10 minutes of Sun Citation B. I'm ready to hit the gym. I'm ready to jump on the field. I'm warmed up and ready to go. All right, Thanks for joining with me.