So I am currently reading "The Yoga Body Diet" and while it is a great book, I feel like I needed to read the Yoga for Dummies book first - if such a thing exists.
I keep hearing how beneficial yoga is - and I get it - I have liked most of the yoga I have done on my own. But, at some point, I get stuck. I have a few moves down, but then I read about Sun Salutations, which seems like a good way to greet the day every morning.
No further explanation. Just do Sun Salutations.
What's a sun salutation anyway?
So I went to Lewes yoga expert Kate Fitzgerald, owner of Involution Yoga, who said the intention is to wake up and do Sun Salutations. Here are the steps.
Samasthiti is the first position.... Standing tall with feet grounding into the floor, legs are engaged, draw the shoulder blades down the back, the chin drops slightly while the ears draw back in line with the shoulders.
Inhale the arms up, hands together and gazing up at the thumbs ( caution: if you have neck issues look forward instead of up), exhale fold... hands by the feet on the mat, legs quads are engaged lifting the knees gaze at the nose.
Inhale flatten the back, lift the heart and look up between the eyebrows.
Exhale step the feet back into plank pose hands under the shoulders, slight dome shape in upper back, engage the lower abs, lengthening the tailbone, feet hip width apart, elbows hug the body, slowly bend the arms, lower the body until you hover just above the floor.
Inhale into Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana( upward facing dog)
Straighten the arms and draw the chest forward, rolling over the toes until the your feet point away from you. Press the tops of the feet into the mat, legs engage and lift off the floor, elongate the spine and draw the shoulder blades down the back.
Exhale into Adho Mukha Shvanasana(downward facing dog)
Flex the feet and roll back onto the soles of the feet, raise the buttocks to the sky and work on straightening the legs, push the floor away with your hands shifting the weight back toward the feet.Draw the shoulder blades down and out. Hold this for 5 breathes
Inhale stepping the feet forward and look up with back flat, exhale hold and then inhale all the way to standing drawing the arms over the head once again and then exhale the hands by the sides in Samasthiti.
Have a great week!
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Welcome to Adventures in Drool! Talking about green living, getting rid of plastics and toxic chemicals in our homes and raising happy kids on a budget. Join the conversation (www.adventuresindrool.com) and don't forget to Like us on Facebook!
Rachel Swick Mavity, author of the blog, lives with a reformed drooler (Droolface), who at age 3 loves to get muddy, drink homemade smoothies, giggle and flirt with old ladies. Her current drooler (Birdy) enjoys spitting up on work clothes and leaving drool trails as a way of showing her love.
Mavity previously worked as a journalist for seven years at newspapers from Pennsylvania to Maryland and Delaware. In Sussex County she worked for several newspapers, including the Cape Gazette. She lives in Lewes with her husband, Ryan Mavity, their son, "Droolface," and daughter, "Birdy."
