On an inhalation, REVERSE SWAN DIVE, reaching up toward the ceiling and keeping the back flat. Then exhale, lowering your arms to your sides, standing in MOUNTAIN.
Modification:
If because of tightness in the back of your legs or hips, you are bending your knees in STANDING FORWARD BEND, then straighten your legs as you inhale and place you hands on your shins for support. The action in the pelvis is the same as in the COW’S portion of CAT/COW. Keep the shoulders rolling away from your ears, and your sitting bones spreading back and apart.
Sun Salutation Variations
13. Modified Sun Salutation
1-3 REPETITIONS
In this modification of the classic SUN SALUTATION, we utilize all familiar postures that we have been working with up to now. There are no surprises. This is to help guide us through the movements, staying present to our breath, the positions and movements of the body, the ever-changing landscape of feelings, and the stream of emotion and thought as it changes continuously, arising, lingering for awhile, and fading away.
• MOUNTAIN.
• Inhale and reach your arms overhead.
• Exhale, SWAN DIVE into STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Inhale into EXTENDED STANDING FORWARD BEND
• Exhale and step the right leg back into LUNGE.
• Inhale and lengthen out through the back foot as you roll the shoulders away from your ears and lift the heart.
• Exhale, stepping the left foot back into DOWNWARD-FACING DOG. Breathe in DOWNWARD-FACING DOG for 3-5 breaths.
• At the end of the last exhalation in DOWNWARD-FACING DOG, step your right foot forward into LUNGE.
• Inhale, lifting the heart and reaching out through the left foot.
• Exhale, bringing the left foot forward into STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Inhale into EXTENDED STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Exhale and deepen STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Inhale into reverse SWAN DIVE reaching out through your fingertips toward the ceiling.
• Exhale, lowering your arms to your sides back into MOUNTAIN.
This is one half of the salutation. Now repeat the salutation, stepping the left foot back into LUNGE and stepping the left foot forward from DOWNWARD-FACING DOG back into LUNGE.
14. Sun Salutation A
1-3 REPETITIONS
Here we are introduced to two new postures, PLANK and EIGHT-POINT POSTURE, that together make up the connecting movements giving us the full classic SUN SALUTATION.
• MOUNTAIN.
• Inhale and reach your arms overhead.
• Exhale SWAN DIVE into STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Inhale into EXTENDED STANDING FORWARD BEND
• Exhale, stepping the right leg back into LUNGE.
• Inhale and lift the heart, rolling your shoulders away from your ears and reaching out through the back foot.
• Exhale and step the left foot back into DOWNWARD-FACING DOG.
• Inhale into PLANK. This posture is like the starting position for a push-up. Pressing your hands into the ground—wrists, elbows, and shoulders in one line—soften the area straight back from your heart between your shoulder blades. Press out through your feet as if you were standing in MOUNTAIN. Keep from sinking in the lower back or pelvis by reaching your tailbone toward your heels and drawing your navel area back toward your lower spine.
• Exhale into EIGHT-POINT POSTURE. This is called eight-point posture because as you exhale you lower your knees, chest and chin to the floor. The eight points making contact with the ground are your two feet, your two knees, your chest, your chin and your two palms. Make sure that when you bend your elbows back, you keep them in toward your sides and not splayed out. Also, notice that they point up toward the ceiling. Your forearms do not come to the ground.
• Inhale into COBRA. Press your hips toward the floor as you slide your chest forward between your hands, point your toes, and roll up into COBRA.
• Exhale back into DOWNWARD-FACING DOG. Tuck your toes under and press up and back with your sitting bones as you press into the ground straightening your arms. Breathe here for 3-5 breaths.
• At the end of the last exhalation in DOWNWARD-FACING DOG, step your right foot forward into LUNGE.
• Inhale, lifting the heart and reaching out through the left foot.
• Exhale, bringing your left foot forward into STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Inhale into EXTENDED STANDING FORWARD BEND
• Exhale and deepen STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Inhale into reverse SWAN DIVE, arms reaching up to the ceiling.
• Exhale, lowering the arms to your sides, standing in MOUNTAIN.
Now repeat the salutation, stepping the left foot back into LUNGE and stepping the left foot forward from DOWNWARD-FACING DOG back into LUNGE.
*15. Sun Salutation B
1-3 REPETITIONS
This approach to the SUN SALUTATION is a modification of the SUN SALUTATION B as practiced in the Ashtanga-yoga tradition. It includes WARRIOR ONE as well as one new posture for us: the FIERCE POSTURE.
• MOUNTAIN.
• Inhale, reaching your arms overhead while bending your knees to 90 degrees into FIERCE POSTURE. Keep your feet pressing into the ground while reaching up through strong straight arms. Avoid overarching your lower back.
Modification:
If this is too much for your lower back, place you hands on your thighs for added support. Lengthen your spine and keep the back broad.
• Exhale into STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Inhale into EXTENDED STANDING FORWARD BEND
• Exhale, extending your right leg back into LUNGE.
• Inhale, lifting the heart and reaching out through your right heel.
• Exhale, taking your left foot back into DOWNWARD-FACING DOG.
• Inhale while bringing your right foot forward as you pivot your left foot so that you can come up into WARRIOR ONE. Breathe here for 3-5 breaths.
• On your last exhalation, step back into DOWNWARD-FACING DOG.
• Inhale while bringing your left foot forward as you pivot your right foot so that you can come up into WARRIOR ONE. Breathe here for 3-5 breaths.
• On your last exhalation, step back into DOWNWARD-FACING DOG.
• Inhale into PLANK.
• Exhale into EIGHT-POINT POSTURE.
• Inhale, sliding into COBRA.
• Exhale into DOWNWARD-FACING DOG. Breathe here in this fourth and final DOG of the sequence, 3-5 breaths.
• On the last exhalation, step your right foot forward into LUNGE.
• Inhale, lifting the heart and reaching out through the left heel.
• Exhale, moving your left foot forward into STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Inhale into EXTENDED STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Exhale and deepen FORWARD BEND.
• Inhale into FIERCE POSTURE.
• Exhale, straightening your legs as your arms come to your sides, ending in MOUNTAIN.
Repeat the entire salutation leading throughout with the left foot.
*16. Warrior Vinyasa
As its name may imply, this is a challenging sequence, including FIERCE POSE, WARRIOR ONE, and WARRIOR TWO, with longer “holdings” in some of the postures. Stay with the breath and ease your mind, letting go of resistances and straining.
• MOUNTAIN.
• Inhale into FIERCE POSTURE.
• Exhale into STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Inhale into EXTENDED STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Exhale, extending the right foot back into LUNGE.
• Inhale, lifting the heart and reaching out through the right heel.
• Exhale, extending the left foot back into DOWNWARD-FACING DOG.
• Inhale, bring your right foot forward, and come up into WARRIOR ONE. Breathe here for 10 breaths. Stay aware of all that is happening in your body and mind. See if it is possible to release any resistance to being here.
>
• On your tenth inhalation, straighten your right leg and pivot your feet, turning your pelvis and torso 180 degrees to the left, so that you are facing out over your straight left leg.
• Exhale, bending your left knee into WARRIOR ONE. Breathe here for 10 breaths. Especially note if the mind jumps to comparing the left side with the right. See if you can just see and experience without having to compare. See that the very act of comparing separates you from the present lived experience.
• On your tenth exhalation, open your right hip out as you lower your arms parallel to the ground, coming into WARRIOR TWO. Breathe here for 10-20 breaths. As the sensations in your shoulders (and anywhere else you may feel them) arise, notice how your mind separates from the sensations. From this mental act of pulling away, a whole string of action arises. The mind makes the sensations into a “thing,” an “entity” that is seen as threatening. This very separation is what creates dukkha. The pain and discomfort may continue, but if you can drop your resistance and the stories created by the mind, much misery and anguish can be ended.
• On your final inhalation, keeping your arms parallel to the ground, straighten your left leg and pivot your feet to the right.
• Exhale into WARRIOR TWO on this side. Breathing here for another 10-20 breaths, continue your meditation on mental formations. See if by staying present and using your breath, not as a distraction from the discomfort, but as the vehicle to enter into and stay present with it, you can keep from separating from mere experiencing. Remember that if you are caught in a story, resistance, or judgment, by definition you are removing yourself from the experience. When we are one with our experience, there is no space for judgment or comparisons to arise.
• On your last exhalation, step back into DOWNWARD-FACING DOG. Notice what happens to the sensations and the quality of mind as you make this transition. Learn from this lesson in impermanence. See how the mind may want to attach to the pleasure of relief from the sensations. See if you can enjoy without getting caught in attachment.
• Inhale into PLANK.
• Exhale into EIGHT-POINT POSTURE.
• Inhale into COBRA.
• Exhale into DOWNWARD-FACING DOG. Breathe here for 3-5 breaths.
• On your last exhalation, step your right foot forward into LUNGE.
• Inhale, lifting your heart and reaching out through your left heel.
• Exhale into STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Inhale into EXTENDED STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Exhale and deepen STANDING FORWARD BEND.
• Inhale into FIERCE POSTURE.
• Exhale into MOUNTAIN. Standing here for 10-20 breaths, stay aware of your whole body, as well as the quality of mind.
Continuing on from the Vinyasa sequences we come to:
17. Locust (Variations 2 and 3)
4 BREATHS EACH VARIATION 1-3 REPETITIONS
Start by lying on your belly with your legs together and with your arms behind your back with your fingers clasped together.
Keep pressing your pubis, hips, thighs, and the tops of your feet into the ground and as you inhale, curl your head, shoulders, and upper chest up off the ground. Reach back through your clasped hands and, keeping the wrists in toward each other, lift them up off your back. As you continue to breathe in this posture, pay attention to how the breath moves in the body while also moving the body. After four breaths, extend out through your feet and let the legs rise up off the floor. Continue to breathe in this full posture and let the breath guide you in your effort.
As you move from one part of the posture to the next, pay attention to the quality of the mind. Does it stay connected throughout the development of the posture or does it drift away?
18. Bow Pose
6-12 BREATHS 1-3 REPETITIONS
Lying on your belly, bend your knees and take hold of your feet at the ankles, keeping your knees hip-width apart. Let the front of your body be relaxed. Open the lower back as your let the tailbone drop slightly toward the ground.
Then, as you inhale, press the tops of your feet into your hands and lift your thighs from the floor. Let this dual action of your legs assist your head, shoulders, and chest in lifting off from the ground. Try to avoid pulling with your arms. Honor your body and its range. If you feel tension in the lower back, don’t lift so high and keep some length between your buttocks and your lower back.
When you’re ready, exhale down.
While many find this posture exhilarating, you may begin to face it with some trepidation. If so, how does this condition the breath and the mind and how does it affect the experience of the posture?
19. Crocodile Pose
15-30 BREATHS
Lying on your belly, open your legs so that your feet are about two feet apart and your toes are turned out. Rest your forehead on your crossed forearms.
Lying here you can feel the diaphragmatic movement of the breath. See if you can feel how the breath creates movement in the lower back and buttocks, and trace the subtle movement up through your back into your shoulders and down your legs to your feet.
This is a relaxation posture. Notice the tendency of the mind, after the strenuous practice you have been doing, to drift off into fantasy. Stay present and awake even while resting here.
20. Child Pose
15-30 BREATHS
Press back into CHILD POSE, with your sitting bones dropping into your heels. Your big toes should be touching, and your knees are apart. Release your torso onto the tops of your thighs. Place your forehead on the ground and your arms alongside your legs. Make sure that your weight is moving back toward your heels and not on your neck and head by adjusting the distance between your knees. Release yourself fully into the posture and let the breath be natural. Where do you experience the breath? As you stay here, notice any changes in the qualities of the breath. Just letting the breath be cultivates calm as you rest in this pose. Notice the quality of the mental state as you rest here. As the level of physical stress remains low, what happens to the mind? Does it stay present and spaciously aware or does it sink away?
Modification:
If your hips do not touch your heels, and you feel most of your weight in your upper body and head, lay your torso on a bolster or some blankets. This will support your torso and allow your head to come to the height of your hips.
21. Diamond Pose (Variation)
6-20 BREATHS
Position your knees together and your ankles pressing in together with your toes tucked under as you sit back on your calves. Work to get your heels within the space between your sitting bones. Let the spine rise up strongly from the basin of the pelvis. The crown of the head reaches up. Your shoulders are relaxed down your back, and the chest is broad and lifted.
As you sit here, sensations may arise in your knees or ankles, but more likely at the toe joints. Be mindful of the quality of the sensations. Work with discomfort, but honor true pain. Notice reactivity and aversion, and let your breath bring you back to a pure awareness of the sensations. Drop the story line and just see. If you can find even a few breaths free of the tension of aversion and resistance, do you experience the sensations differently in any way at all?
Release from here by drawing your legs out from under you.
21. Cobbler Pose
6-20 BREATHS
Sit with the soles of your feet together and, holding your ankles, bring your feet within 4-6 inches of your crotch, letting your legs drop open. Don’t press your knees down toward the ground, but instead press your heels and the outer edges of your feet together and move your knees away from each other. Use your arms to help lift the torso up from the pelvis and forward onto the front tips of the sitting bones, so that your sacrum deepens in rather than rounds out.
Mindfulness Yoga Page 22