Organic Apoteke I-Yoga Sun Salutation
Sun Salutation
Excerpt from The Body Heals Itself, Dr Nitasha Buldeo (2017) Available from Amazon.co.uk
- Stand on a yoga mat in Mountain pose. Keep your feet together and balance your weight equally on both the feet. Expand your chest and relax your shoulders moving them back and down. As you breathe in, lift both arms up from the sides and as you exhale, bring your palms together in front of the chest in prayer position.
- Standing Forward Bend: Breathing in, lift the arms up and back, keeping the biceps or upper arms close to the ears. The purpose of this pose is to stretch the whole body up from the heels to the tips of the fingers. To deepen this pose, push the pelvis slightly forward. Reach up with the fingers trying to touch the ceiling rather than trying to bend backwards.
- Breathing out, bend forward from the waist, keeping the spine straight. As you exhale completely, try to bring the hands down to the floor, on either side of the feet.
- Bend the knees, raise head look forward
- Breathing out, push weigh into palms and take right leg as far back as possible. Bring the right knee to the floor - modified Horse Riders Pose. Ensure that the left foot is centred between the palms.
- Breath in as you look forward.
- Breath out as you take your left leg back,
- Breath in as you pull up your hips and abdomen bringing your whole body into a straight line in your Plank pose. Deepen this yoga stretch by keeping your arms perpendicular to the floor. Maintain a slight bend to ensure that you do not lock your elbows.
- Breath out as you gently bring your knees down to the floor. Push your hips back slightly. Bring your chest and then chin to the floor. Raise your buttocks up a little higher. The hands, feet, knees, chest and chin (eight parts of the body touch the floor).
- Breath in as you slide your head and chest forward and then raise the chest up into the Cobra posture. You may keep your elbows bent in this pose, the shoulders away from the ears. Look forward and if comfortable slowly look up to the sky. Take a few breaths in this pose. As you inhale, make a gentle effort to push the chest forward; as you exhale, make a gentle effort to push the navel down to the floor. Get your big toes to touch. Ensure that you are stretching just as much as you can without exerting any force.
- Breathing out, move your head to look downwards and ground your toes into the floor. Lift the hips and the tail bone up. Push your palms into the floor and elongate your chest and spine, pushing your tailbone further up. Maintain an 'inverted V' (/\) posture or Downward Dog. To deepen your stretch, try and push the heels onto the ground and make a gentle effort to lift the tailbone up higher.
- Breathing in, bring the right foot forward, placing it in between the two hands. Drop the left knee down to the floor, press the hips down and look up. To deepen this pose, keep the right calf perpendicular to the floor and push the hips down towards the floor.
- Breathing out, bring the left foot forward. Keep the palms on the floor. You may bend the knees, if necessary. To deepen this pose,gently straighten the knees and if you can, try and touch your nose to the knees. Keep breathing.
- Breathing in, slowly roll the spine up to standing. Raise your hands up above your head and look up at them. Bend backwards a little bit, pushing the hips slightly forward. To deepen the stretch, ensure that your biceps are beside your ears. The idea is to stretch upwards towards the ceiling rather than focusing on stretching backwards.
- As you exhale, bring your head forward, straighten the spine, then bring the arms down to prayer in front of chest. Relax in this position, observing the sensations in your body.
- Repeat this cycle 6, 12, 18, 24, 48 times.
