Flo Fenton’s Sun Salutes

Start Standing at the front of your mat in Tadasana. Start to lengthen the breath and make it feel smooth. (those who are comfortable to do so, switch on the subtle Ujjayi pranayam breath-it should sound like the ocean at night.) Feel that the inhalation lifts the heart centre. The exhalation draws the lower belly in and up.

Inhale as you raise your arms to open the chest and lift the heart.

Exhale as you fold forward at the hips. Belly to thighs, not chest to knees! Bend the knees as much as you need to-place the fingers or palms lightly on the mat beside the feet.

Inhale as you lift the heart forward and upward-lengthen the front of the waist.

As you exhale, step the left foot back as far as you can in one go-let the knee rest on the mat.

Inhale as you lift the chest (you can raise the arms beside the ears, lifting the spine up into a lunge here if desired, to really open the chest).

Exhale as you step back the right foot and lift the hips.

In Down Dog, the spine should be in one line-just like Tadasana-the lower back a little hollow, the upper back broad, the shoulders relaxed away from the ears.

To facilitate this, move into Down Dog slowly, in stages. The idea is that each stage is a preparation for the next-and forms a check point for the next.
Don?t move onto the next stage unless all the points are there in the stage you are on! Otherwise you are compromising the alignment of the spine-and won’t get the deeper benefits of the posture.

i. Lift the heels high, and let the knees bend. Drop the head. Roll the upper arms outwards so that the shoulder blades are wide apart and the upper back is broad-not hollow!

In this position, can you tilt the tail upward so that the lower back feels flat or even hollow? If your lower back is still rounded here, stay with this variation. The breath is long and smooth.

Only if you can get the lower back flat, move to stage (ii).

Inhale and lift the sitting bones so high that the knees become straighter-or straight. The heels are still high! Head is still hanging, shoulders are still broad at the back, breath is still long and smooth. If not, return to stage i or rest.

If all those things are there, move to stage (iii).

Take a good inhale.

As you exhale slowly lower the heels towards the mat.

If the lower back rounds, raise the heels again to the height needed to keep the lumbar in neutral.

Take 5-10 slow breaths here.

The inhale lifts the heart towards the chin.

The exhale lifts the lower belly in and up, and the chest falls.

Either:
a. Move into Half Plank. Come to hands and knees. Step the knees back (or the hands forwards) so that when you move the hips forward, the hips are in one straight line between the heels and the shoulders, and the wrists are directly beneath (or a little forward of) the shoulders.

If they are further back, you will strain your wrists during the next two postures!

Or:

b. move into Full Plank. From Down Dog, step the feet together, and another inch or two further back. Move the hips down until they are in one straight line between the heels and the shoulders. The wrists should be directly beneath (or a little further forward of) the shoulders.

If the are further back, you will strain your wrists during the next two postures!

Either:

From 6a: take an inhale, and as you slowly exhale, squeeze the elbows in beside the ribs, lowering your whole body down in one straight line until the belly rests on the floor.

Make sure that the hips stay in one line all the way down, and that the shoulder blades don’t ‘wing’ and squeeze together at the back of the chest!

This posture builds the lower back and upper body strength required to perform Full Chaturanga (7b) sustainably one day-and is also a strong pose in it’s own right-no need to go any further!

Or:

From 6b: take a good inhale and as you exhale tightly squeeze the elbows in beside the ribs, lowering the whole body down in one straight line until the body hovers just above the mat.

Keep the shoulders rolling back away from the ears, and the shoulder blades wide apart at the back of the chest-if that is not possible, (or if you need to compensate to perform the pose, by dropping the hips too low, or lifting the hips too high) then instead bend the knees and rest them on the mat and move into Half Chaturanga, until you have the strength required to do the pose sustainably.

Either:

From 7a: as you inhale, peel the front body away from the mat just up to navel height. Try to use lower back strength, not arm strength-the hands just lightly rest on the mat.

Unless you can lift the torso off the floor so that only the navel stays on the mat with the strength of the lower back alone (not the arms) you are not ready for Upward Dog!

This posture builds the lower back strength required to perform Upward Dog (8b) sustainably and without strain-and is also a good lower back strength pose in its own right-no need to go any further!

Or:

From Full Chaturanga (7b): inhale and roll over onto the tops of the feet. Straighten the arms and move the shoulders back and down away from the ears, don’t throw the head back-the lift is from the heart, not the chin!

If the breath gets lost, or the body has to compromose any of these points, then stick with Mini Cobra (8a).

From 8a: move back to hands and knees. inhale, and as you exhale lift the hips up and back.

From 8b: roll over the feet as you exhale, lifting the hips up and back.

Move back through stage 5 i-5iii: staying with whatever stage you are at.

Take 5-10 slow breaths here.

The inhale lifts the heart towards the chin.

The exhale lifts the lower belly in and up, and the chest falls.

Either:

Step the left foot forward between the hands as you inhale, resting the back knee on the floor. Lift the chest.

Or:

Step the left foot forward between the hands. Straighten the back leg. Place the hands on the hips and lift the spine to an upright. Inhale as you raise the arms to open the chest.

Exhale as you fold forward at the hips. Belly to thighs, not chest to knees! Bend the knees as much as you need to-place the fingers or palms lightly on the mat beside the feet.

Bend the knees, so that the hips move back, and the weight is in the heels. Have the inside edges of the big toes, and inner knees touching. Inhale as you raise your arms to open the chest and lift the heart.

Exhale as you slowly straighten the knees and return the arms back down.

This is one round. Repeat another round stepping the right foot back at 4 and forwards at 10.

Practice 3 rounds on each side.