SURYANAMASKAR

1. Pranamasana or Anjali Mudra

Stand at the edge of your mat, keep your feet together and balance your weight equally on both the feet. Expand your chest and relax your shoulders. 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.

2. Hastauttanasana

Breathing in, lift the arms up and back, keeping the biceps close to the ears. In this pose, the effort is to stretch the whole body up from the heels to the tips of the fingers.

3. Hastapadasana

Breathing out, bend forward from the waist keeping the spine erect. As you exhale completely, bring the hands down to the floor beside the feet.

4. Ashwa Sanchalanasana

Breathing in, push your right leg back, as far back as possible. Bring the right knee to the floor and look up.

5. Dandasana

As you breathe in, take the left leg back and bring the whole body in a straight line.

6. Ashtanga Namaskara

Gently bring your knees down to the floor and exhale. Take the hips back slightly, slide forward, rest your chest and chin on the floor. Raise your posterior a little bit. The two hands, two feet, two knees, chest and chin (eight parts of the body) should touch the floor.

7. Bhujangasana

Slide forward and raise the chest up into the cobra pose. You may keep your elbows bent in this pose with the shoulders away from the ears. Look up at the ceiling.

8. Adho Mukha Svanasana

Breathing out, lift the hips and the tailbone up to bring the body into an inverted ā€˜Vā€™ pose.

9. Ashwa Sanchalanasana

Breathing in, bring the right foot forward in between the two hands. The left knee goes down on the floor. Press the hips down and lookup.

10. Hastapadasana

Breathing out, bring the left foot forward. Keep the palms on the floor. You may bend the knees, if necessary.

11. Hastauttanasana

Breathing in, roll the spine up. Raise the hands up and bend backward a little bit, pushing the hips slightly outward.

12. Tadasana

As you exhale, first straighten the body, then bring the arms down. Relax in this position and observe the sensations in your body.