First yoga exercises: 10 basic postures to greet the sun.

After our previous installment, which you can read here , you have surely liked the first basic postures for those who are just starting out in yoga. In this installment we present the sequence known as ” Salutation to the Sun ” or Suryanamaskara in Sanskrit. This is a sequence of postures that make your body flexible and strong.

It is always recommended that at the beginning of your routines, you include a warm-up or previous preparation in your body. Then you can perform the postures that we presented in the previous article, and at the end of your routine you can include three “Salutations to the Sun”. Ready? We start:

Sun Salutation Sequence

• First placement: “Mountain Posture” or Tadasana . Lengthen your body, find your center and take a deep breath, then slowly exhale through your nose. Free your arms and relax shoulders.
• Second placement: “Upward Mountain Posture” . In this placement you raise your arms and take a deep breath. Your sight is in the sky, join the palms of your hands.
• Third placement: “Stork Posture” or Uttanasana . Lower your arms and torso, while you exhale slowly and look for your knees with your forehead and your hands go to your ankles.
• Fourth placement: “Front Fold Posture” or Urdhva Uttanasana . Take a deep breath raising your head forward, achieving with it the height of the pelvis and lengthening your entire back. Be careful not to force your knees back.
• Fifth placement: “Plank Posture” or Chaturanga Dandasana . Also known as “Push up” or lizard. You must exhale while bringing one leg back and then the other, to stretch both and align your body. The elbows are always attached to the waist and you must stretch your legs very well to protect the knees. Do not lower your pelvis or head.
• Sixth placement: “Upward Facing Dog Posture” or Urdhva Mukha Svanasana . Take a deep breath as you lower your pelvis to the floor and raise your head. Be very careful not to strain your elbows; the best thing is that you flex them a little and release the shoulders down.
• Seventh placement: “Downward Facing Dog Posture” or Ardho Mukha Svanasana . You can get to it directly by raising your pelvis and lowering your head. When the body is not strong enough, to avoid spinal injury, it is best to first lower your head, support your knees and hands on the floor, and then raise your pelvis by stretching your legs, pushing your heels to the floor and lengthening your back, as if you brought your chest closer to your knees. Exhale as you come to this placement.
• Eighth placement: “Front Fold Posture” or Urhva Uttanasana . Return to this position by inhaling, bringing first one foot forward, then the other, to lift your head and torso forward. Exhale as you lower back into Stork Pose, lowering your hands to your ankles and your forehead to your knees.
• Ninth placement: “Upward Mountain Posture” you reach it by raising your arms to the sides, your head and torso looking towards the sky and your hands join above. Breathe as you rise.
• Tenth placement: “Mountain Posture” orTadasana . Exhale slowly and lower your arms to rest at your hips.

It is very good that you decide to take a few minutes of the day to practice the basic routines that we present to you, but it is always best to be guided by an instructor, since there are placements that need observation and thus avoid injuries as well as improve benefits. In this sequence, you can hold them and take one or two breaths in each pose. For the rest, we hope you like them and feel the difference in your body as well as in your mind.

Practice them, enjoy them, and of course, leave us your comments and observations