It is in Hatha yoga – the first form of yoga – that we find this succession of well-known postures: the salutation to the sun. It covers the main categories of positions: anchoring, balance, inversion, and forward and backward bends. The sequence allows, in addition, to work the abdominals and avoid back pain. Some postures are practiced standing, others seated or lying down. If you are looking to undergo a 200 Hour Yin and Vinyasa yoga teacher training Bali, then this is perhaps the first thing you will learn.
With its twelve postures, the Sun Salutation is a good warm-up routine to feel better about your body. Performed in the morning, it gives vitality and strength. In the evening, it allows you to free yourself from your day.
So, how to perform a Sun Salutation in 12 postures?
1. Prayer
2. Arms raised
3. Standing pincer (hands to feet)
4. Warrior salute (one knee bent in front, leg stretched back, arm on the ground stretched out)
5. Staff pose (sheathing)
6. Eight salute points (the body touches the ground according to 8 points of contact)
7. Cobra (lying on the stomach, chest raised)
8. Downward-facing dog (feet and hands on the ground, buttocks in the air)
9. Salute of the warrior
10. Hands-on feet
11. Arms raised
12. Prayer
In sun salutation, you will have your full body in alignment, which lets you align your body to the mind. The “HA” of “Hatha” means “solar”, and the “THA”, “lunar”. The practice of Hatha yoga, in particular via the salutation to the sun, would therefore make it possible to rebalance these 2 elements in each of us.