The Value of Sun Salutations as a Meditation Practice
Moving meditation is still meditation
If you’ve ever struggled to meditate (and really, who hasn’t), you might want to try movement as meditation. Sitting still, while incredibly powerful, isn’t for everyone. I came to meditation through practicing yoga, but even before that, I experienced meditation every time I swam.
The rhythmic breathing combined with repetitive movement quieted my mind like nothing else had at the time. Many runners and cyclists also experience this type of mental grounding, where all the noise goes away and it’s just you and your body.
This is why I love Vinyasa yoga. Similar to swimming, it combines specific movements with breath, leaving you feeling energized, strong, and calm.
Sun Salutations are often part of the Vinyasa yoga practice. If you’ve every practiced Ashtanga or Baptiste style power yoga, Sun Salutation A and B will be familiar to you.
There are many variations of the Sun Salutation/Surya Namaskar, but each style has some similar characteristics.
Breath with movement
When practicing Sun Salutations, or Vinyasa yoga in general, you connect each yoga pose to either an inhale or an exhale. The amount of time it takes you to inhale is the amount of time it takes to move into a particular pose. Same with the exhale.
Doing this creates a fluidity with your yoga practice. You mindfully move your body from one pose to the next. This mindful fluidity makes your practice almost dance-like. With repetition, it becomes a moving meditation.
When you don’t need to think about the next pose in the series, you can be in the pose where you are. You feel your body move the way it has many times before. The poses become part of your muscle memory so that you experience each moment as it comes, without worrying about future moments. You are embodied in the present moment and this is meditation.
Inhale forward and upward, exhale backward and downward
Regardless of the poses in the different variations of Sun Salutation, the inhale is often done when the head and chest move forward and/or upward into a pose, like moving from Chaturanga Dandasana (Four Pointed Staff pose) to Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Facing Dog). In Upward Dog your chest moves forward and upward on the inhale.
Conversely, exhales connect to movements where the head and chest move backward and downward, like moving from Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Facing Dog) to Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog). In Upward Dog your chest is lifted and moves forward through your arms. In Downward Dog your chest moves backward toward your thighs as you drop your head toward the floor.
There are a couple of exceptions. This rule isn’t always true is when there is a transition, or when the next pose in the series follows a particular rule. Although you may step backward into Phalakasana (Plank pose), you exhale to Chaturanga, so that makes the Plank an inhale. Also when jumping your feet to your hands, you hold out the exhale, jump forward, then inhale to your Halfway Lift.
Not all Sun Salutations involve jumping or even have Plank or Chaturanga. There is a Sun Salutation for all levels of experience. You can even do them against the wall or with a chair.
Movement in the Sagittal plane
All Sun Salutations move in the Sagittal plane, which means forward and backward like you’re moving along train tracks. They combine forward bending with backward bending and are a wonderful way to loosen up the body. If you have a tight back, chest, and hamstrings, you will find great benefit from adding Sun Salutations to your regular routine.
Runners and cyclists move in this plane so this sequence of movements might help for cross-training purposes. Stretching the hip flexors and hamstrings while strengthening the quads and glutes (and abdominals and upper body) supports all sorts of sports and activities.
While this is useful, Sun Salutations are also limited. As people, we also move in the Coronal plane (laterally/side-to-side), and in the Transverse plane (rotationally). There is no lateral or rotational movement in Sun Salutation sequences, but most Vinyasa yoga practices move your body in all three planes. This is why Sun Salutations are often part of a larger Vinyasa practice, although they can stand alone as well.
Movement as meditation
Like I mentioned earlier, Sun Salutations create a fabulous platform as meditation. The movements repeat, so once you learn the sequence, you don’t have to think about what’s coming next. You breathe and move, move and breathe. Feeling fully in your body, you let go of the nonsense that flows through your mind all day long.
You feel your feet on the floor. You feel the stretch in your chest and shoulders. Your movements are slow and intentional so that you come into the present moment. Your mind focuses on right now.
No extraneous thinking, only moving and breathing. This is meditation. Here is where you find peace.
Learn Sun Salutations with me online!
Starting June 2, I will be teaching all of the poses and transitions as part of Sun Salutations for the Summer Solstice! Tuesdays and Thursdays I will break down 2-3 poses at a time, so that by the time we get to the Summer Solstice, you’ll be able to flow seamlessly from one pose to the next.
Sunday June 21 is the Summer Solstice. I will lead you through a Sun Salutations based yoga practice to honor the longest day of the year. Experience this form of moving meditation as we breathe and flow together. All levels of experience are welcome! Click the button below for more information or to sign up!
