by Kara-Leah Grant
Welcome to the last article and video in this series of Yoga Explorations.
Yes, you’ve made it all the way to the end and now it’s time to bring everything together in one smooth flow.
Circular sun salutations work on a few different levels. Usually on our mats we work in a purely linear manner – we move left and right, back and forward. Plus we usually only face forwards, or sideways to one direction.
However when we do circular sun salutations we use all four sides of the mat and we move around in a circle.
Working in a circle helps to get our brain moving in a different way, shaking things up.
On a practical level, it means that we initiate our lunges with the same leg twice. This carries us all the way around the mat. Then we do the other leg twice.
Generally, I use the first time on one leg to explore each posture, taking five breaths or so and feeling my way through the sequence.
The second time on the same leg, which brings me back around to the front of the mat, I move as more of a flow, with one breath per pose.
Once you’ve got the sequence down, you can flow as many times as you like through.
On the video, I talk you through the left leg twice, and then leave you to do the right side yourself. You could watch the video again and just substitute left for right, that way you get to imbibe more of the instruction and likely hear different things the second time around.
Once you’ve got the flow memorised (and you may already have done this from the Om Work last week) then you can go through the flow as many times as you like. Try five times in each direction… which makes for ten times on each leg.
It sounds like a big practice, but you’ll be amazed at how smooth and easy it flows.
Enjoy!
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Video Exploration #6 with Kara-Leah Grant
Putting the Flow Together: A Complete Mandala Surya Namaskar
Now you’ve watched the video, here’s your Om-Work for the Week
Week #6 Om-Work:
This week’s practice is very simple. Flow every day! Yes, that’s right. Each day, do this sequence until you know it inside out.
Allow the expression to vary day-to-day depending on what’s going on in your body and your mind.
See what arises naturally for you.
Make sure you close with Shavasana!
Any questions, please leave a comment and I’ll respond. It’s likely that if you have that question, other people do too.
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