The Perfect Sun Salutation To Start Your Summer Day Right

This particular form of sun salutation comes from the Ashtanga Vinyasa lineage. Each pose is held for only one part of the breath. If the weather allows, I encourage you to do this practice outdoors, perhaps even at sunrise:

Stand up tall at the top of your mat with your feet hip-width apart. Roll your shoulders back and turn your palms forward. Push into all four corners of both feet. Exhale fully.

Inhale to reach your arms up overhead. Bring your palms together as you look up.

Exhale to fold forward toward your toes. Bend your knees as much as you need to in order to protect your lower back.

Inhale to lift your chest up halfway, parallel to the mat. Place your fingertips on the mat in front of you or on your shins if needed. Roll your shoulders back, and keep the weight in your toes.

Exhale to step your feet back into plank pose and bend your elbows to a 90-degree angle. Keep your upper arms close to your rib cage and your core engaged. You can make this easier by lowering your knees to the mat. Intermediate and advanced students can hop the feet back into four-limbed staff pose immediately and skip the plank pose.

Inhale to roll over your toes and lift your chest as you straighten your arms. Squeeze the muscles in your legs to keep your knees and pelvis lifted off the ground. If this is difficult for you, do cobra pose (Bhujangasana) instead with your elbows bent and your hips on the mat.

Exhale to lift your hips up and back into downward-facing dog. Your feet should be hip-width distance apart with your hands shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees as much as you'd like as you reach your tailbone up.

From downward-facing dog, bend your knees to look at the top of the mat. Step or hop your feet in between your palms and inhale to find your standing half forward bend pose once more.

Exhale to fold forward.

Inhale as you come all the way up to standing, leading with your chest and circling your arms up overhead.

Excerpt from Year of Yoga, published by Mandala Publishing, copyright © 2022 by Kassandra Reinhardt, photo copyright © 2022 by Jessica Hodgson.