I’ve always liked the idea of sun salutations. Maybe it stems from an interest in mythology and the stories behind celebrating the return of the sun after the shortest days of the year – culminating with the longest day of the year in summer. Maybe it’s from the idea of a fresh possibility with a new day and greeting the day quietly, slowly – reverently – with a cup of coffee and easing into that possibility. And maybe, also, it’s because working through the steps of a sun salutation in yoga just…feels good.
This spring, I had a few weeks away from classes and my yoga practice. While I’ve written before about the feelings of coming back to the studio and back to practice after some time away, there was something else that struck me in my first flow class back the other week. We had just started warming up and moved to standing and our teacher walked us through a couple of half sun salutations and it felt so good to come back through those movements I know so well.
I like the focus it gives me to think through the movements and feel how it starts to melt away the stiffness I may have first felt with the first upward salute or first forward fold. Those first few sun salutations, half or one of the variations, is also a way for me to check in to see how I’m really feeling. As the body starts to warm up, I sense for what still seems to be “sticking,” so to speak. And from there I can think ahead to how I might want to modify in that hour to accommodate that area. Is it an “oh, I haven’t warmed up yet?” Or “Hmm, this area’s a little sore, I need to pay attention to it.”
But as I said, there’s also something to the idea of greeting the sun, and the symbolism behind that. That particular class, as I went through the movements and lengthened, I thought of the upcoming summer solstice. The solstices are turning points in the year, and, I think, a good time for reflection. With the upcoming solstice, we’ll start to turn towards the end of the year. What can I still work through and accomplish this year? Or what perhaps is no longer serving and I can release, to create space for something new?
That’s a lot to think about in class! Although to be fair, some of that came later, after I continued thinking how much I resonated with the idea of greeting the sun. But that sometimes is an added benefit of class: focusing the mind while moving and then moments of stillness to let some thoughts settle.
This is the part of a series of posts for The Mat Yoga Studio, sharing my thoughts and observations as a student only. The views and opinions are my own experience.
