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Basics of practice: Samasthitih | Ardha Surya Namaskara | Asana Detail

Ardha Surya Namaskara (Half Sun Salutation)

By Richard Freeman

In the first few moves of this classic sequence, we can learn to unify and ride on the pulsing energies of the breath.

Yogis, some of nature's finest connoisseurs, can extract nectar from the cores of their own finely tuned bodies. Like intoxicated bees, humming and diving into the centers of flowers, they turn their awareness inward to relish a fine (metaphorical) wine which is distilled through an internal process of uniting opposites.

Opposites are all around us, from the crests and troughs of waves to the simultaneous rooting and flowering movements of growing seeds. Nothing inside or outside us exists fixed or separate from its context.

"Yoga", which literally means joining, brings together internal energies and processes that we normally think of as separate. It teaches us to unite our masculine, focused awareness (known in yogic philosophy as Shiva) with our feminine, accommodating awareness (known as Shakti). Yoga also teaches us to balance a focused concentration on a single point, such as the alignment of our toe, or the movement of our sternum, with a broad, awareness of the horizon of our body and mind as a whole. The movement of our awareness from the core to the surface, from a narrow focus to broad fields of diversity, from feminine modes to masculine modes and back again, forms pulsations or waves. These waves reveal the pleasure or nectar which satisfies so much that the mind naturally comes to rest.

The most immediate, intimate, and easily explored example of this pulsation is our own breathing. As we breathe, energy moves within us in two different directions, like a tree: the roots of the exhalation go down, as the branches, leaves, and flowers of the inhalation go up and spread out. The two movements depend on each other, in fact, they are actually two parts of the same movement, yet we usually bring only the rooting or the flowering into our awareness at any one time. Yoga joins the two energies, so that we are aware of both simultaneously.

Traditionally the rooting energy of the exhalation is known as apana, while the blossoming energy of the inhalation is called prana. (Apana and prana are two subdivisions of the life force that is also known as prana.) Apana, which functions around the lower belly and perineum, is responsible for drawing together and pushing things out of the body. Prana, which functions around the heart area, is responsible for drawing things in and spreading them throughout the. In terms of our awareness of sensation, apana collects from the surface and draws toward the core. prana has the reverse function of moving from the core out to the variegated surface. We can experience this as the play of masculine and feminine, of the one and the many, or of Shiva and Shakti.

When prana and apana are joined together at the root of the navel, you can awaken the movement of inner breath from the perineum up the central axis of the body to the crown of the head. The initial way to join prana and apana is with conscious breathing. Watch the roots while the flowers are blooming and preserve the essence of the flower when the rooting is dominant. In other words, when inhaling, take the awareness down to the pelvic floor and observe the toning of that area; and when exhaling, keep the heart area open, feeling it as empty and bright.

Observing one area or field of the body should never mean that you exclude awareness of the rest of the body. One area is simply brought to the foreground, while your awareness of other areas and movements organizes around the periphery. (Beware! Types of mental concentration which exclude rather than organize peripheral energies tend to create conflict and tension.)

The breathing movements of prana and apana are inextricably linked with other movements of the body. For example, internal rotation of the legs is governed by prana and supports inhaling, while external rotation, governed by apana, supports exhaling. When you become aware of the effects of such opposing yet complementary actions, you can open the core of the body and bring the mind into stillness. This principle is the basis of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.

Vinyasa literally means sequence. In Ashtanga Vinyasa practice, movement and poses are linked one after another, in synchrony with the breath, according to the laws of prana and apana. In this way, these opposite energies work together to produce grounded and deep yoga. Ashtanga Vinyasa practice naturally encourages correct alignment to support proper breathing. It also encourages a natural mulabandha, which involves a toning and awakening of the muscles of the perineum. sometimes translated as the root lock, mulabandha draws the pubic bone back and down, the coccyx forward and down, while just the center point of the perineum draws slightly up. Properly executed, mulabandha is relaxing. It causes a pleasant release from the palate on up behind the bridge of the nose. It joins prana and apana, and releases extraneous tension in our postures and breathing. It takes years of patient practice to eliminate unnecessary contractions in the buttock, abdomen and mouth when cultivating mulabandha. Be patient.

The only way to understand the joining of inner breath in Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, is to experience it firsthand. One easy and profound vinyasa is the entrance to the Sun Salutation. This continuous flow of movement with the breath ties together many levels of yoga practice. At the same time it prepares the body for asana practice because it warms up the hip joints, grounds the feet and legs, correctly stretches the hamstrings, supports the basics of pranayama, and eventually establishes a living, breathing mulabandha which unites prana and apana.

Two internal practices are cultivated during the Sun Salutation. The first is ujjayi breathing, in which you generate a soft, pleasant aspirate sound with your breath, both while exhaling and inhaling. This makes an even rate of flow and helps you to feel more of the internal sensations of the movements. To create an ujjayi breath, try whispering "aaaaahhhh" with your mouth open. Then continue to make the same sound with your mouth closed, so the breath goes in and out through your nose. Keep the mouth soft and the palate open as if you were just about to smile.

The second practice is dristi steady, friendly gaze at different internal or external points, which vary according to the pose you are in. Dristi assists the concentration of the mind and the movements of the spine and neck. There is no strain, intention, or even need to focus in dristi. Dristi helps unite the breathing and the awareness, and it opens the soft palate, the gateway into the central axis of the body.

The Sun Salutation, or Surya Namaskara begins with Samasthitih, the Equal Standing pose. During all of the movements which follow, the internal alignment and activity of Samasthitih are maintained. The various asanas are strung on the continuous thread of the breath like pearls are strung on a silken thread.

Begin with waking up the feet by stretching open the roots of the toes. Then create the sensation of plugging the heels and the roots of the toes into the earth by waking up the legs and drawing the kneecaps up. Tune the pelvic floor by drawing the coccyx slightly down and into the perineum and drawing the pubic bone and groins slightly back, creating a hollow. This will place the middle of the perineum (the area about a quarter inch in front of the anus) on the plumb line running up along the central axis of the body. The deep, fine breathing used in Surya Namaskara will cause both the coccyx and pubis to drop or release downwards as the middle point of the perineum draws up. This grounding action releases the center of the heart area, which floats up like a steady flame.

Roll the tops of the arm bones up and back as the shoulder blades slide down the back. This action accommodates the opening of the heart area.

As the center of the heart floats empty, the kidney area of the lower back edge of the ribcage should float up and spread out. The mouth releases; the eyes turn slightly down and rest steadily on a single point (the fingertips, the tip of the nose or a point on the floor). The back of the palate opens in an inward smile. The centers of the ears can then open and float over the centers of the shoulders.

With open ears, tune in to the simple, pleasant sound of ujjayi breathing, which is made by partially opening the valve of the glottis in the larynx. The sound of the inhale and the exhale should be nearly the same, indicating a constant rate of flow. Listening to this sound is a way of uniting all of the various movements and sensations of Surya Namaskara into a single frame of awareness. This way we will not have piecemeal postures, in which an opening of the kidney area causes forgetfulness or closing of the heart area.

If all these alignment and grounding techniques don’t fall easily into place, you are not alone. Just smile inwardly and breathe anyway. The joining of opposites is like a slippery bar of soap; when you grab at it, it slips away. By practicing, the internal yoga will gradually come.

Ardha Surya Namaskara begins with drawing the arms up to the side and overhead in time with the inhalation. As the breath begins to come in, wake up and ground the feet and the legs, maintaining equal rooting at the four corners of each foot. Keep on dropping the coccyx and pubis as the sides of the waist and the kidney area (twelfth ribs) spread out wide and lift up like great wings of breath. Slowly look up so that as the palms of the hands come together over head as the eyes look softly at the thumbs. This is the first position of the Ardha Surya Namaskara, called Ekam (which means “first” in Sanskrit). It is essentially Samasthitih with the arms lifted out and up in response to the action of the ribs and breath.

In Ekam be sure to place the joined thumbs no further back than the plumb line of the body. Ekam is not a back bend. Be sure to ground the heels, drop the coccyx and to lift the kidneys, so that this great inhaling and opening does not get uprooted and blown away. Lift the front of the spine, drop the outer rim of the pelvic floor, release the soft palate, quiet the tongue, and drop the skin down the back of the neck. It should feel like you are reaching from the depths of the earth, from under the belly, with no strain at all in the head or neck.

With a smooth, full exhalation, make the transition to the second position (Dve), a standing forward bend. Carefully observe your transition from inhale to exhale and from exhale to inhale. In this moment, you can learn a lot about the interdependence of prana and apana. Remember that when you exhale, you should preserve the essence of the inhalation by keeping the center of the heart open. When you inhale, preserve the essence of the exhalation by keeping the perineum awake. Unfortunately the mind is usually distracted at these transitional points of the breath cycle, and the real pearls of the breath remain hidden.

As you exhale to fold forward into Dve, begin your movement from under the belly just above the center of the perineum. As if drawing a thin thread up from the center of the pelvis, move up and over the tops of the legs, to pull back the groins in a swan diving motion as you spread your arms out to the side. (I often think of the cliffs of Acapulco here.) During the exhaling descent, ground the roots of your toes, keep the heels down, and draw the skin up the front of the legs and tuck it back into the folds of the groins. (Please don't take these instructions too literally. They are meant to describe and invoke certain feelings, but not necessarily visible movements.) Keep the feet grounding. Move the tops of your leg bones straight back to create the sensation that the fold of the groins is constantly lifting and widening.

During the first phase of this transition look up at a point between the eyebrows. This dristi (gaze) will help keep the lower back straight, allowing full rotation of the pelvis around the tops of the leg bones. During the last quarter of the descent shift the gaze to the tip of the nose and release the spine so the top of the head points down. This is Dve. You may or may not be able to place your hands on the floor. Don’t worry, don’t strain just breathe and move from the root.

The inhaling movement into the third position, Trini, is exciting! As you inhale, draw the center thread of the perineum up. Look up and let the breath roll the spine straight, right up from the front of the sacrum. Flexible people should really straighten the legs, charging and grounding the opened soles of the feet evenly. They can also keep their hands on the floor. The rolling movement up the front should go on up behind the soft palate, up to the crown of the head. Look up into the forehead or between the eyebrows.

Trini should fully stretch the buttocks, liberating the sitting bones from the backs of the legs. Tone the perineal muscles to help balance the inward and outward rotation at the top of the femur. The pubis is drawn back and up into the perineum, yet the coccyx draws down and also moves towards the front of the anus. This balance of opposite movements sets the base of the posture to create the proper movement of the breath and spine.

If you are stiff in the legs and hips these movements can still work well and you can still taste the inner breath. The key is to patiently cultivate a scooping sensation under the belly just above the pubic bone, as if the belly is drawing in. Visualize a bright empty cave, a slight vacuum, or hollowing in front of the sacrum. If you are stiff, you should bend the knees during the descent into Dve and keep them bent in Trini. In this way even the stiffest people can feel the full folding of the hip joints and the action in the perineum as the buttock stretches. This is the yoga!

After completing Trini, we will reverse the movement to return to Samasthitih, rather than continuing on through the full form of Surya Namaskara. On the exhale, fold again over the groins, releasing the spine. During the last phase of this exhalation, look with smiling, soft eyes towards the tip of the nose. Now with the inhale look up, set the firmness of the legs and the four corners of each foot, straighten the spine and then continue coming up, reaching up from earth to sky to bring the palms back together in Ekam. During the ascent, balance the perineum's pull on the coccyx with the buoyant rising at the center of the heart. Now with a smooth exhalation, draw the arms down to your sides as if swimming.

We have returned full circle to the beginning. Continue on for another few rounds of Ardha Surya Namaskara. Each round can take you deeper. Find the central thread of the movement. If you have tight legs or an unstable lower back you can bend your legs going forward into Dve. This will allow you to stretch the buttock and to locate the activity of the perineum. Later you can cultivate straight legs. Another option is to place a chair or bench in front of the shins and to use it as a platform for the hands as you straighten and release the spine from its root. The hands can also be placed on the shins or thighs during Dve and Trini.

Most important in this practice is to do these postures with enthusiasm and intelligence. The advantage of minding the breath is that the breath does not exclude awareness of sensation, feeling, and orientation in space. In fact, breath can aid you in balancing various viewpoints, contractions, releases and rotations. Just breathe pleasantly. Make the movements natural, and technique will be placed within its context and purpose. By releasing the root of the palate, steadying and softening the eyes, and opening the ears, you naturally find the middle path up the central axis of the body.

Ardha Surya Namaskar is actually one continuous asana, with all of its components made of dual, complementary motions, always in play. The pulsation between flowering and rooting, between prana and apana, can be turned into the steady flame of meditation. The respectful intelligence of Ashtanga Vinyasa practice reveals the aspect of the poses which is constant, the thread that runs through them all. This is the thread of pure awareness, the present moment, of pure being.