Settling on your mat

THE BLACK STUFF
One of Dublin's best yoga teachers, Mari Kennedy, who teaches in The Yoga Room and Clonlea Yoga Studio, introduced the idea of settling onto your mat like a pint of Guinness. Such a lovely image and one which the class of predominantly Irish students wholeheartedly identified with, even if it was only 9:45am! The idea, she goes on to explain, is in the ritualistic pause that follows after a Guinness is drawn before you can savour it. There is a savouring in the period of anticipation too, similar to the anticipation at the start of a class, and the sense of achievement at making it onto your mat. We would all benefit from starting our practice by pausing, and letting everything settle – letting go of all the busy thoughts of the day and clearing a space for the present. It leaves an inner smile when you look around the class and visualise all the little pints of Guinness practising their Sun Salutations, without even spilling a drop!

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Sun Salutation, a closer look

SUN SALUTATION ROOTS
The origins of the Sun Salutation are uncertain. The earliest text illustrating the classic Sun Salutation we practise today, was written in the 1930s by Krishnamacharya. But it is not known if he was simply recording a sequence handed down for centuries from teacher to teacher or if he created it himself. He went on to teach the sequence to his students, including K. Pattabhi Jois and K.B.S Iyengar.

Traditionally practised in the morning as a salute to the rising sun, the Sun Salutation is multi functional and can actually be practised at any time of the day. When practised in the morning it wakes up the system and gets you ready for the day ahead. Practised in the evening it helps you unwind and relax. It is the perfect way to start building a home practice. The three versions strengthen and stretch all the main muscle groups, build stamina and prepare for more challenging asana. They also build heat and increase circulation throughout the whole system, which aids digestion and benefits all the internal organs.

The repetitive and meditative quality of the movements relaxes the mind and body, reducing stress and anxiety and increasing mental clarity. As you move through each pose in the Sun Salutation, you take either an in-breath or an out-breath. This makes it a good start to your practice and establishes the link between the breath and the movement. When done slowly it also encourages a calm breath which triggers the parasympathetic nervous system.

There are three main versions of Sun Salutation, or Surynamaskara. Sun Salutation C, also called Sun Salutation Classic, is the best version to start any practice with. You step back from your first Forward Fold/Uttanasana, to Anjaneyasana/Low Lunge, which is kinder on the joints while you give your system a chance to warm up. It also offers a softer decline to the floor through Knees, Chest, Chin, rather than Chaturanga Dandasana/Four Limb Pose. Coming all the way down to the ground offers a gentler backbend with Bhujangasana/Cobra, instead of a full Urdhva Mukha Svanasana/Upward Facing Dog. You can also incorporate a soft bend in the knees for the forward folds, allowing time for the hamstrings to warm up.

Sun Salutation A, or Surynamaskara A, is also the perfect way to start to your practice. For the first few rounds you can come down to the floor through Knees, Chest, Chin until your shoulders and back are warmed up enough to support the correct alignment of Chaturanga Dandasana/Four Limb Pose and Urdhva Mukha Svanasana/Upward Facing Dog.

Sun Salutation B, or Surynamaskara B, is actually the most challenging version of the three. It builds on the poses of Sun Salutation A, with the addition of Utkatasana/Chair, and Virabhadrasana I/Warrior I. Warrior I requires your hips to be very open, and exposes any instabilities or tightness you might have in knees, hips or lower back. It also offers a lovely stretch in the psoas, strengthens and stretches the thigh, calves and ankles, and stretches the shoulder and neck when the raised arms are added into the pose.

Click on any of the above sequences and print them out to use as a visual aid for your next home practice.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

The benefits of Savasana

ASSIMILATION
Savasana, or Corpse Pose, is the ultimate asana for reintegration. It is considered to be one of the most essential, and the most tricky asana to master! It gives the challenge of relaxing, while remaining conscious, in order to absorb the effects of the asana and let go of all the efforts of our practice. During the practise a wide range of different muscle groups have been worked. Finishing the practice with Savasana gives the body a chance to reset and settle. Yoga poses were cleverly designed over 2,600 years ago, to help achieve this. A muscle is much more willing to submit and melt when it has been gently stretched and strengthened. By letting all the muscles dissolve into the support of the ground, it helps to release stress.

TAKE YOUR TIME
Stress can be emotional or physical, but the result of it is the same. It is linked to many mental and physical ailments. Learning to relieve stress is a very important tool in the hectic society we live in. It is recommended to take 5min of Savasana for every 30min of practise. Surrendering to the moment, and letting the teacher control when we re-enter the busy outside world, gives us permission to totally let go, slow down and absorb. This is something so many people don’t allow themselves to do very often.

Savasana reduces fatigue and headaches, helps relieve stress and mild depression, relaxes the breath, lowers blood pressure, triggers the parasympathetic nervous system and increases blood flow to all the organs of the body, nourishing your whole system. All the benefits of each asana from the practice, continue to process through the system. When we take time to build a bridge, that connects from the practice back out to our busy lives, the integration is smoother, and we carry the tranquillity we have cultivated into our day. We are better able to tackle the outside world again!

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Christmas Sun Salutation

TAKE SOME TIME
Christmas can be a hectic time of year. It can be hard to find a moment to take time for yourself. Sometimes all it takes is 10 minutes to breathe and slow down. The Sun Salutation has an array of movements that strengthens and stretches all the major muscle groups. The repetition of the sequence can be very calming. With each movement linked to an in-breath or out-breath, it encourages a slow and calm breath. Why not try the above sequence for 10 minutes on Christmas morning, or throughout the festive period, to give you space to take on all that comes with this busy time of year.

The above sequence can be repeated as your full practise, or as a warm up for further asana. For the first few sequences start with your knees softly bent in the forward folds, to allow the hamstrings to warm up. Each full Sun Salutation C consists of two rounds of the above sequence. In the first round you step your right leg back from your first forward fold, and step it forward from your second downward facing dog. In your second round you step your left foot back and forward. 

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Finding the pause between breaths

KEEP CALM AND BREATH
Take a moment to examine a long, deep breath. Notice the quiet moment between the in-breath and the out-breath. Like a change in direction, there is a moment of pause where everything is still. In this moment alone, the body is peaceful and the breath rests.

Life has become busier and the pace of life faster. We move from one job to the next, spend hours in front of computer screens and eat food on the go. Although we’ve become more aware of the need to slow down and recalibrate, it can be hard to find the time or the know how to do so. ‘Finding the pause’ can be as simple as stopping and breathing. Just take five long breaths to clear your mind, calm your system and be ready to start again into the next job. Connect with how you’re feeling now, in this moment. Let the completed job go and the next job wait.

SLOWING DOWN
I find the busier I get, the faster I move and the more I take on. It’s as if life is moving in constant circles getting faster and faster until something, eventually, has to give. Then I get a reminder that I need to slow down, pause and breath. It can seem impossible sometimes to stop but the next time you’re in the throes of a hectic day scan your body. Are your shoulders tight, are you holding tension in your back, are you breathing shallow breaths or even holding your breath! As a result we make a list of things we intend to do to remedy this tension when sometimes it’s as simple as taking a deep breath. Becoming aware of how you feel is the first step to making changes. Find the pause between breaths, between jobs, between meetings, waiting at traffic lights; you can even find it between asanas in your yoga practice.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru