Sun Salutation A

The most common way this sequence goes wrong isn't any single shape, it's the pace. Students often let momentum carry them through two or three positions on a single breath, which blurs the transitions and skips the chance to actually feel each shape. One breath per movement, genuinely honored, changes the whole quality of the sequence.

To move through a linked sequence of foundational poses, one breath driving each transition, building the breath-movement connection this whole practice depends on.

1. 1Stand in Mountain Pose. Inhale, reaching the arms up overhead.
2. 2Exhale, folding forward into Standing Forward Fold.
3. 3Inhale, lengthening the spine flat in a Half Lift.
4. 4Exhale, stepping or floating back to Plank, then lowering to Chaturanga (or knees-down, chest-and-chin variation).
5. 5Inhale, moving into Upward Facing Dog (or Cobra Pose).
6. 6Exhale, lifting the hips back into Downward Facing Dog, holding for five breaths.
7. 7Inhale, stepping or floating forward between the hands.
8. 8Inhale to Half Lift, exhale to fold, inhale to rise back to standing with the arms overhead.

Instead of searching for the “correct” position, notice:

• •Each linked pose carries its own alignment principles, covered in its individual entry elsewhere in this library. The additional layer here is transitional control: moving deliberately between shapes rather than collapsing or rushing from one into the next.

This sequence is fundamentally about the breath-movement link. One inhale or exhale per movement, no exceptions, is the actual skill being built, more than any individual pose's depth.

The pace matters more than any single shape here. A student moving through this sequence in a blur, several transitions happening within one breath, has lost the sequence's actual purpose, even if each individual pose looks reasonable in isolation.

Reflect after practising:

• •Let one breath genuinely carry you into the next shape, not two or three shapes at once. Slowing down here teaches your body something the rushed version can't.
• •Chaturanga (or its knees-down variation) is often the weakest link in this sequence for new students. It's worth its own dedicated attention outside of this flow.

Rather than mistakes, you may notice:

• •Practice each transition in isolation, particularly the plank-to-chaturanga-to-updog portion, before linking the entire sequence together at a breath-driven pace.

• •Knees down for the chaturanga portion, chest and chin lowering with control.
• •Cobra Pose instead of Upward Facing Dog.
• •Stepping instead of floating for any of the transitions.

• ✓Return to Mountain Pose, pausing there before repeating the sequence or moving into the next part of practice.