Water Salutation

The "like a tide" image in this sequence's cueing isn't just poetic language, it's pointing at a genuinely different movement quality than the sun salutations. Those sequences tend to have a clear, structured rhythm. This one is meant to feel more continuous and flowing, each transition arriving on an exhale rather than snapping into place.

To move through a fluid, side-bending sequence linking standing poses, each transition driven by the exhale, cultivating a continuous rather than segmented quality of movement.

1. 1Stand in Mountain Pose.
2. 2Exhale into a side bend to the right, then the left.
3. 3Flow into Goddess Pose, sinking into the wide squat.
4. 4Move into Triangle Pose on the right side.
5. 5Transition into Extended Side Angle on the right.
6. 6Flow through a Wide-Legged Fold, then into Triangle and Extended Side Angle on the left side.
7. 7Return through Goddess Pose, side bends on the left then right, and rise back to Mountain Pose.

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 quality here is continuity: each transition flowing into the next rather than pausing distinctly between shapes.

The exhale is the primary driver of movement in this sequence, more prominently than the even inhale-exhale alternation of the sun salutations. Let each exhale carry the body into the next shape, like a wave receding rather than a push.

Look for the sequence becoming segmented and sharp, more like a sun salutation's structure than the continuous, flowing quality it's actually meant to have. A cue toward fluidity, rather than a correction to any single pose, is often what's needed here.

Reflect after practising:

• •This sequence is meant to feel different from the sun salutations, more like a continuous wave than a series of distinct steps. Let that quality guide your movement.
• •The exhale is doing more of the driving here than you might be used to. Notice how that changes the pace and feel of each transition.

Rather than mistakes, you may notice:

• •Practice the individual poses within this sequence, Goddess Pose, Triangle, Extended Side Angle, until they're familiar, then focus specifically on the quality of the transitions between them.

• •A gentler squat depth in Goddess Pose.
• •Hand on the shin instead of the floor in Triangle and Extended Side Angle, the same modifications available in those poses individually.

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