Modified Sun Salutations

Use Sun Salutations in the beginning of the practice to excite energy, moving reasonably rapidly between the poses. Repeat the series one or more times, alternating the leg that moves forward in the lunge (for balance).

If you are overweight, you can modify the Sun Salutations as follows:

1. From Mountain pose (Tadasana), bring your arms up overhead but don’t do a backbend, as is sometimes done.

2. Move into Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana) with your knees slightly bent.

3. Rather than the standard lunge, kneel down one knee at a time, and come into Table pose.

4. In place of Upward-Facing Dog, use Sphinx pose to avoid putting too much weight on your wrists. To do the pose, kneel down and place your forearms on the mat, with your elbows directly beneath the shoulders.

5. Modify Downward-Facing Dog pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana) to protect your wrists and elbows by making the stance shorter than usual.

6. After Downward-Facing Dog pose, move back onto your knees, and then move one foot forward. Put your weight on your back foot and lift your back knee off the ground, so that now you are in a lunge.

7. From lunge, step forward so you are standing again with bent knees.

8. Round your back to come up.

9. Bring your arms overhead, and then back down.