One Sun Salutation

Just before dusk on a drive through Los Angeles a fierce amber sun hung in the skies that had become overcast with soot and ash. All around us was a dry and thick aroma of settled embers that lay across the cities north and south of us. We drove towards it as it moved into the sea and each of us let out a gasp of reverence.

On the next morning when I closed my windows to keep cooler air inside, the sun once again broke from the haze and lit my room with it’s shadowed warmth. And as I stretched overhead into my first round of sun salutations, I thought of the power and significance of this movement.

From my reading I found that in Sanskrit it is written Surya Namaskara. Surya signifies the Sun, which is thought of as a never-ending force of radiant heat. Namaskara is a salutation that shows respect and honor to the receiver.

As we practice this movement a heat builds from within to purify and cleanse our spirit and body. Its benefits are noted as the alignment of our spine, opening of our lungs and the “wringing out” of our glands and organs.

I may not always be aware of these factors while in my last round of the greeting, but I do take a moment to acknowledge that our sun is about rejuvenation, growth and energy. And even in my most exhausted moments I will open the curtains wide and welcome the full rays of the sun god to enlighten and replenish my spirit.
[tags] yoga practice, sun salutation,yoga poses [/tags]