
Sun Salutation B
sun-salutation-b
When I flow through Sun Salutation B, I want you to feel a steady, warming rhythm that wakes up every major muscle group. Good reps should leave your joints feeling lubricated and your spine elongated, never strained. Focus on matching your breath to each transition, letting the heat build naturally in your thighs and core. You will notice a light, energizing sweat and a grounded sense of calm that carries through the rest of your practice.
Se você está começando
If you are new to this sequence, prioritize breath and joint alignment over depth. Step your feet back rather than jumping to protect your wrists. In Warrior One, keep your back heel grounded and your front knee tracking over your second toe instead of collapsing inward. When you transition to downward-facing dog, allow a generous microbend in your knees to protect your hamstrings and lower spine. You will know you are pushing too far when your breath becomes shallow, your shoulders creep toward your ears, or your lower back aches. At that point, pause in child’s pose, reset, and shorten your range of motion. Common compensations include overarching the lumbar spine during upward-facing dog and letting the front knee drift past your toes. Keep your ribs knitted down and engage your core to maintain a neutral spine. This sequence builds steady endurance, not forced flexibility. Trust that consistent, mindful practice will naturally unlock your range of motion without strain.
Indo além
To make this sequence genuinely demanding, slow the lowering phases to a count of four or five, particularly as you descend from high plank and fold forward from Chair Pose. Add a three-breath hold in Warrior One and Downward-Facing Dog to increase time under tension; that is what ‘harder’ means here rather than adding external load. Five to eight rounds suit steady conditioning, but pushing towards twelve builds serious muscular endurance. Move on only when you can complete ten rounds without your breath becoming ragged, then progress to Sun Salutation C or introduce a full chaturanga instead of the knees-chest-chin lowering. For variation, try the Malasana version, replacing Chair Pose with a deep squat to demand more hip mobility, or link two consecutive Warrior Ones per side to double the single-leg loading.
Erros comuns
Practitioners often rush the transitions, sacrificing breath rhythm for speed, which turns a mindful flow into a disjointed series of poses. Another frequent error is collapsing through the shoulders during chaturanga, allowing the elbows to flare outward and dumping excessive weight into the wrists. In Warrior One, many people leave the back foot turned out at forty-five degrees, which destabilises the hips and strains the knee joint. During upward-facing dog, the tendency to grip the shoulders and overarch the lower back replaces genuine chest expansion with lumbar compression. Finally, holding tension in the jaw or gripping the toes instead of spreading them evenly across the mat disrupts the full-body connection required for a smooth, grounded practice.
Rotina
- Sets
- 3
- Reps
- 5-8 rounds
- Rest
- 30s
- RPE
- 3
- Per set
- ~120s
- Frequência
- 4-6x/week
Increase flow duration by adding rounds or deepening poses while maintaining steady breath synchronization.
Cues
Músculos
- Hip flexors
- Shoulders
- Quadriceps
- Glutes
- Abs
- Lower back
Equipamentos
- Bodyweight
- 1
Stand at the top of your mat with feet together, spine tall, and arms resting by your sides.
- 2
Inhale to bend your knees, sink your hips back, and sweep your arms overhead into Chair Pose, keeping ribs knitted down.
- 3
Exhale to hinge at the hips, plant your palms on the mat, and fold forward over your legs.
- 4
Inhale to lift your chest halfway, lengthening your spine flat while fingertips rest on your shins.
- 5
Exhale to plant your palms, step both feet back one at a time, lower through Chaturanga, inhale to press up into Upward-Facing Dog, then exhale to lift your hips high into Downward-Facing Dog.
- 6
Inhale to step your right foot forward between your hands, spin your left heel down to the mat, and rise into Warrior I with arms overhead and front knee tracking over your ankle.
- 7
Exhale to plant your hands, step your right foot back, lower through Chaturanga, inhale into Upward-Facing Dog, then exhale to lift your hips into Downward-Facing Dog.
- 8
Inhale to step your left foot forward between your hands, spin your right heel down, and rise into Warrior I with arms overhead and left knee tracking over your ankle.
- 9
Exhale to plant your hands, step your left foot back, lower through Chaturanga, inhale into Upward-Facing Dog, exhale into Downward-Facing Dog, then inhale to step both feet forward, exhale to fold, inhale to rise sweeping arms overhead, and exhale to lower your arms to stand.