30-Day Sun Salutation Challenge: Day 25: A New Challenge

So last night and this morning I tried “B” salutations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vIJX7SIiJo

If you look at the video, you will see the differences: a knee-bend at the beginning, a pair of “warrior poses” in the middle. The rest is the same. What is a little scary is feeling the balance “wobble” made more acute by the un-warmed tendons, muscles, and ligaments. Possibly the mind not being fully engaged either.

In the Ashtanga Yoga series you might do FIVE “A” salutations before you do three “B” salutations: warming the body up. So the first few reps are usually pretty ugly, then your body “flowers” and opens. When I tried this last night, it wasn’t bad, but this morning I could REALLY feel:

1. My feet pronate
2. Stiffness in my thighs. Could NOT bend my knees more than a few inches
3. Balance “wobbles” when I stepped forward into Warrior pose.
4. Hip flexibility was “meh”
5. Shoulder flexibility during arm lift was “meh”
6. Switching feet was an ugly experience. Proprioception bad, and I had to catch my balance. Ugh.
7. The rest was pretty typical.

In other words, the “A” Salutation was, except for low back stiffness, no longer a challenge. So it makes sense to advance to a more complex movement structure to keep my mind and emotions fully engaged.