The classical version of the sun salutation includes breath and movement synchronized to open the hamstrings, front of the chest and psoas muscle (which connects the front of the lumbar vertebrae to the femur, and controls flexion of the thigh toward the abdomen).

1. Begin the series standing in Tadasana (Mountain Pose)—Stand up straight with your feet together on your mat. Press the thigh bones back, lengthen the spine down through your tailbone and up through the crown of your head. Open the chest by dropping your shoulders away from your ears and moving the tops of the arms back (Fig. A).

2. Inhaling, raise the arms overhead so that the palms touch and lean back slightly (Fig. B).

3. Exhaling, fold forward with the arms out wide as if doing a lovely swan dive into a clear lake – if possible, touch the hands to the floor or shins
(Fig. C).

4. Inhaling, leave your hands on your shins or fingertips on the floor and come halfway up, flattening the back and lifting the sit-bones toward the ceiling. Exhaling, fold in once more, drawing your belly and chest toward your legs, simultaneously step the left leg back and put the left knee, shin and top of the foot on the mat (Fig. D). Completing this movement will require that you come into a low lunge with the right knee deeply bent. Be certain that the right knee is over the ankle or behind it, not in front of it.

5. Inhale and raise your arms up with palms facing each other as you sink into your left groin, stretching the psoas. Exhaling, bring the hands down to the mat on either side of the right foot, draw the right foot back even with the left and press up into downward facing dog (Fig. E).

6. Inhaling, pull forward into upward plank pose, this looks like the upper movement of a push up, so feel the belly supporting the spine, the clavicles wide so that the chest is open, and the heels pressing away from you to lengthen the backs of the legs. On an exhale, lower the knees, chest and chin to the mat (Fig. F). If your core is very strong, you can lower to the mat through chaturanga dandasana, keeping your body in one solid line, so that the belly doesn’t touch the mat before the chest and chin or vice versa. It is tempting to allow the elbows to flare out to the sides as you lower the body in this manner. Resist this temptation and keep the elbows in close so that the upper inner arms actually brush the sides of the chest.

7. Once you are on the mat, make certain your hands are under your shoulders and then inhale open into bhujanghasana, Cobra Pose (Fig. G). This pose is more about opening the chest and keeping the shoulders away from the ears than dramatically bending at the lumbar spine, so keep your attention on the work in the chest rather than in the lower belly.

8. Release from bhujanghasana and exhale as you press yourself back into downward facing dog (come up through plank if your core is strong enough or leave the knees on the mat and raise the upper body then straighten the legs) (Fig. H).

9. Inhaling, raise the left leg up and exhaling draw it forward to land next to the left thumb on the mat. Simultaneously, drop the right knee, shin and top of the foot onto the mat (Fig. I). Inhaling, raise the arms overhead with palms facing each other. Exhaling, place the hands onto the mat on either side of the left foot and step the right leg forward to meet the left. Inhale halfway up and flatten the back with the fingertips on the mat or the hands on the shins.

10. Exhale and fold in deeply (Fig. J).

11. Inhale all the way up with the arms raised overhead, palms facing each other. Lean back slightly (Fig. K). Exhale the hands down the center line to the heart (Fig. L). This is half of the classical sun salutation. Repeat the sequence once more, this time stepping back with the right foot after the first forward bend and stepping forward with the right foot after downward facing dog. (Start by trying to do 3 repetitions of Surya Namaskar. You can increase over time until you are doing 9 or 18 repetitions in a session.)