Sun Salutation

Sun Salutation: 

and so I perform the sun salutation before even a hint of first light, as if greeting what's soon to arrive, my own ritual of fulfillment done and given to the new day. This is indeed a prayer, full body, gratefulness stretched through every vertebra, opening myself to receive every measure of the coming light. I am thankful to be in motion, able to move through this ancient sequence of postures that has awaken so many before me and will continue to do so for ages more. I am a link in an endless, ageless chain, and every morning I am reminded of this connection, of yogis centuries ago in this same performance, a ritual shared between us all. 

we greet the sun together. 

 I so deeply love this morning prayer, truly being a celebration of life, showing how grateful I am through the gift of body and attention, mindful of breath and how it moves and pauses through the entire sequence of poses, flowing with a wisdom completely of its own. My body knows exactly what to do, not just from the sake of years of practice, but something much deeper at play here, ancient, cellular, embedded in the DNA of my very existence. The sun salutation is a memory of previous bodies, yes, I'm talking reincarnation, yet not of a continuing soul, but of molecules and atoms, particles that were once gathered in other forms and prayed to sun light in a similar fashion as I do now. 

and still we greet the sun together. 

the sun salutation is a specific yoga practice, a series of postures meant to flow in sequence, opening energy channels, stretching fully and gentle every aspect of the body. Yet we can each offer up a morning prayer, a yoga of our own affair, a private gesture performed through whatever grace we're now given. Even a nod, when done with purity and full awareness, is a complete salutation, an entire yoga system contained within a glance and slight motion. It's just a means of being grateful, appreciative to a sunlit day, a small prayer that's offered to the morning. Through this...

we greet the sun together. 

~

Peace, Eric