Questuion about the breathing in the Sun salutation

[Mira]

Hi,
I'm trying to find out do I have to exhale or inhale in this positions of
Sun Salutation:

5 Exhaling and step the left foot together with the right. Arms are straight, raise the hips and align the head with the arms.

6 Exhale and lower the body as for the pushup. Touch the ground with the feet, knees, hands, chest, and forehead.

The different sources says different things.
Thank you in advance.

[spyderette]

i'm not quite familiar with step 5 that you have posted. if you can explain to me what poses this is a transition between i can clarify for you.

step six is obviously the transition into chaturanga dandasana, in which you exhale as you lower the body, then inhale as you come into upward facing dog.

namaste

[Mira]

Step 5 is this one
http://www.santosha.com/asanas/images/sn5b.gif
Thank you for the reply.

[spyderette]

you exhale as you move into downward dog. and generally hold for 5 or more breaths. then move out of it at the end of an exhalation.

but the step 6 you've posted is for chatturanga, which comes BEFORE downward dog. you lower the body down, like a reverse push-up on an exhalation, inhale as you move into upward facing dog, then curl the toes under and press the body backwards into down dog as you exhale.

sorry for the confusion. hope this is helpful.

[Mira]

10q for the answer.
Now I have some more questions and i dont know should I post them in different topic?
Im interested how do you choose which postures
to make in your exercises? I mean they are so much.
Is there some rule or depends on what I like?

[spyderette]

this varies a bit depending on which method you have studied, personal preference, etc, but the sequence i like and the one i use most often in my classes is this:

1. establish breathing
2. sun salutations/warm up
3. standing poses (warrior poses, triangle, etc)
4. balancing poses (standing or arm balances)
5. seated poses (hips, abs, hamstrings, etc) this can vary depending on what you want to work on or you can do some of each
6. back work (strengthening like locust or spinal extensions)
7. supine poses (fish pose, supta badha konasana, legs up the wall, etc)
8. inversions
9. spinal twists
10. savasana

steps 3-8 you can do as many or few as you like. you can even omit some depending on your mood, etc. but i always end with some twists, with some SI stabilization before them (lying on back, pull knees to chest and rock back and forth, etc.)

[Mira]

Thank you
for the answers.
Ill try that way.

[InnerAthlete]

Originally Posted by Mira

Hi,
I'm trying to find out do I have to exhale or inhale in this positions of
Sun Salutation:

5 Exhaling and step the left foot together with the right. Arms are straight, raise the hips and align the head with the arms.

6 Exhale and lower the body as for the pushup. Touch the ground with the feet, knees, hands, chest, and forehead.

The different sources says different things.
Thank you in advance.

Wow, well this is a very interesting post. Frankly without knowing what "version" of Surya Namaskar you are "doing" I wouldn't dare advise you specifically.

In the classical Surya Namaskar you move from Adho Mukha (down dog - which you refer to as 5) into vanarasana by stepping on foot up to a lunge - and then drop the back knee down or keep it lifted depending on the level of your current practice. Form there you step up to Uttansana, etcetera... so it's tough to give exact breathing for you.

On top of that there are some different breathing methodologies again depending on how deep into your practice you are. Rarely does yoga come with one right answer. For one student straightening the legs is the appropriate action while another stiff or injured student should not be straightening at all.

more info, better answer.