I would like to share the standing yoga pose sequence from the Sunshine Sequence in Vinyasa Krama in this blog. We’ll focus on the poses from Padangustasana (Hand to Big Toe Pose) to Parsvottanasana (Intense Side Stretch Pose).
If you’ve got time, practice a few rounds of Sun Salutations to warm up your body and connect with your breath. You can practice with my guided video of the Sunshine Sequence standing poses or follow along via the instructions below.
Padangustasana Sequence
Start with your feet together and hands on the hips. Step or hop your feet hip-distance apart, and then, with the hands on the hips, guide the hips forward, lifting up through the spine and the chest, maybe starting to look a little up. Elbows are actively drawing back towards each other. See if you can keep firming through the belly here. Stay for three to five breaths.
Inhale, coming back up through the middle, hands staying on the hips as you fold forward. Reaching toward the big toes, for the yogi toe lock. So, two fingers underneath and thumb on top. Inhaling as you lift up through the chest. Exhale, elbows can draw out to the sides of the shins, and the head is dropping down. See if you can relax the head here. Feel free to bend slightly through the knees if your hamstrings feel tighter. Staying for five breaths.
Inhale as you open through the chest, with your hands sliding under your feet. Exhale to fold forward again, staying here for another five breaths. This time, you can ground the toes into the hands and maybe draw the elbows a little out to the side.
Exhale and slide your hands out of your feet. Inhale to open through the chest. Your hands might come right up to your shins here. Exhale, folding forward once more, holding the opposite elbows or your ankles. If you need extra space here, your knees can be slightly bent.
Inhale, opening through the chest. Hands come back to the hips, pausing halfway on your exhale. Then inhale, coming all the way up, hips forward, chest up, and we come to that first position again. See if you can avoid collapsing in the lower back by lengthening through your spine and reaching the chest up. Inhale, coming back up through the centre, and exhale to hop the feet.
Trikonasana Sequence
Take a big step back with your right foot. So, the right toes are facing the back of the mat. Exhale to slide the right hand down and reach up through the left arm. We're coming to our Triangle Pose, Trikonasana. Usually, if you're reaching too low, your top shoulder drops forward and down. So, if you need to, create that extra height and lift through your left arm. Staying for five breaths.
From here, we’re coming to our Side Angle Pose, Parsvakonasana. You can now bend your right knee, sliding the feet wider apart. Your right arm could be on the thigh, your left arm coming over, or you could slide your right fingertips down to the ground. Despite leaning over for your right leg, don't forget your left leg. So, see if you can lift through the left hip and the left side of the ribcage. Staying five breaths.
From here, we're going to come to a bind. So, drop your right shoulder down a bit lower, wrap your arms around the back, and see if you can lift your torso back up. If this feels too much, you could stay in the posture without binding, perhaps with your left arm wrapped around your back and your right arm down. Stay here for five breaths and then release.
Inhale to come back up and exhale, stepping back to the front of the mat. Then, repeat on the left side by stepping your left foot back towards the back of your mat.
We're stepping back again with the right foot. So, right toes face the back of the mat, and we're coming to Revolved Triangle Pose, Parivritta Trikonasana. Hips are squared. From here, you might want to use a block. If you’re new to this pose, you could bring the block towards the big toe side of your foot, which will feel more stable. If you’re comfortable in this position, you can bring the block to the little toe side of the foot. Now, see if you can draw your right hip back, press the left hand down, twist through your torso, and lift through your right arm if you're stable. Keep allowing both hips to draw back away from your head. Grounding here through your right big toe. Staying for five breaths.
We’re now coming to Revolved Side Angle Pose, Parivritta Parsvakonasana. So from here, we're going to bend both knees. For the first version, you want to hook the left elbow to the outside of your right thigh and see if you can slide your left shoulder over. Palms are together and elbows pressing wide apart. Your right knee is pressing in towards your left arm. If you're stable, lift up through your back leg. Try to avoid holding your breath as you stay here for five breaths.
Now we're coming to a third twisted posture. You want to slide the left arm down the outside of your right leg. So we're bringing the palm towards the ground. You could have a block under the hand if you needed more space. So, the left hand comes down, and the right arm lifts. Pressing that right knee more into your left shoulder. So, towards the right side of your mat. Staying another five breaths.
Slowly exhaling, releasing. Come back up on the inhale, coming through the middle and stepping back to the front of the mat. From here, repeat the three twists on the left side by stepping your left foot to the back of your mat.
Prasarita Padottanasana Sequence
We'll take a big step back with the right foot. We're now coming to our Wide-Legged Forward Fold, so Prasarita Padottanasana. Hands are coming to your hips. Exhaling as you fold forward, bringing the fingertips to the ground, and then, if it's comfortable, you can bend the elbows and start to walk the hands back, head dropping down. Being on the fingertips versus the palms can feel quite nice here if you need extra space in your hamstrings. See if you can bring your hands in line with the feet. Lean a little towards your toes as you stay here for five breaths.
Inhale as you open through the chest, exhale hands coming up to your hips, and inhale to come up on standing again. We will keep the hands on the hips, open through the chest, and look up. Exhale as you try to maintain that length through your spine, folding forward. This time, see if you can keep your spine straight. So that might mean not folding so deep as you stay for five breaths.
From here, come halfway up on your inhale, pausing, and then back up. Then, releasing the hands from the hips and bringing the arms behind the back. So this time, we'll interlace the fingers, open through the chest, exhaling to fold forward, reaching the arms up and over the head. In this one, you can allow your spine to round a little. So, just tucking the chin down, reaching the head down, and through. Staying for five breaths.
And then your hands come back to your hips. Inhale again, come just halfway and then return to standing again. We're coming to our final variation. We're going to fold forward from the hips. Your hands slide down the outsides of your legs as you fold. If you need slightly more space, you could bend the knees slightly. Stay for five breaths.
From here, open and lift your chest on your inhale, bringing your hands to the hips. Again, see if you can pause halfway and then come up to standing. Step back to the front of the mat. Great!
Parsvottanasana Sequence
You're taking a big step back with your left foot now. So both toes and hips are facing to the back of the mat. Hands are coming behind. Now, you could come with the hands behind, holding the opposite elbows, or you can start to slide the palms together in the reverse prayer position behind the back. We're going to first lift through the chest. So firm through the belly here, looking up. See if you can keep lifting through the whole spine. Staying for three to five breaths.
And then, coming through the middle, exhale as you fold forward over your left leg. Again, you can slightly bend your left knee if you need extra space. Over time, work towards lengthening your left leg. If it's quite intense, you might choose just to be halfway up. Staying for five breaths.
Then, inhale, coming up. We'll turn the feet the other way and repeat on the right side.
Tips for Practice
So, to sum up, we did the standing yoga pose sequence from Padangustasana to Parsvottanasana in the Sunshine Sequence today.
If you’re an Ashtanga practitioner or have done some Ashtanga in the past, you'll probably notice there's a lot of similarity and inspiration in the Primary Series, but with more focus on lengthening and opening through the chest and a few different variations.
It's up to you to decide if this was enough for you to practice today. If that’s the case, I invite you to lie on your back and relax for a few minutes in Savasana. Otherwise, you could continue your practice with some seated postures to work a little bit further on opening through the hips and hamstrings.
Receive Personal Guidance from Irene
Would you like personal guidance to help dive deeper into your yoga practice?
Email Irene via info@antarayoga.nl to book your free consultation call and discuss what type of private class or corporate yoga would best suit your needs.
Start a Home Yoga Practice
Do you want to develop a home yoga practice but not sure where to start? Follow the three steps in this free guide to start practicing yoga consistently at home.
Complete your details below to receive your free guide with tips for a home yoga practice. In this guide you'll also receive cheat sheets and links to guided videos for seven short sequences, as well as a practice calendar to get started.