I'm on my mat, now what?

Part 4: Surya Namaskar B (Sun B)

Sun B: “the meat (or tofu) of the meal,” “where the rubber meets the road,” “the moment of truth”

Sun B carries a lot of weight in a power vinyasa flow. It is often the longest posture series for continuous breath-to-movement flow in a 60-minute vinyasa sequence. Since the body is already warmed up from Integration and Sun A, Sun B incorporates more postures, more planes of movement, and a higher degree of complexity compared to the chapters of our flow preceding it. (If you missed our rundown of the planes of motion of the body, check out our post on Sun A!)

Where a traditional Sun A often focuses on primarily the sagittal plane of motion (forward and backward movement), Sun B adds in frontal (side-to-side) and transverse (twisting) movements. Vinyasa flow gets spicy in Sun B as all the planes of motion work in the body simultaneously through more complex movement.

To this end, the goals of Sun B are:

1. Endurance. Sustain an increased heart rate through continuous breath-to-movement activity complemented by ujjayi breath for a full-body, aerobic workout.

2. Dynamic Movement. Use all major muscle groups to build dynamic flexibility, power, and balance.

3. Targeted Engagement. Select postures which use certain muscles you will need for a complex posture you are working on mastering, “a peak pose.”

What’s the difference between flexibility, power, and balance?

- Flexibility is the aspect of physical fitness concerned with maximizing your range of motion. Building flexibility involves lengthening muscles and supportive connective tissues to be able to stretch farther, reach higher, extend wider.

- Power is the aspect of physical fitness concerned with the strength of your muscles to support your body in different postures and to propel your body through space against gravity. Building power requires toning muscles and increasing their ability to stand up against weight, resistance, and sustained activity.

- Balance is the aspect of fitness concerned with body awareness and control. Balance requires the use of stabilizer muscles for static holds. Balance training builds awareness of your center of gravity and where your body is in space without having a visual reference, like a mirror.

Flexibility, power, and balance are needed in tandem for full-body fitness and dynamic movements used in yoga and climbing. Many postures require all three to operate in unison to execute. These are dynamic movements.

Crescent lunge for example requires hip flexor flexibility to extend your legs in opposite directions while keeping your torso long and lifted. It requires power in your glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings to support your body weight in a lunge position, and it requires balance to stay high on the ball mound of your back foot, engaging small stabilizer muscles in your lower legs and core.

What’s a peak pose?

A complex posture you are working on mastering which requires your body to be fully warmed up and loose to execute properly. Peak postures may take days, weeks, months, or years of practice and exploration. Handstand and other arm balances like 8-angle, hurdlers, or flying crow are great examples of peak postures to work on!

Peak postures can also be a posture that is intrinsically more challenging to your body. For example, if you have naturally tight hips like me, frog pose or full pigeon might be a peak posture you want to master over time.

A peak pose doesn’t need to be Instagram-worthy, it’s all about setting a personal goal or challenge and sticking to it!

Back to Sun B:

Sun B often lasts 10-15 minutes of a 60-minute vinyasa practice. That may seem like a short time, but a lot of physical work can be accomplished in a 15-minute sustained flow! In my practice, I follow the same pattern as I described for Sun A with a series of postures repeated three times. The first round is Sun B “Slow” which allows several breaths to each posture, while the second and third rounds are Sun B “Flow,” a true one breath to one movement practice. Even once we reach the Sun B chapter of practice, I still find my body in need of the Sun B “Slow” to settle into a shape and continue to gently stretch and warm my muscles. In Sun B “Slow,” you build muscle memory of the postures for the later rounds, finding focus and balance. Allowing your body to run through Sun B “Slow” prepares for smoother breath-to-movement transitions and allows you to go deeper into postures in the last two rounds of Sun B “Flow.”

Often, Sun B includes a series of around 7 postures with a “vinyasa” reset in between (high to low plank, upward facing dog, downward-facing dog). But depending on the complexity of the poses and how they are sequenced together, more or less than 7 poses might feel right…there is no magic number! It is easy to get carried away with long sequences, but remember, whatever you do on one side, you must repeat on the other side to complete one round of a flow.

Sun B Sequence:

Tune in soon to see a video posted with an example of a Sun B sequence!

Namaste!