Free Yoga Class Plans | Sun Salutations B

Free Yoga Class Plans
Sun Salutations B
(Surya Namaskar)

Below is a free yoga class plan from the Yoga Teacher Lesson Plan Kit.

Step 1
Download the yoga class plan template

Click here to download the Sun Salutations B Yoga Class Plan (MS word)

Step 2
Learn The Sanskrit

Here’s a great way of remembering Surya Namaskar by using the memory tricks of memory champions.

Imagine you’re teaching a class at your favourite venue.  You’re teaching Sun Salutations B.  All of a sudden a sewer (sounds like SURYA) opening up under the floorboards and the smell is terrible.  If that’s not enough an ass (sounds like AS) eating nan bread (sounds like NAM) crashes through the door in car (sounds like KAR) and gets stuck in the sewer.

You can create your own bizarre and wacky story to remember Surya Namaskar.  The more bizarre you make it, the easier it is for your memory to recall it.   Another trick is to use all your senses.  Smell the sewer and nan bread.   See yourself at your yoga venue.  Hear the crash of the car.  The more connections you can make in your brain, the easier it is for your memory to recall it.

Step 3
Teach The Benefits 

Standing Poses

• sprouted Feet |  feet sprout roots so you feel secure and grounded
• build body awareness
• help you find your center

Forward Bend & Halfway Lift

• elongate spine
• stretch hamstrings
• cleanse digestive system

Plank & Four-Limb Staff

• engage muscles in arms, shoulders, chest and abdomen

Upward-Facing Dog

• stretches upper body
• frees your breathing

Downward-Facing Dog

• works muscles in your entire body
• calms your nervous system

Step 4
Practice.  Practice. Practice.

Make sure you know this sequence so well that you could do it backwards.  That means practicing it during your home practice. Follow the sequence on the Sun Salutations Class Handout you downloaded in step 1.

The 18 Sun Salutation B Asanas (Surya Namaskar)…

1. Mountain
2. Chair
3. Forward Bend
4. Plank
5. Up-Dog
6. Down-Dog
7. Warrior (left)
8. Plank
9. Up-Dog
10. Down-Dog
11. Warrior (right)
12. Plank
13. Up-Dog
14. Down-Dog
15. Table top
16. Forward Bend
17. Chair
18. Mountain

Step 5
Learn Something New

20 Quick Tips for teaching Sun Salutations…

1. Build up to the sequence with warm-up stretches
2. Ask your students to smile during the practice
3. Add a mantra chant & awareness on chakras for each position.
4. Ask students to feel grateful for the life-giving sun.
5. Start slow, go fast, finish slow.
6. Don’t arch lower back when raising hands in Tadasana (mountain pose).
7. Don’t tilt back too much when raising hands in Tadasana (mountain pose).
8. In Uttanasana (forward bend) release the head completely.
9. Press legs together in cobra.
10. Use breath to float up when jumping up to Uttanasana (forward bend).
11. Aim for a silent landing when jumping up to Uttanasana (forward bend).
12. Challenge your advanced students to do 108 sequences at home.
13. In forward fold drop nose towards knees (prevent neck strain).
14. In downward facing dog bend knees to keep from rounding back.
15. Go lightly until warmed up.
16. Slight bend in knees before the step back into runner pose.
17. Keep arms straight in cobra.
18. Explain that Sun Salutations brings the mind to a calm, serene yogic state.
19. To open the body, hold each pose for 10 breaths.
20. Flow through at a pace of one inhalation or exhalation per pose.

And two bonus tips…

• Ask students to add the sequence to their home yoga practice.
• Engage abdominal muscles on the exhalation in cobra.

Step 6
Give Adjustments

If you see a student not performing one of the poses correctly, use it as chance to teach the class by adjusting her/him.

Downward Facing Dog Adjustments

Downward Dog Adjustment #1:  Leg Leverage
Ask the student to go into Downward Facing Dog.  Stand on the front of the mat and take your hand to the student’s sacrum (top of the hips) and apply a little pressure to help release weight onto the student’s back legs.

Downward Dog Adjustment #2: Shoulder Rotations
Ask the student to go into Downward Facing Dog.  Kneel on the front of the mat and take your hand to the middle of the student’s arms  (between shoulders and elbows) and rotate (the neck will release a little).   Click here for a video showing how to do this adjustment.

Downward Dog Adjustment #3: Perfect V
If the student is struggling to get the classical V shape, ask him/her to go into Downward Facing Dog.   Ask him/her to bend their knees a little.   Click here for a video showing how to do this adjustment.

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