Mini sun salutation sequence to move the spine

For the last few weeks we’ve be going through a simple sequence that feels almost like a sun salutation to warmup the shoulders, spine, chest and back. It starts with an extended form of child’s pose. I’ve detailed this pose below and following that the sequence of the whole series with the breath. Remember to move on natural breaths – don’t over-breath.

1. Start on your hands and knees with your knees hip-width apart and toes tucked under.
2. Move your hands forward and rise up on your finger tips with the wrists flexed down.
3. Sit your hips back towards your heels and let your chest sink towards the floor.
4. If the stretch is too intense, move your hands back. Not intense enough, move your hands forward.
5. If you have very flexible shoulders be careful and avoid hyper-extending your shoulders. Instead try pushing your armpits down to the floor and you should notice your chest rise a little and your elbows might drop a little.
6. Take a few breaths, rising up a few centimetres with your inhale and down with the exhale.

For the whole sequence:

1. Start in puppy dog.
2. Inhale up to down dog.
3. Exhale heels towards the floor (knees can be bent).
4. Inhale forward to plank.
5. Exhale knees down.
6. Inhale hips back to puppy dog.
7. Exhale and settle in to the puppy dog stretch.
8. Repeat!