SALUTE
TO THE MOON
Sanskrit Name - Chandranamaskar
The moon is not just a pretty light up in the night sky. It has immense
power over the earth – right down to ruling the tides of the ocean.
If the moon has such influence on the water of the sea just consider what
it’s effect on the human body might be.
In yoga this elegant flow of seven repeated postures linked by breath
and movement is in honour of the moon.
13
Inhale and straighten up into a standing posture as you raise
your arms forward and above your head and lean backwards.
2
Inhale and stretch your arms up above your head, and lean backwards, keeping
your buttock muscles tight.
3
As you breathe out bend your knees, lower
your arms and come into
a full squat (Utkatasana). Try to keep your heels
flat on the floor.
12
Breathe out and lower your arms, coming into a full squat.
11 When you breathe in raise your arms, head and chest and come back into the Rabbit. Curl your toes under.
4
On a half
inhalation draw
your your right foot back, dropping the right knee
to the floor. Keep your hands on either side of your left foot and open your
chest.
5
On the second half of the inhalation raise your arms above your head. Sink
your hips down towards the ground as you raise your sternum. Gently drop
your head backwards. This posture is called the Crescent Moon or Anjaneyasana.
10
Exhale back into the Puppy Stretch. 
9
Inhale, raising your hands, arms, head and chest, lifting yourself
into an upright kneeling position, with your buttocks off your heels.
This posture is called the Rabbit.
6
Exhale and place your hands on either side of your left foot. Change feet
by jumping the right foot forwards between the hands and take the left foot
back. Drop the left knee to the floor.
8
As you breathe out lower your arms and step your right foot back, lowering
your buttocks to your heels. Place your forehead on the floor. This is called the Puppy Stretch.
7
Inhale and stretch your arms up above your head as you lean backwards into
the Crescent Moon again.Try to do five complete rounds of Salute to the Moon. The elegance and comfort of this sequence is closely related to breath control. It is essential to do long, slow yoga (ujjayi) breathing or else you will become breathless and tired and the exercise will not be an enjoyable experience.
Until
recently I always wondered why step nine was called the Rabbit. If you
look carefully at the full moon on a clear night you can sometimes see
an image that looks like a man holding his arms above his head. We call
this the ‘man in the moon’. In India the image is known as
the rabbit – instead of arms above his head – those appendages
are the long ears of the rabbit.
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