Sun Salute

I read an interview with Jeru the Damaja once regarding morning. He said that missing sunrise was tantamount to heresy as you are missing the actual creation of a new day. I can roll with that. When you get up in tune with the sun you set your internal clock right. Digestion and mental elevation be going smoothly. You crap right, you sleep good, and headaches are nothing but a myth to you because you don't experience them. I ain't no muslim, christian or any other religious person so I can't get with prostration. The only time I like to get down like that on the ground is if I am B-boying, playing Capoeira or pulling out some esoteric position out of the Kama Sutra. There is one more reason though by which I get down on the ground though. That is in the morning when I do my Sun Salute. Sun Salutation is a series of short yoga movements that one does in morning. At first one might be under the illusion that its a pagan form of Hindu sun worship. I am not denying that some may have taken it that way in the past. Shoot, alot of the forms of praying may actually have root in asanas (that's yoga positions) that only later became identified with petitioning an astral being in a religious context. The science of it though is that the sun is also a means of monitoring time; internally and externally. When dawn comes that lets me know that it is time for me to do that series of movements for the matinence of upkeep of my physical and mental landscape. I do have to let you know that doing yoga is something that we men do. Sitting around with your boys (you really still call them boys?) crushing your internal organs slouching while playing Playstation 24/7 isn't masculine bruh. Making the highlight of your week every week the neighborhood watering hole ain't a measurement of your testoterone level man. There are a billion and one benefits of the daily routine. All I can do though is let you know what it does for me. It massages my inner organs and makes sure that my blood flow is right on point while activating several glands. I have never had high blood pressure (the doctors are still suprised because at 36 years old a Black man in America is 'supposed' to have some hyper tension going on). I never had internal heart, liver, kidney, stomach or intestinal pain. My energy level is consistently good. I sleep and dream well. Also my gonads are golden right now with style and stamina. Again let me reiterate. Most impotence problems are caused by lack of blood flow so if you can get that right then you woman won't be complaining (or going somewhere else...no...why did he say that). A sol controller makes sure that he is in sol control of his body and is a sol provider of his body's needs. Many of us are masters of breaking down our body through various forms of mental (depression, anxiety, guilt) and physical (drugs, alcohol) abuse or toxins. Yet for some reason we don't seek to become masters of healing our body. Now in order to do the sun salutation you don't need to get all headband and leg warmered out. That same little corner that you do sit ups, push ups, and crunches in set aside for this also. Get yourself a little rug or mat to separate the space from the rest. Now you are all set up. Do your thing. Oh wait. You need instructions. Well instead of me writing a whole separate section on instructions let me point you to some sites that are up to par. Below you will find two sites. The first site will outline the positions and also instruct you on the proper breathing that needs to go along with each posture (breathing is KEY). The second site is a flash animation that will give you that visual perspective that you need. Now go and get your body right. http://yogapose.org/sun_salutation_yoga_poses.html http://proliberty.com/pranayoga/SuryaNamaskar.applet.html

Originally printed at originalthoughtmag.com