Surya namaskar

A sun salutation is a loop: stand, reach up, fold forward, step or jump back, lower down, push up into a backbend, press back to downward dog, walk in, stand. Each step takes one breath. The two most common versions, A and B, come from the Ashtanga method, but almost every modern style uses some variation of the sequence, and it is usually the first thing taught to a beginner because it contains a little of everything.

What it is for is warming and rhythm. Three to five rounds raise the body temperature, wake up the shoulders, spine and hamstrings, and settle breathing into a working pace before the harder postures begin. Done slowly it is a mobility sequence; done at speed, repeated twenty times, it is serious cardiovascular work. The name means salutation to the sun, and the traditional time to practise it is at first light.

In a KEO session, sun salutations open the Flow and Breath format, with the first round deliberately slower than anyone wants. In Bangkok's humidity Ben keeps the knees-down version available all the way through, and in a morning outdoor class the sequence tends to be the moment people notice they have warmed up without the air having to do it for them.