How to Jump Forward in a Sun Salute

Alice has been trying for a long time to jump her feet forward from the back of the mat in Downward Facing Dog to up between her hands. Alice can walk her feet up between her hands but she would really like to jump forward in one movement.

What is Jumping Forward

At one point in the Sun Salute you are in Downward Facing Dog with your hands at the front of the mat and your feet at the back of the mat and your hips high up in the air. Jumping Forward happens when you move your feet from the back of the mat to the front of the mat between your hands in one movement.

You can substitute walking or hopping forward as Alice has done but there are more benefits if you can Jump Forward.

Why Jump Forward

Jumping forward has several benefits compared to walking or hopping forward.

• Each of the postures in the Sun Salute is done to the breath and jumping forward in one movement keeps your movements matched to your breath.
• Jumping Forward helps to develop strength in your shoulders, back and abdominal muscles.

How to Jump Forward

Starting in Downward Facing Dog you make a spring with your back legs by bending your knees, lifting your heels and lowering your hips slightly. This spring will give you the energy that you need to bring your feet forward to your hands.

Next you lift your head and look beyond the front of the mat.

Inhaling and engaging Uddiyana Bandha you push into your feet straightening your legs, causing your hips to move up and forward.  At the same time you bring your knees to your chest and move your legs and feet forward.

Finally your feet land softly on the mat between your hands. Your big toes are touching and your legs are straight.  Your hands are flat to the floor and your thumbs are beside your little toes.  Also your arms are straight and your head is lifted up and you are looking slightly forward with a straight and strong back.

There are some problems to overcome that are preventing Alice from getting her feet between her hands.

What is the problem

There are two problem areas with Jumping Forward: lack of flexibility and lack of strength.

Lack of Flexibility

Most everyone that starts practicing yoga have short hamstrings.  These short hamstrings prevent you from getting your heels to the floor in Downward Facing Dog.  They also prevent you from straightening your legs and getting your hips to tip forward and down towards your toes.

Your shoulders is another area of flexibility that has an impact on Jumping Forward.  In Downward Facing Dog there should be a straight line from the hands through your arms and back to your hips.  Your shoulders may be stuck above this straight line.

Flexibility is not the only problem to overcome.  You also need a certain amount of strength to complete a Jump Forward.

Lack of Strength

Jumping Forward does require a strong abdomen. Engaging Uddiyana Bandha will help you to develop the strength that you need to lift your hips up and take your legs forward.

You also need a strong back to assist your abdomens in lifting your hips and moving them forward towards your hands.

There are somethings that you can do to help correct these problems.

How to fix the problems

There are three stages that you go through as you develop your strength and flexibility.

1. walk up

You set up as we described above in How to do a Jump Forward. Instead of jumping your feet all the way to your hands you take several steps.  You end up with your feet between your hands.  While you are walking up you are attempting to lift your hips up in the air and take some of your weight off of your hands.  This will help to develop the strength that you will need to Jump Forward.

2. hop up

As your strength and flexibility develop you will be ready for hopping.  As the name implies rather than walking you are going to take a couple of hops to reach your hands.

You setup as described in How to do a Jump Forward.  You spring your hips up in the air and you bring both of your feet part way to your hands and then you spring again and bring them the rest of the way to your hands.

During these two springs your engage Uddiyana Bandha and lift your hips up and bring them forward.  This action will continue to develop the strength and flexibility to get your feet up to your hands in one jump.

3. Jump forward

Eventually you will notice that your feet are landing closer and closer to your hands when you are hopping forward.  Now is the time to use a little more strength and lift your hips a little higher and move them forward a little further and you will have your feet landing between your hands.

Now more than ever it is important to look forward beyond your hands rather than backwards back at your feet.  When you look forward you engage the muscles in your back and this helps to lift your hips a little higher into the air which will help your feet come further forward.

In addition when you look forward your feet will naturally come further forward and attempt to land where you are looking.

But I cannot get my hands flat to the floor when I finish Jumping Forward

This is caused by short hamstrings.  Your short hamstrings will prevent you from straightening your legs and bringing the top of your hips towards the floor.  You will be unable to get your hands flat to the floor because the top of your hips will not tip forward and down.

There are two solutions to this problem depending on how short your hamstrings are.

Slightly short hamstrings

If you can almost get your hands on the floor with your legs straight then bend your knees slightly until your hands are flat on the floor.  Over time as your hamstrings lengthen and your hips tip more and more towards the floor you will need to bend your legs less and less.

If your hands are no where near the floor then your hamstrings a very short and a different solution is required.

Very short hamstrings

With very short hamstrings you can only get your hands flat to the floor if you squat down a lot.  Instead of doing this  straighten your legs and bring your hands to your thighs slightly above your knees.  Straighten your back and engage Uddiyana Bandha to protect your lower back.

Over time as you continue to do Sun Salutes you will find that your hamstrings will start to lengthen and your hands will gradually move down your thighs and then on to your calves. When this happens it is time for you to move on to the Very short hamstring solution above.

Summary

Jumping Forward in the Sun Salute Series is a challenging movement.  Using the walking and hopping technique will help Alice to develop the strength and flexibility that she requires to bring her feet to a safe a successful landing between her hands.

Next Step

Ask your yoga teacher to have a look at your Jump Forward and give you some suggestions to help you get closer to landing between your hands.

Additional Reading

Read these Downward Facing Dog articles to find out more about the pose that precedes Jumping Forward.

The Donkey Kick Trap can keep you from Jumping Forward for a long time.