I know people and yogini who have a long and flexible neck. Others have rather stiff necks. We can move the neck in all directions. There is also a neutral position. In order to find my neutral position I hang forward and relaxed the neck. My feeling is as if the head falls back slightly. To pull the chin to the chest requires a bit energy.
When I practice suryanamaskara I move the neck a bit out fo the neutral position. I don’t get to the limit. It looks wild when yogini through their head backwards in urdhva mukha svanasana (upward facing dog). Yet is this really necessary? Dristi is the third eye when practicing urdhva mukha svanasana. It’s not looking to the ceiling or upwards. It feels more harmonious to move the head only a tiny bit backwards when looking towards the third eye.
Chaturanga dandasana is another pose which feels better for me when I don’t throw back the head. The body shall be stable and in line. It’s more likely that my body hangs through when the head moves backwards. My focus is rather to push the hands against the floor. The shoulders move backwards. The abdomen is engaged. To go to a limit with the neck is distracting. It’s not the focus. The neck must get protected. There are asanas like sets bandhasana that stretch the neck. This asana also require a lot of strength of the neck. Most asana don’t have the neck as a focus.
The neck position and dristi influence each other. It’s important to know that scarcely one looks at a certain point, the toe for instance or the navel. It’s always looking towards the navel or towards the toes. This In mind it’s not necessary to try seeing a gazing point. The dristhi has the work to calm the eyes. They shall focus and not look around. A direction is given. To see a precise point is not necessary.
At the end one ‘hands up’ is missed on the above series. I omit it. I’d rather feel like a jumping jack when I do this pose at the end. Surya namaskars is repeated five times. After uttanasana I return to samasthitih. When I start with suryanamaskara again I stretch and my arms move towards the ceiling. This is enough. To omit one of the ‘hands-up-position’ at the end was not my idea originally. I tried it and I think it feels better.
When practicing urdhva mukha svanasana the chin moves towards the body. I move the head only slightly out of its natural position. When the abdomen are engaged it’s not possible to see the navel. It makes no sense to go to the limit with the neck.
How I practice suryanamaskara has changed over the years. Firstly it has been a good warm up only. These days I work more precisely on every asana.
Experiment.
Every body is different.