Use np.ravel (for a 1D view) or np.ndarray.flatten (for a 1D copy) or np.ndarray.flat (for an 1D iterator):
In [12]: a = np.array([[1,2,3], [4,5,6]])
In [13]: b = a.ravel()
In [14]: b
Out[14]: array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6])
Note that ravel() returns a view of a when possible. So modifying b also modifies a. ravel() returns a view when the 1D elements are contiguous in memory, but would return a copy if, for example, a were made from slicing another array using a non-unit step size (e.g. a = x[::2]).
If you want a copy rather than a view, use
In [15]: c = a.flatten()
If you just want an iterator, use np.ndarray.flat:
In [20]: d = a.flat
In [21]: d
Out[21]: <numpy.flatiter object at 0x8ec2068>
In [22]: list(d)
Out[22]: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]