Sun Salutation, also called Surya Namaskar(a) or Salute to the Sun (),
is a practice in
yoga as exercise incorporating a flow sequence of some twelve gracefully linked
asana
An asana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga ...
s.
The asana sequence was first recorded as yoga in the early 20th century, though similar exercises were in use in India before that, for example
among wrestlers. The basic sequence involves moving from a standing position into
Downward and
Upward Dog
Bhujangasana ( sa, भुजंगासन; IAST: ''Bhujaṅgāsana'') or Cobra Pose is a reclining back-bending asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise. It is commonly performed in a cycle of asanas in Surya Namaskar, Salute to the Sun, ...
poses and then back to the standing position, but many variations are possible. The set of 12 asanas is dedicated to the
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
solar deity,
Surya
Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a m ...
. In some Indian traditions, the positions are each associated with a different
mantra.
The precise origins of the Sun Salutation are uncertain, but the sequence was made popular in the early 20th century by
Bhawanrao Shriniwasrao Pant Pratinidhi, the Rajah of
Aundh Aundh may refer to
* Aundh State, a princely state in British India
** Aundh Experiment, an early test of village-level self-government in British India
* Aundh, Satara, Satara District, Maharashtra, India
* Aundh, Pune
Aundh is an upscale, a ...
, and adopted into yoga by
Krishnamacharya
Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (18 November 1888 – 28 February 1989) was an Indian yoga teacher, ayurvedic healer and scholar. He is seen as one of the most important gurus of modern yoga, and is often called "the father of modern yoga" for h ...
in the Mysore Palace, where the Sun Salutation classes, not then considered to be yoga, were held next door to his yogasala. Pioneering yoga teachers taught by Krishnamacharya, including
Pattabhi Jois
K. Pattabhi Jois (26 July 1915 – 18 May 2009) was an Indian yoga guru who developed and popularized the flowing style of yoga as exercise known as Ashtanga vinyasa yoga. In 1948, Jois established the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mys ...
and
B. K. S. Iyengar
Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (14 December 1918 – 20 August 2014) was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is founder of the style of yoga as exercise, known as " Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga guru ...
, taught
transitions between asanas derived from the Sun Salutation to their pupils worldwide.
Etymology and origins
The name Surya Namaskar is from the
Sanskrit सूर्य ''Sūrya'', "Sun" and नमस्कार ''Namaskāra'', "Greeting" or "Salute".
Surya
Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a m ...
is the
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
demigod of the sun.
This identifies the Sun as the
soul and source of all life. Chandra Namaskara is similarly from Sanskrit चन्द्र ''Chandra'', "Moon".
The origins of the Sun Salutation are vague; Indian tradition connects the 17th century saint
Samarth Ramdas with Surya Namaskara exercises, without defining what movements were involved. In the 1920s,
Bhawanrao Shriniwasrao Pant Pratinidhi, the Rajah of
Aundh Aundh may refer to
* Aundh State, a princely state in British India
** Aundh Experiment, an early test of village-level self-government in British India
* Aundh, Satara, Satara District, Maharashtra, India
* Aundh, Pune
Aundh is an upscale, a ...
, popularized and named the practice, describing it in his 1928 book ''The Ten-Point Way to Health: Surya Namaskars''.
It has been asserted that Pant Pratinidhi invented it, but Pant stated that it was already a commonplace
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
tradition.
Ancient but simpler Sun salutations such as
Aditya Hridayam, described in the "Yuddha Kaanda" Canto 107 of the ''
Ramayana'',
are not related to the modern sequence. The anthropologist
Joseph Alter states that the Sun Salutation was not recorded in any
Haṭha yoga text before the 19th century. At that time, the Sun Salutation was not considered to be yoga, and its postures were not considered asanas; the pioneer of
yoga as exercise,
Yogendra, wrote criticising the "indiscriminate" mixing of sun salutation with yoga as the "ill-informed" were doing.
The yoga
scholar-practitioner Norman Sjoman suggested that
Krishnamacharya
Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (18 November 1888 – 28 February 1989) was an Indian yoga teacher, ayurvedic healer and scholar. He is seen as one of the most important gurus of modern yoga, and is often called "the father of modern yoga" for h ...
, "the father of modern yoga", used the traditional and "very old"
Indian wrestlers' exercises called ''dandas'' (Sanskrit: दण्ड ''daṇḍa'', a staff), described in the 1896 ''Vyayama Dipika'', as the basis for the sequence and for his transitioning
vinyasas. Different ''dandas'' closely resemble the Sun Salutation asanas
Tadasana,
Padahastasana,
Caturanga Dandasana, and
Bhujangasana. Krishnamacharya was aware of the Sun Salutation, since regular classes were held in the hall adjacent to his Yogasala in the Rajah of Mysore's palace. The yoga scholar
Mark Singleton states that "Krishnamacharya was to make the flowing movements of ''sūryanamaskār'' the basis of his
Mysore yoga style". His students,
K. Pattabhi Jois,
who created modern day
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, and
B. K. S. Iyengar
Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (14 December 1918 – 20 August 2014) was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is founder of the style of yoga as exercise, known as " Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga guru ...
, who created
Iyengar Yoga, both learned Sun Salutation and flowing
vinyasa movements between asanas from Krishnamacharya and used them in their styles of yoga.
The historian of modern yoga
Elliott Goldberg
''The Path of Modern Yoga: The History of an Embodied Spiritual Practice'' is a 2016 history of the modern practice of postural yoga by the yoga scholar Elliott Goldberg. It focuses in detail on eleven pioneering figures of the transformation o ...
writes that
Vishnudevananda
Vishnudevananda Saraswati (31 December 1927 – 9 November 1993) was an Indian yoga guru known for his teaching of asanas, a disciple of Sivananda Saraswati, and founder of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres and Ashrams. He establ ...
's 1960 book ''
The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga
''The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga'' is a bestselling 1960 book by Swami Vishnudevananda, the founder of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres. It is an introduction to Hatha yoga, describing the ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'' and the ''Hatha Yog ...
'' "proclaimed in print" a "new utilitarian conception of Surya Namaskara" which his guru
Sivananda had originally promoted as a health cure through sunlight. Goldberg notes that Vishnudevananda modelled the positions of the Sun Salutation for photographs in the book, and that he recognised the sequence "for what it mainly is: not
treatment for a host of diseases but fitness exercise."
Description
Sun Salutation is a sequence of around twelve
yoga asanas connected by jumping or stretching movements, varying somewhat between schools. In Iyengar Yoga, the basic sequence is
Tadasana,
Urdhva Hastasana
Tadasana ( sa , ताड़ासन, translit=Tāḍāsana), Mountain pose or Samasthiti ( sa, समस्थिति; IAST: ''samasthitiḥ'') is a standing asana in modern yoga as exercise; it is not described in medieval hatha yoga text ...
,
Uttanasana, Uttanasana with head up,
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Downward Dog Pose or Downward-facing Dog Pose, also called Adho Mukha Shvanasana ( sa, अधोमुखश्वानासन; IAST: ''Adho Mukha Śvānāsana''), is an inversion asana, often practised as part of a flowing sequence of pose ...
(Downward Dog),
Urdhva Mukha Svanasana
Bhujangasana ( sa, भुजंगासन; IAST: ''Bhujaṅgāsana'') or Cobra Pose is a reclining back-bending asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise. It is commonly performed in a cycle of asanas in Surya Namaskar, Salute to the Su ...
(Upward Dog),
Chaturanga Dandasana, and then reversing the sequence to return to Tadasana; other poses can be inserted into the sequence.
In
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, there are two Sun Salutation sequences, types A and B.
The type A sequence of asanas is Pranamasana,
Urdhva Hastasana
Tadasana ( sa , ताड़ासन, translit=Tāḍāsana), Mountain pose or Samasthiti ( sa, समस्थिति; IAST: ''samasthitiḥ'') is a standing asana in modern yoga as exercise; it is not described in medieval hatha yoga text ...
, Uttanasana,
Phalakasana
Chaturanga Dandasana ( sa, चतुरङ्ग दण्डासन; IAST: ''Caturaṅga Daṇḍāsana'') or Four-Limbed Staff pose, also known as Low Plank, is an asana in modern yoga as exercise and in some forms of Surya Namaskar (Salute t ...
(high plank), Chaturanga Dandasana, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Adho Mukha Svanasana, Uttanasana and back to Pranamasana.
The type B sequence of asanas (differences marked in italics) is Pranamasana, ''
Utkatasana'', Uttanasana, ''
Ardha Uttanasana
Uttanasana ( sa, उत्तानासन; ) or Standing Forward Bend, with variants such as Padahastasana where the toes are grasped, is a standing forward bending asana in modern yoga as exercise.
Etymology and origins
The name comes from ...
'', Phalakasana, Chaturanga Dandasana, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Adho Mukha Svanasana, ''
Virabhadrasana
Virabhadrasana ( sa , वीरभद्रासन; IAST: Vīrabhadrāsana) or Warrior Pose is a group of related lunging standing asanas in modern yoga as exercise commemorating the exploits of a mythical warrior, Virabhadra. The name of the ...
I'', repeat from Phalakasana onwards with Virabhadrasana I on the other side, then repeat Phalakasana through to Adho Mukha Svanasana (a third time), Ardha Uttanasana, Uttanasana, Utkatasana, and back to Pranamasana.
A typical Sun Salutation cycle is:
Mantras
In some yoga traditions, each step of the sequence is associated with a
mantra. In traditions including
Sivananda Yoga, the steps are linked with twelve names of the God Surya, the Sun:
Indian tradition associates the steps with
Bījā ("seed" sound) mantras and with five
chakra
Chakras (, ; sa , text=चक्र , translit=cakra , translit-std=IAST , lit=wheel, circle; pi, cakka) are various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, or the esoteric or ...
s (focal points of the
subtle body
A subtle body is a "quasi material" aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings. This contrasts with the mind–body dualism that has dominated We ...
).
Variations
Inserting other asanas
Many variations are possible. For example, in Iyengar Yoga the sequence may intentionally be varied to run Tadasana, Urdhva Hastasana, Uttanasana, Adho Mukha Svanasana,
Lolasana
Kukkutasana ( sa, कुक्कुटासन; IAST: ''Kukkuṭāsana''), Cockerel Pose, or Rooster Posture is an arm-balancing asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, derived from the seated Padmasana, lotus position. It is one ...
,
Janusirsasana
Pashchimottanasana ( sa, पश्चिमोत्तानासन, translit=paścimottānāsana), Seated Forward Bend, or Intense Dorsal Stretch is a seated forward-bending asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise. Janusirsasana is a ...
(one side, then the other), and reversing the sequence from Adho Mukha Svanasana to return to Tadasana. Other asanas that may be inserted into the sequence include
Navasana (or Ardha Navasana),
Paschimottanasana
Pashchimottanasana ( sa, पश्चिमोत्तानासन, translit=paścimottānāsana), Seated Forward Bend, or Intense Dorsal Stretch is a seated forward-bending asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise. Janusirsasana is a v ...
and its variations, and
Marichyasana I.
Chandra Namaskara
Variant sequences named Chandra Namaskar, the Moon Salutation, are sometimes practised; these were created late in the 20th century.
One such sequence consists of the asanas Tadasana, Urdhva Hastasana,
Anjaneyasana (sometimes called Half Moon Pose), a kneeling lunge, Adho Mukha Svanasana,
Bitilasana
Bidalasana ( sa, बिडालासन; ) or Marjariasana ( sa, मार्जरीआसन; ), both meaning Cat Pose in Sanskrit, is a kneeling asana in modern yoga as exercise. A variant with one leg held up is Vyaghrasana ( sa, व्य ...
,
Balasana, kneeling with thighs, body, and arms pointing straight up, Balasana with elbows on ground, hands together in
Anjali Mudra behind the head, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Adho Mukha Svanasana, Uttanasana, Urdhva Hastasana, Pranamasana, and Tadasana. Other Moon Salutations with different asanas have been published.
As exercise
The energy cost of exercise is measured in units of
metabolic equivalent of task
The metabolic equivalent of task (MET) is the objective measure of the ratio of the rate at which a person expends energy, relative to the mass of that person, while performing some specific physical activity compared to a reference, set by convent ...
(MET). Less than 3 METs counts as light exercise; 3 to 6 METs is moderate; 6 or over is vigorous.
American College of Sports Medicine and
American Heart Association
The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and death ...
guidelines count periods of at least 10 minutes of moderate MET level activity towards their recommended daily amounts of exercise.
[ The review examined 17 studies, of which 10 measured the energy cost of yoga sessions.] For healthy adults aged 18 to 65, the guidelines recommend moderate exercise for 30 minutes five days a week, or vigorous
aerobic exercise for 20 minutes three days a week.
The Sun Salutation's energy cost ranges widely according to how energetically it is practised, from a light 2.9 to a vigorous 7.4 METs. The higher end of the range requires transition jumps between the poses.
Muscle usage
A 2014 study indicated that the muscle groups activated by specific asanas varied with the skill of the practitioners, from beginner to instructor. The eleven asanas in the Sun Salutation sequences A and B of
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga were performed by beginners, advanced practitioners and instructors. The activation of 14 groups of muscles was measured with electrode on the skin over the muscles. Among the findings, beginners used
pectoral muscle
Pectoral muscles (colloquially referred to as "pecs") are the muscles that connect the front of the human chest with the bones of the upper arm and shoulder. This region contains four muscles that provide movements to the upper limbs or ribs.
P ...
s more than instructors, whereas instructors used
deltoid muscles more than other practitioners, as well as the
vastus medialis (which stabilises the knee). The yoga instructor Grace Bullock writes that such patterns of activation suggest that asana practice increases awareness of the body and the patterns in which muscles are engaged, making exercise more beneficial and safer.
In culture
The founder of
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga,
K. Pattabhi Jois, stated that "There is no Ashtanga yoga without Surya Namaskara, which is the ultimate salutation to the Sun god."
In 2019, a team of mountaineering instructors from
Darjeeling climbed to the summit of
Mount Elbrus
Mount Elbrus ( rus, links=no, Эльбрус, r=Elbrus, p=ɪlʲˈbrus; kbd, Ӏуащхьэмахуэ, 'uaşhəmaxuə; krc, Минги тау, Mingi Taw) is the highest and most prominent peak in Russia and Europe. It is situated in the we ...
and completed a Sun Salutation there at , claimed as a world record.
See also
*
Sun worship in Hinduism
*
List of solar deities in Hinduism
*
List of Hindu Sun temples
*
List of Hindu deities
*
Burpee (exercise)
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
Dep't of Posts, Gov't of India releases stamps on Surya Namaskaraon
International Yoga Day 2016.
{{Yoga
Yoga series
Articles containing video clips
Gestures of respect
Yoga as exercise