With lots of surprising benefits, sun salutation is an ancient way to keep your mind and body in perfect balance. The people from ancient times practised this to greet the sun at the break of dawn and welcome the new day.
The logical reason behind doing or practising sun salutation is that the sun is known to be the greatest source of energy and life to the planet earth and is a building block in everything that we eat, drink or breathe. Imagining life without sun is just not possible as sun plays vital role in maintaining your physical health, energy and well-being.
Knowing what is Sun Salutation?
The sun salutation, generally known by its Sanskrit name ‘Surya Namaskar’ is an ancient practise of saluting to the sun that comprises of various physical activities to achieve proper health and well being. It is a physical exercise that helps in harnessing and drawing in the sun’s energy into your body – thus rising up your energy and vitality levels. While doing it, a series of different asanas or postures is performed that energizes and revitalises each and every part of your body. There are 12 poses in sun salutation, combination of which forms an elegant and refreshing cycle that is also practised as a part of warm-up in yoga classes.
Why is Sun Salutation done?
This is the most common question that arises in everybody’s mind when we think or talk about Sun salutation. There are two main reasons behind practising this.
Benefits of Practising Sun Salutation:
There are immeasurable benefits of practising sun Salutation or “Surya Namaskar’s that can be achieved by doing it regularly. Few of the benefits are mentioned below:
Few more benefits of sun salutation:
How and when to do Sun Salutation
Initially the process may appear to be a bit difficult and complicated, but once you start doing it regularly you will find this experience to be beautiful and rewarding. The best way to start it is to learn all the postures or the entire cycle from a qualified and professional yoga teacher. By doing so, you will get a proper guidance of the sequence and learn the techniques in the right way. Various yoga schools or other yoga teaching institutions may have their own style of sun salutation but usually most styles are similar.
12 Poses of Sun salutation (Surya Namaskar)
The completion of all the above mentioned 12 poses makes a half cycle of Sun Salutation. To finish up the cycle you are required to repeat step number 4 and number 9 but with other leg. For example, if you have used your right leg initially, you will now use your left leg. By doing all the 24 poses, you finish the complete one cycle of Surya Namaskar.
If while doing the asanas you feel tired, you can relax yourself by inhaling and exhaling process. You should stay active while doing each pose. You can start with single cycle but as you start doing it regularly you should try to finish up to 2 or 3 cycles of Surya Namaskar. Early morning is the perfect time to practise sun salutation however, if it is difficult for you to do at morning you can do it in the evening time. We would still suggest that practising sun salutation in the morning is most beneficial but if you are still doing it in the evening time you should be sure that you do it empty stomach.
Anyone whose age is more than 8 years can practise Sun Salutation but people suffering from high blood pressure, hernia, backbone problem or hearth problem should avoid doing Surya Namaskar. When this process or the exercises are done fast they are helpful for physical gain but when the exercises are done slowly following the steps and breathing techniques properly, it enhances your mental and spiritual level.
Few guidelines that must be followed before doing Surya Namaskar:
Sun Salutation is the excellent way to give a beautiful and healthy start to your day. The 10-15 minutes practise in the morning can make you feel calm all day.
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