Revealed June 19, 2026 07:00AM
Yoga Journal’s archives collection is a curated assortment of articles initially revealed in previous points starting in 1975. This text about Solar Salutations (Surya Namaskar) first appeared within the September-October 2003 subject of Yoga Journal.
In lots of cultures, mild has lengthy been an emblem of consciousness and self-illumination. “The world begins with the approaching of sunshine,” wrote Jungian analyst Erich Neumann in The Origins and Historical past of Consciousness (Princeton College Press, 1995). “Opposition between mild and darkness has knowledgeable the religious world of all peoples and molded it into form.”
Our major supply of sunshine is, after all, the solar. Once we have a look at our closest star, we might even see nothing greater than an enormous yellow ball. However for 1000’s of years, the Hindus have revered the solar, which they name Surya, as each the bodily and religious coronary heart of our world and the creator of all life itself.
Furthermore, since every little thing that exists originates from the solar, as Alain Daniélou wrote in The Myths and Gods of India (Interior Traditions, 1991), it “should include the potentiality of all that’s to be recognized.” For the Hindus, the solar is the “eye of the world” (loka chakshus), seeing and uniting all selves in itself, a picture of and a pathway to the divine.
One of many technique of honoring the solar is thru the dynamic asana sequence Surya Namaskar, higher often known as Solar Salutation. The Sanskrit phrase namaskar stems from namas, which implies “to bow to” or “to adore.” (The acquainted phrase we use to shut our yoga courses, namaste—te means “you”—additionally comes from this root.) Every Solar Salutation begins and ends with the joined-hands mudra (gesture) touched to the guts. This placement isn’t any accident; solely the guts can know the reality.
The traditional yogis taught that every of us replicates the world at giant, embodying “rivers, seas, mountains, fields…stars and planets…the solar and moon” (Shiva Samhita, II.1–3). The outer solar, they asserted, is in actuality a token of our personal “internal solar,” which corresponds to our delicate, or religious, coronary heart. Right here is the seat of consciousness and better knowledge (jnana) and, in some traditions, the domicile of the embodied self (jivatman).
It may appear unusual to us that the yogis place the seat of knowledge within the coronary heart, which we sometimes affiliate with our feelings, and never the mind. However in yoga, the mind is definitely symbolized by the moon, which displays the solar’s mild however generates none of its personal. This sort of data is worth it for coping with mundane affairs, and is even essential to a sure extent for the decrease levels of religious follow. However in the long run, the mind is inherently restricted in what it could know and is susceptible to what Patanjali calls false impression (viparyaya) or false data of the self.
Historical past and Follow of Solar Salutation
There’s some disagreement amongst authorities over the origins of Solar Salutation. Traditionalists contend that the sequence is a minimum of 2,500 years previous (and maybe even a number of hundred years older) and that it originated throughout Vedic instances as a ritual prostration to the daybreak, replete with mantras, choices of flowers and rice, and libations of water. Skeptics of this relationship keep that Solar Salutation was invented by the raja of Aundh (a former state in India, now a part of Maharashtra state) within the early twentieth century, then disseminated to the West within the Twenties or Nineteen Thirties.
Nevertheless previous Solar Salutation is, and no matter it might initially have appeared like, many variations have advanced over time. Janita Stenhouse, in Solar Yoga: The Ebook of Surya Namaskar (Innerspace Map Studio, 2001), illustrates two dozen or so diversifications (although a number of are fairly related). Our sequence right here consists of 12 “stations” composed of eight totally different postures, the final 4 being the identical as the primary 4 however carried out in reverse order. On this sequence, we’ll begin and finish in Tadasana.
The eight fundamental postures, so as of efficiency, are Tadasana (Mountain Pose), Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Salute), Uttanasana (Standing Ahead Bend), Lunge, Plank Pose, Chaturanga Dandasana (4-Limbed Workers Pose), Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Going through Canine Pose), and Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Going through Canine Pose).
The transition from posture to posture is facilitated by both an inhalation or an exhalation. As you progress by way of the sequence, watch your breath intently. Sluggish your tempo or cease and relaxation totally in case your respiratory turns into labored or shuts down altogether. At all times breathe by way of your nostril, not your mouth. Nasal respiratory filters and warms incoming air and slows your respiratory down, thereby lending the sequence a meditative high quality and lowering the danger of hyperventilation.
To carry out the sequence, begin in Tadasana, along with your fingers collectively at your coronary heart. Inhale and elevate your arms overhead to Urdhva Hastasana, then exhale whereas decreasing the arms down and fold your torso into Uttanasana. Then inhale, arch your torso right into a slight backbend with the fingertips or palms pressed to the ground or blocks, and exhale whereas bringing your left foot again right into a lunge. Inhale ahead to Plank, then exhale and decrease your self into Chaturanga Dandasana. On an inhalation, arch your torso up as you straighten your arms into Upward Canine. Exhale again to Downward Canine; step the left foot ahead on an inhalation into Lunge. Swing the best leg ahead to Uttanasana on an exhalation, then elevate your torso and attain your arms overhead on an inhalation to Urdhva Hastasana. Lastly, decrease your arms on an exhalation and return to your place to begin, Tadasana.
Bear in mind, that is solely a half-round; you’ll have to repeat the sequence, switching left to proper and proper to left to finish a full spherical. For those who’re simply beginning out, it would assist to work on the poses individually earlier than you place them collectively.
Lots of the variations of Solar Salutation start in Tadasana with the sacred hand gesture talked about earlier. Most college students comprehend it as Anjali Mudra (Reverence Seal), however—in honor of the traditional yogis—I prefer to name it by one in every of its different names, Hridaya Mudra (Coronary heart Seal). Contact your palms and fingers collectively in entrance of your chest and relaxation your thumbs frivolously in your sternum, with the perimeters of the thumbs urgent frivolously on the bone about two-thirds of the way in which down. Remember to broaden your palms and press them towards one another evenly, so your dominant hand doesn’t overpower its nondominant mate. The urgent and spreading of the palms helps to agency the scapulas towards, and unfold them throughout, your again torso.
Because the sequence is, in essence, a humble adoration of the sunshine and perception of the self, it’s important to follow Solar Salutation in a spirit of devotion and along with your consciousness turned all the time inward towards the guts. Make every motion as conscious and exact as doable, particularly as you close to the top of your rounds, when fatigue can result in sloppiness.
Deepening Your Follow of Solar Salutation
The sequence itself is pretty simple, however starting college students typically stumble in two elements of it. The primary of those is Chaturanga Dandasana. Decreasing from Plank, college students who lack enough energy within the arms, legs, and decrease stomach generally wind up in a heap on the ground. The short-term answer is solely to bend the knees to the ground simply after Plank, then decrease the torso down in order that the chest and chin (however not the stomach) frivolously relaxation on the ground.
The second sticky half is in stepping the foot ahead from Downward-Going through Canine into Lunge. Many freshmen are unable to take the complete step easily and frivolously; sometimes, they thump their foot closely on the ground about midway to the fingers, then battle to wriggle it the remainder of the way in which ahead. The short-term answer is to bend the knees to the ground proper after Downward Canine, step the foot ahead between the fingers, then straighten the again knee into Lunge.
Success with Solar Salutation, as with all elements of yoga follow, is determined by dedication and regularity. An on a regular basis follow could be finest, however you would possibly at first intention for 4 instances every week. If doable, don’t skip greater than a few days in a row, otherwise you would possibly find yourself again at sq. one.
Learn how to Follow Solar Salutation
Historically, Solar Salutation is finest carried out open air, dealing with east—the placement of the rising solar, an emblem of the daybreak of consciousness and jnana. This could be an ideal wake-up routine in India, the place it’s often heat exterior, however it’s most likely not possible in Michigan in late December. These days, Solar Salutation is used largely as a preliminary warm-up for an asana session. I do 10 to 12 rounds firstly of each follow—or after just a few hip and groin openers—and some extra on every equinox and solstice to acknowledge the change within the mild. On days when solely a quickie follow is feasible, an intense 10-minute Solar Salutation and 5 minutes spent in Savasana (Corpse Pose) will do you simply effective.
Launch your follow slowly with three to 5 rounds, steadily constructing as much as 10 or 15. If this looks as if loads, do not forget that the standard variety of rounds is 108, which can take you quite a lot of weeks to work as much as. You possibly can tempo the sequence briskly to generate warmth and cleanse the body-mind, or extra reasonably to create a transferring meditation.
For those who’re in search of a extra vigorous Solar Salutation, take into account the method of the vinyasa traditions reminiscent of Ok. Pattabhi Jois-style Ashtanga yoga, which makes use of a leaping model of Solar Salutation to hyperlink the person poses of their fastened collection.
Variations of Solar Salutation are legion, and due to the sequence’s malleability, it’s simple sufficient to prepare dinner up just a few of your individual. As an illustration, you may make issues tougher by including a number of poses. Insert Utkatasana (Chair Pose) after Urdhva Hastasana, or from Lunge, conserving your fingers on the ground, straighten the ahead leg to a modified Parsvottanasana (Aspect Stretch Pose or Pyramid Pose). Let your creativeness run wild and have enjoyable.
1. Tadasana | Mountain Pose
That is the place to begin and the ending level—or dawn and sundown—of the sequence. Stand along with your ft barely aside and parallel to one another in Mountain Pose. Agency your thighs, flip them barely in, and elevate your internal groins. Deliver your fingers collectively on the middle of your chest and contact your thumbs to your sternum. Soften the breath. Draw your consciousness into your “internal solar” on the delicate coronary heart and maintain it there throughout the follow.
2. Urdhva Hastasana | Upward Salute
Inhale and sweep vour arms huge to your sides and overhead in Upward Salute. If doable, contact your palms collectively; if this tightens your neck or shoulders, separate the arms so they’re parallel to one another. Attain by way of your pinkie fingers. Lean again barely into an upper-back bend and take the pinnacle again to gaze on the thumbs, however don’t jam the again of the neck. Descend by way of the tailbone and elevate the highest of the sternum.
3. Uttanasana | Standing Ahead Bend
Exhale, sweep your arms huge to the perimeters, and fold on the hips into full Standing Ahead Bend. Launch your head. Press your fingertips or palms to the ground (or on blocks should you can’t attain the ground simply).
When returning to Urdhva Hastasana on the finish of the sequence, lengthen the torso first, then elevate by urgent your tailbone down and into the pelvis as you inhale.
4. Lunge
Exhale and step your left foot again into Lunge (your proper foot on the second aspect). Bend the ahead knee to a proper angle, with the knee immediately over the ankle. Maintain the again leg lively by lifting its entrance thigh towards the ceiling and reaching by way of the heel. After stepping again into Lunge, inhale and elevate your chest.
When returning to Uttanasana from the second lunge, straighten the entrance knee and attempt to hold the again knee straight as you swing the leg ahead.
5. Plank Pose
Step your different foot again from Lunge and shift your torso ahead till your shoulders are positioned over your wrists, arms perpendicular to the ground, in Plank Pose. Agency the outer arms inward and broaden your shoulder blades. Press your tailbone towards the pubis and elevate the entrance ribs away from the ground. Don’t permit your torso to sag.
6. Chaturanga Dandasana | 4-Limbed Workers Pose
From Plan, exhale, bend your elbows, and decrease your torso and legs in order that they’re parallel to the ground and some inches above it in Chaturanga Dandasana. As in Plank, press the tailbone towards the pubis so the torso doesn’t sag. Additionally, elevate your pubis towards your navel to have interaction the belly muscle mass.
Maintain your elbows near the perimeters of the torso; don’t allow them to splay. Take a look at the ground or straight forward.
7. Urdhva Mukha Svanasana | Upward-Going through Canine Pose
Inhale, straighten your arms, and sweep your torso up and thru your arms right into a backbend often known as Upward-Going through Canine. (Your legs are barely off the ground and parallel to it; your tailbone is urgent towards the pubis.) Remember to drop your shoulders away out of your ears. You possibly can keep on the balls of your ft or flip onto the tops of the ft. Look ahead or tip your head barely again. Push the highest thighs again to provoke Downward-Going through Canine.
8. Adho Mukha Svanasana | Downward-Going through Canine Pose
Exhale and step into Downward-Going through Canine. Unfold your palms and the soles of your ft towards the ground. Press your high thighs again, roll them barely in, and stretch your heels down. Lengthen your tailbone away out of your pelvis and press it frivolously towards the pubis, then elevate the sitting bones away from the heels towards the resistance of the tailbone. Agency your shoulder blades towards your again, then broaden them and draw them towards the tailbone. Don’t dangle your head; maintain it between your higher arms.
Retrace your means by way of Lunge, Uttanasana, Upward Salute, and Mountain.
Advantages and Contraindications
From twenty years of instructing and training the sequence, and primarily based on my studying of authoritative sources reminiscent of Satyananda Saraswati’s ebook Surya Namaskar: A Strategy of Photo voltaic Vitalization (Bihar College of Yoga, 2002), it’s clear to me that Solar Salutation gives many bodily advantages. Amongst different issues, it:
Improves general energy, flexibility, and endurance.
Improves posture and steadiness; and promotes swish motion.
Will increase the energy and effectivity of the guts, and improves circulation.
Will increase lung capability.
Tones the digestive system and belly organs (just like the liver, abdomen, and intestines) by massaging the belly space.
Stimulates the endocrine glands, significantly the thyroid.
Relieves pressure, calms the thoughts, and develops focus.
I additionally discover that on my boring days, when asana follow appears all however not possible, just a few rounds of Solar Salutation stokes my yogic fires.
There are just a few cautions to bear in mind concerning Solar Salutation. In case you have hypertension, a herniated spinal disk, sciatica, or an inguinal hernia, or should you’re pregnant, it’s most likely finest to forgo training it except you’re working with an skilled trainer who can modify the sequence to fit your wants.
RELATED: Learn how to Follow Solar Salutations in a Chair
