Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar) are a graceful, flowing series often seen in vinyasa (and other flowing styles) of yoga classes. I love to teach sun salutations in my more vigorous classes to get the body moving through a full range of motion and to start to get the heart rate up. They also help to get us to connect to our breath.
There are different variations of Sun Salutations and mine is probably slightly different than others you’ve seen.
Sun Salutations are meant to energize you, but much like other yoga poses and flows should also calm you down. The benefits are numerous, including:
-moving the body through a full range of motion
-great warm up for a longer workout (or can be a workout on their own)
-increasing core strength and stability
-increasing flexibility
-boosts circulation
-building strength throughout the entire body
Sun Salutations may not be right for you if you are healing a wrist injury or need to stay away from poses like plank or chaturunga on your hands, if you are only interested in something very gentle, or if you are prone to vertigo there is a possibility of dizziness from the up and down motion.
I’m releasing a short video and short ebook on Sun Salutations (available now, click here!) if you are interested in gaining a better understanding of Sun Salutations or doing them at home. The ebook gives a little pose breakdown for each pose in our Sun Salutation. And the video is the actual flow (free preview available now for a short time, click the play button on the video above). The video is short, only 6 minutes, so you can use it as a warm up or continue to flow through additional sun salutations once you have the flow. It’s also a great way to start your day if you only have a few minutes.
Want yoga articles sent directly to your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter now!