Surya Namaskar.
If you find very little time to spare for a daily workout regime but
want to stay fit, there is nothing better than Surya Namaskar.
Surya Namaskar or Sun Salutation is a set of 12 powerful yoga asanas
(postures) which provide a great cardiovascular workout. It’s also a
great way to stay fit, and retain the peace of your mind and soul.
Let’s start with the paratham asam or the first posture.
1. Pranamasana
Also known as prayer pose, Pranamasana is the start of your Surya
Namaskar. Stand upright on your mat with your both feet closely aligned.
Inhale deeply, expanding your chest and relaxing your shoulders.
While you inhale, raise your arms from the sides. And as you exhale,
join your palms together as if praying in front of deity. This is the
Pratham Namaskar or first salutation towards the sun.
2. Hastauttanasana
Keeping the palms joined in the previous prayer position, breathe in
and lift your arms up and bend backwards slightly. Your biceps should
lie close to your ears. This posture is to loosen up your body by
stretching the entire body backwards, standing at your tip toes.
3. Hasta Padasana
Now breathe out, and bend forward from the waist. Go down and touch
you’re the ground but keeping your spine erect. Do this as your exhale
slowly and completely.
4. Ashwa Sanchalanasana
Now breathe in, and stretch your body parallely to the ground. Keep
your hands to the side, and bring your right knee towards the right part
of the chest and let your left leg stretch behind. Look up.
5. Dandasana
Now as your inhale, fling your right leg also backwards aligning your entire body parallely to the ground.
6. Ashtanga Namaskara
This is also known as giving salutations using eight parts or points.
After staying in Dandasana, gently bring down your knees towards the
floor and exhale. Now bring your chin to rest on the floor, keep your
hops elevated in the air. Hence, your eight parts which are two hands,
two knees, chin and chest will rest on the floor while your hip stays
elevated in the air.
7. Bhujangasana
This is also known as Cobra pose. This is simply aligning your chest
and torso 90 degrees to the ground, keeping your legs and mid-section
flat on the ground. Make sure you use your hands to support your body
and are not tempted to transfer your entire weight onto them.
8. Parvatasana
Again, return to the parvatasana from bhujangasana. Keep your palm
and feet where they are, and slowly raise your mid-section. Breathe out
as you enter parvatasana.
9. Ashwa Sanchalanasana
Now from Parvatasana, return to the ashwa sanchalanasana. But this
time, we do the opposite of what we did in the 4th step. Procedure-
Bring your right foot forward, while resting the left foot behind, at
its original position.
10. Hasta Padasana
Now slowly bring your left foot forward, next to the right foot as
you exhale. Keeping the position of your hands intact, lift yourself up
to slowly enter Hasta Padasana.
11. Hastauttanasana
Now inhale, raise your hands upward, and bend backward to enter Ardha Chakra Asana.
12. Pranama asana
Finally, exhale and stand in a relaxed manner in the namaskara mudra.
Feel the positive vibrations in your body. This is how you complete one
repetition of Surya Namaskar. Twelve repetitions of this holistic
exercise are said to yield maximum benefit.
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