Surya Namaskar is a warm up cardiovascular workout that is done prior to yoga asanas.
Literally translated it is the Salutation to the Sun.
A single round of Surya Namaskar consists of 12 powerful yoga asanas that provide a good cardiovascular workout.
Thisis best done at the break of the dawn or just before the sunset.
The only criterion is your stomach should be empty.
Why is Surya Namaskar called as a Warm-up Exercise/Asana for Body and Mind? Surya Namaskar exercises your body, mind and soul.
It is said that only 35 to 40% of the muscles are used in our daily activities.
The remaining muscles are inactive.
While this exercise activates around 90% of the muscle and keeps them in active mode.
Apart from keeping your muscles active, Sun salutation keeps your mind stable, calm and alert throughout the day.
The reason is when you perform this asana, the breathing exercises that you do while doing the posturesgives more oxygen to your lungs.
You will notice that the rhythm of breathing becoming heavy with vitality.
This is because the vital points in the body are getting charged.
While performing the postures keep your mind calm and concentrate on the Surya mantra, the various asanas, the part of the body where you can feel the stress, stretch and the strain and be aware of your breathing.
When you keep you shut your mind off from thinking, you are really resting your mind.
Thereby freeing yourself from mental and emotional anxiety.
Here, you are exercising your mind to remain calm and quiet.
With more and more practice you will be able to remain calm and alert when you are faced with many critical and alarming situations in your day to day life.
The Mantras There are twelve Surya mantras.
You have to repeat each mantra before you start the each set of sun salutation.
In one set of Surya Namaskar there are 12 steps.
Each posture of the asana will take 5 seconds.
By the time you complete one cycle it will take one minute.
This set has to be repeated for all the twelve mantras.
By the time you complete one cycle it would be roughly 12 to 15 minutes.
The time depends on how long you spend on each asana.
The twelve mantras are listed below.
Each mantra should start with Aum.
Literally translated it is the Salutation to the Sun.
A single round of Surya Namaskar consists of 12 powerful yoga asanas that provide a good cardiovascular workout.
Thisis best done at the break of the dawn or just before the sunset.
The only criterion is your stomach should be empty.
Why is Surya Namaskar called as a Warm-up Exercise/Asana for Body and Mind? Surya Namaskar exercises your body, mind and soul.
It is said that only 35 to 40% of the muscles are used in our daily activities.
The remaining muscles are inactive.
While this exercise activates around 90% of the muscle and keeps them in active mode.
Apart from keeping your muscles active, Sun salutation keeps your mind stable, calm and alert throughout the day.
The reason is when you perform this asana, the breathing exercises that you do while doing the posturesgives more oxygen to your lungs.
You will notice that the rhythm of breathing becoming heavy with vitality.
This is because the vital points in the body are getting charged.
While performing the postures keep your mind calm and concentrate on the Surya mantra, the various asanas, the part of the body where you can feel the stress, stretch and the strain and be aware of your breathing.
When you keep you shut your mind off from thinking, you are really resting your mind.
Thereby freeing yourself from mental and emotional anxiety.
Here, you are exercising your mind to remain calm and quiet.
With more and more practice you will be able to remain calm and alert when you are faced with many critical and alarming situations in your day to day life.
The Mantras There are twelve Surya mantras.
You have to repeat each mantra before you start the each set of sun salutation.
In one set of Surya Namaskar there are 12 steps.
Each posture of the asana will take 5 seconds.
By the time you complete one cycle it will take one minute.
This set has to be repeated for all the twelve mantras.
By the time you complete one cycle it would be roughly 12 to 15 minutes.
The time depends on how long you spend on each asana.
The twelve mantras are listed below.
Each mantra should start with Aum.
- Mitraya Namah
- Ravaye Namah
- Suryaya Namah
- Bhanave Namah
- Khagaya Namah
- Pushne Namah
- Hiranyagarbhaya Namah
- Marichaye Namah
- Adityaya Namah
- Savitre Namah
- Arkaya Namah:
- Bhaskaraya Namah