Sun Salutations are the heart of the ashtanga vinyasa and vinyasa flow styles of yoga. They form a significant component of flow-based yoga classes and provide a platform for warming the body with an emphasis on strength and flexibility. Most yoga students learn sun salutations at some point, especially if practicing a flowing style.
Sun salutations are a dynamic and energetic approach to linking some of the most well-known and practiced yoga poses forming sequences that have become so popular worldwide. So, let’s find out more about them.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the following:
- What are sun salutations?
- What poses the poses in sun salutation sequences?
- The history of sun salutations
- The benefits of sun salutations
- Styles and traditions of yoga that include sun salutations
What is sun salutations? a translation
Sūryanamaskāra, also known as sun salutations, is a popular term in the yoga world, but its translation and meaning are lesser known.
- surya = sun
- namas = to bow to or to adore
- namaskara = greeting or salute
What is “sun” salutations?
Light is often linked to consciousness throughout Asia, and Hindus have worshiped the sun for thousands of years. Honoring the light within oneself and the sun is an integral part of practice for some, with a deep sense of devotion attached.
It is recommended that worshiping the sun be practiced outdoors facing east, and it was developed as an early morning movement practice at sunrise to give thanks and honor the sun and its source of energy.
However, there are no traditional yoga texts that note the practice of sun salutations so let’s look at where they come from and how they became so popular.
The origins of sun salutations
Some say the sequence is two and a half thousand years old, but it was only established as part of a yoga asana sequence in the early 20th century.
Pattabhi Jois, the founder of ashtanga yoga, claimed that the practice of sun salutation sequences came from the Vedas, but the specific text he refers to has not been found. Subsequently, sun salutations are not recorded in any yoga texts pre-20th century, but the act of worshipping the sun was a Vedic ritual.
Krishnamacharya, “the father of modern yoga,” honed the Surya Namaskar sequence during the 1930s when he developed principles of exercise that were taken from “Physical Instruction Classes” and dandas practiced by Indian wrestlers. There is also evidence of the sequence being used by bodybuilders to warm up for their weight-lifting regime.
Author of “Yoga Body,” Mark Singleton, notes that the sun salutation system was “a mixture of yoga as medical gymnastics and body-conditioning on the one hand, and state of the art dumbbell work and freehand European bodybuilding techniques on the other.”
The sun salutations taught by Krishnamacharya and passed on to his student Pattabhi Jois became not only the defining characteristic of Mysore yoga but of Ashtanga Vinyasa.
What are sun salutations? The poses
This traditional sun salutation B encompasses all of the postures included in half salutations and sun A. They are:
- Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
- Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Salute)
- Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend)
- Ardha Uttanasana (half way lift)
- Utkatasana (chair pose)
- Phalakasana (Plank Pose)
- Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-Limbed Staff Pose)
- Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog Pose)
- Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose)
- Virabhadrasana I (Warrior One)
Sun salutation sequences begin in tadasana with the hands in Anjali mudra. Each posture is linked by breath, and apart from downward facing dog, all poses are held for one breath before moving on to the next. Let’s take a look at the different sequences.
4 types of sun salutations
#1: Half Sun Salutation
Half sun salutations are often precursors to other sun salutations to warm up the back of the body.
- Stand in tadasana at the top of your mat with the hands in Anjali mudra
- Inhale reach your arms up to the sky (urdhva hastasana)
- Exhale fold forward over your legs (uttanasana)
- Inhale lift up halfway (Ardha uttanasana)
- Exhale fold forward over your legs (uttanasana)
- Inhale reach your arms to the sky (urdhva hastasana)
- Exhale tadasana and bring the hands to Anjali mudra
#2: Sun Salutation A
Sun salutation A often adds on from half sun salutations and is slightly more dynamic.
It adds in chaturanga dandasana, urdhva mukha svanasana and adho mukha svanasana.
- Stand in tadasana at the top of your mat with the hands in Anjali mudra
- Inhale reach your arms up to the sky (urdhva hastasana)
- Exhale fold forward over your legs (uttanasana)
- Inhale lift up halfway (ardha uttanasana)
- Exhale lower to low plank with the elbows bent (chaturanga dandasana)
- Inhale upward facing dog (urdhva mukha svanasana)
- Exhale downward facing dog (Adho mukha svanasana) and stay for five breaths
- Exhale step or hop to the top of the mat
- Inhale lift up halfway (Ardha uttanasana)
- Exhale fold forward over your legs (uttanasana)
- Inhale reach your arms to the sky (urdhva hastasana)
- Exhale tadasana and bring the hands to Anjali mudra
#3: Sun Salutation B
Like sun salutation A, B is increasingly demanding with the addition of utkatasana and virabhadrasana I.
- Stand in tadasana at the top of your mat with the hands in Anjali mudra
- Inhale chair pose (utkatasana)
- Exhale fold forward over the legs (uttanasana)
- Inhale lift up halfway (ardha uttanasana)
- Exhale lower to half plank (chaturanga dandasana)
- Inhale upward facing dog (urdhva mukha svanasana
- Exhale step the right foot forward
- Inhale warrior one (virabhadrasana I)
- Exhale lower to half plank (chaturanga dandasana)
- Inhale upward facing dog (urdhva mukha svanasana)
- Exhale step the left foot forward
- Inhale warrior one (virabhadrasana I)
- Exhale downward facing dog (adho muka svanasana) stay for five breaths
- Exhale step or hop to the top of the mat
- Inhale lift up half way (ardha uttanasana)
- Exhale fold forward (uttanasana)
- Inhale chair pose (utkatasana)
- Exhale tadasana and bring the hands to Anjali mudra
#4: Lunging Salutation
This lunging salutation is open to variation and is more accessible for beginners.
- Inhale reach your arms up (urdhva hastasana)
- Exhale fold forward over the legs (uttanasana)
- Inhale lift up halfway bringing the hands to the shins (Ardha uttanasana)
- Exhale step the left leg back
- Inhale low lunge (anjaneyasana)
- Exhale plank pose (phalakasana)
- Inhale plank pose
- Exhale knees chest chin
- Inhale cobra pose (bhujangasana)
- Exhale downward facing dog (Adho muka svanasana) stay for five breaths
- Exhale step the left foot forward
- Inhale low lunge (anjaneyasana)
- Exhale fold forward (uttanasana)
- Inhale lift up half way bringing the hands to the shins (Ardha uttanasana)
- Exhale fold forward (uttanasana)
- Inhale reach your arms to the sky (urdhva hastasana)
- Exhale tadasana
*repeat with the right leg stepping back/forward
Challenges
Chaturanga is an advanced pose that requires a good range of motion in the wrists, upper arm strength, and skill. It can be modified by dropping the knees and bending the elbows less than 90 degrees.
Many of the poses are relatively straightforward, and it is the pace makes it dynamic and challenging, but it is the transitions where people can get caught out. Stepping the leg forward into anjaneyasana or virabhadrasana I might require the practitioner to grab the ankle and help the leg forward, or use bricks underneath the hands.
What Sun Salutations? 9 benefits
Like any movement form, sun salutations are a great way to improve health and fitness. Some more specific benefits include the following:
- The dynamic flowing style of moving with the breath makes sun salutations a moving meditation.
- The set sequence and variety of postures make this a great exercise in concentration and focus.
- As an extension of focus, once the poses and sequence are learned, practitioners can get into flow state.
- Often practiced with very little instruction or in “Mysore,” the meditative can help to quiet the mind.
- The nature of the sequence can be demanding and help build physical strength.
- Some of the more demanding sun salutation sequences, such as A and B require a certain level of fitness and, therefore promote and develop stamina.
- The practice of yoga helps us to develop physical and mental awareness.
- Cardiovascular health is a feature of practicing sun salutations as the breath movement system is often fast-paced.
- The various asanas and their transitions promote good circulation and digestion.
Styles of yoga that use sun salutations
You might find a varied or modified version of sun salutations in many different styles of yoga, including Hatha.
But it was Pattabhi Jois’s use of the sequence as a way to link held poses within the various ashtanga series that created a platform for other styles to develop.
Sun salutations are open to interpretation and can be adapted, modified, and used creatively. They can also be found in the practice of Sivananda as well as vinyasa flow.
What are sun salutations? Key Takeaways
- Sun salutations are a relatively modern sequence of poses developed by Krishnamacharya and his student Pattabhi Jois.
- Vinyasa flow, probably one of the most widely practiced styles of yoga right now, is heavily influenced by the sun salutation sequence.
- Sun salutations are a great way to develop strength and flexibility.
- Albeit a dynamic sequence, it can be meditative and a great way to focus and calm the mind.
Want to find out more?
If diving into “what are sun salutations?” has left you wanting to find out more about the man behind the sequence, then why not check out Krishnamacharya’s biography and teachings?
