Mystries of Surya namaskara

What is Surya namaskara ?

If you have been to Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport, New

Delhi, chances are you would have seen the 12 sculptures of Surya namaskara.
What better way to welcome travellers to the birthplace of Yoga. The Postal de-
partment of India even released a set of 12 postage stamps depicting each of the
asanas of this very Surya namaskara on the occasion of International day of Yoga
2016.
Surya namakara (Surya Namaskaram in Samsrutam ) is a popular practice
and very few yoga sessions begin without Surya namaskara these days. Loved by
yoga teachers and millions of yoga practices, this practice has become a staple
fitness routine, be it on the beaches, parks, lawns, yoga studios, health clubs or any
Yoga event.

I first practiced Surya Namaskara during my stay in Bihar School of Yoga in

Munger and instantly fell in love with it, the practice has a flow, rhythm, breath,
and a complete physical body engagement. Over the years Surya namaskara has
been a regular part of my daily practice and my Yoga teacher training sessions.
Having dabbled in various exercise forms, I have found very few practices that
match up to the simplicity and effectiveness of Surya namakara.

Having been teaching Teacher training courses since 2006, Its has always
been Surya namaskara that I teach first in these programs, Over the years I was cu-
rious to dig deeper and to look up on its origins, scriptural references and evolu-
tion. Its this little journey of questioning, learning, reconditioning and acceptance
that I will be sharing to the yoga enthusiasts in this post.

Firstly, is Surya namaskara a Yoga practice?

“NO”, Suryanamaskara is not a Yoga practice. We don’t find any mention

of the word “Surya Namaskara” in any Hatha yoga texts ( Hatha yoga is what is
mostly practiced as Yoga across the world albeit only a modern version of Asana )
nor is it mentioned in the classical yoga text "Yoga sutra” of Patanjali and many of
its authoritative commentaries.

Suryanamaskara of modern day Yoga class is neither related to the Vedic

practice of Reverence and Worship of the Sun ( Aditya Hridayam, Surya Arad-
hanam or Sandhya Vandanam), as is often claimed.
So where is Surya Namaskara from?

With a questionable antiquity, Surya Namaskara seems like a fairly recent

addition to the pool of Asanas. A similar type of body exercise called “ Dand ” has
been practices by the wrestlers in India for a long time.
Sri Samarth Ramdas, the 17th Century Spiritual Guru of Shivaji Maharaja is
said to have taught a version of Surya namaskara to Shivaji Maharaj’s army, this
practice seems to have little or no Yogic connection but a clear physical pre-
paredness objective.
In 1908 Sri Bhawanrao Pant Pratinidhi, the Raja of Aundh (Aundh is a small
princely state in Maharashtra), may have modified Sri Samarth Ramdasji’s Surya
Namaskar for body fitness and health and publishes a book in Marathi on Surya
Namaskar. Sri Bhawanrao Pant Pratinidhi, later publishes an English book “Surya
Namaskars (Sun adoration) for health, Efficiency and Longevity” in 1929.
This could have led to adaptation across Maharastra and later India, includ-
ing many popular Yoga Gurus / Teachers of the time who accepted this effective
practice and gave it their own flavour. Further breath, 12 of the Surya mantras and
6 Beeja mantras were intelligently layered alongside the body component of the
practice to bring to its current day version.

Current day Practice:

Surya namaskara, as is practice today, is a set of asanas done with breath

coordination, the sequence involves forward and back bends of the spine and
engages the upper, lower and more importantly the core of the body. The various
schools differ slightly in the asanas and or breath coordination. Some such schools
are:
1. Swami Sivananda, Rishikesh
2. Bihar school of yoga, Munger
3. Ashtanga Yoga (Vinyasa) of Sri T. Krishnamacharya, Mysore
4. Sri Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari
5. SVYASA, Bangalore

Both Sri Pattabi Jois, Mysore and Sri BKS Iyengar, Pune added their version of Surya
Namaskara. By the way, I still haven’t deciphered “Surya Kriya” as taught by Sri
Jaggi Vasudev, Isha Yoga, Coimbator.

5 good reasons Why Surya Namaskara can be part of a Yoga session ?

1. Has some popular modern day asanas like Bhujanga, Parvata, Padahastha,
Ashwasanchalan
2. The practices makes the body supple and light
3. Increases awareness of ones Physical body
4. The practice is done with coordinated breath hence trains breath, regulates
nervous system
5. Coordinated, repeated practice can lead to a meditated state of mind

When done correctly, Surya namaskar can qualify to be the Vyayama of the
Ayurvedic Dinacharya. To elaborate - here Surya namaskara is practiced with half
of ones maximum strength, repeated until one breaks a mild sweat, and breathing
through the nose throughout the practice - This way one can reap all the benefits
of a good Vyayama.
On the contrary we see a different approach of Surya namaskara in popular
practice, a fast paced practice, without complete coordination of breath and
with mouth wide open for breathing (panting is a more accurate description ).
Add to this the craze of practicing 108 rounds of Surya namaskara ( sure is fun
once in a while ). Many yoga injuries start cropping up right here. especially that of
lower back, neck, shoulders, knee, ankle, wrist (wait a minute, thats almost the
whole body ), increased blood pressure, blackouts dizziness etc.

Since we don’t find any scriptural reference of Suryanamskara in any Yoga

texts its hard to agree on its purpose and benefits. The modern-day Yoga teachers
claims umpteen number of physiological benefits ( many of these claims needs
some real, honest research ) like weight loss, increased metabolism and endocrine
regulation. Also most of these benefits are not unique to Surya namaskara, can be
achieved, to varying degree, through other forms of exercises. For a Yoga puritan,
Yoga doesn’t need Surya namaskar, rather Surya namaskara needs Yoga.

Conclusion:

Lets accept, Surya Namaskara is here to stay, is part of most present day
Yoga class. And why not? When used judiciously, Surya Namaskara can be a fan-
tastic physical practice, this currently is the biggest identified need. It also goes
well as a preparatory practice to Yoga Asanas. In the same “breath” lets be
“mindful” that Surya namaskara is not a classical Yoga practice.