From time immemorial people from all civilizations and cultures have worshipped Sun as the ultimate source of energy and life. Like the Sun’s continuous flow of energy benefit of Surya Namaskar is also never-ending.
Surya Namaskar is the ancient technique to pay the tribute of salutation to the enduring positive energy it gives us throughout the day. A combination of 12 yoga sequences, it expresses the gratitude towards the source of all the life on the earth. As it involves 12 different postures – giving a good stretch to the whole body, improving cardiovascular health, enhancing body flexibility, increasing strength, and maintaining your weight and beauty – it is termed as the ‘The Ultimate Asana’.
When to perform surya namaskar?
Surya Namaskar can be done at any time of the day. You can perform it in the morning preferably at the time of sunrise or in the afternoon or at the time of sunset. However, it is best to perform it at sunrise, as the morning sunrays revitalize your body, replenishes your energy, and refresh your mind. If done in the afternoon, it instantly boosts your energy. If you perform it at dusk, it unwinds all the stress.
How many surya namaskar should be done in a day?
A set of a Surya namaskar consists of 2 rounds with 12 postures. That means performing 12 asanas of a Surya namaskar cycle with each side separately completes one set. It is recommended to perform at least 12 sets of Surya namaskar daily. You can increase the number as per your comfort and level of practice. As a complete novice, you can do two to four sets and can gradually increase it up to as many as 108 sets a day.
Can you practice it at any pace?
Slow: When done at slow pace it helps to increase the flexibility of the body.
Medium: If you perform surya namaskar at the medium pace it assists in toning your muscles and body.
Fast: At a fast pace, it can be considered as a great cardio exercise and helps you to reduce the weight.
Benefit of surya namaskar
There are an incredible benefit of Surya namaskar. As there are 12 yoga sequences, you get the benefits of 12 postures in a set of Surya namaskar. It helps in better functioning of the body along with improving mental health. Surya namaskar corrects body posture, promotes balance, regulates hormonal cycle, boosts your energy, increases blood circulation, strengthens the heart, builds muscles, tones your body, enhances immunity, gives you a strong respiratory system, and many more.
1. Benefit of surya namaskar for heart
Surya namaskar gives a good warm-up and exercise to the body. It increases the blood flow to the whole body. It provides good cardio and thus is highly beneficial for heart health. Surya namaskar helps to keep the blood pressure in control, burns the calories, and keeps cholesterol levels at a minimum. The sequences like Bhujangasana opens up the chest and Hasthpadasana diverts the blood flow to the heart.
2. Psychological benefit of surya namaskar
Regular practice of surya namaskar calms the mind and sharpens your reflexes. It boosts your energy and alertness level, keeping you fresh the whole day. It soothes the nervous system and keeps you calmer. Anxiety and stress are reduced significantly. It enhances the decision-making power. It reduces the negative tendencies and improves intuitions.
3. Extraordinary benefit of surya namaskar for women
It is highly beneficial to the health-conscious people who want to reduce the belly fat and keeps you in shape. Even celebrities follow this regime in post-pregnancy weight loss. It stimulates the thyroid gland and keeps the hormonal secretion in check. It regulates the irregular menstrual cycle and assists in smooth childbirth.
4. Benefits for kids
Due to cutthroat competition these days, children are exposed to stress and anxiety at an early age. Surya namaskar improves concentration, increases endurance, and calms the mind. Regular practice vitalizes the body and helps nutrition absorption. It aids in muscle growth due to high growth hormone secretion and increased flexibility in children. The Stress-reducing and relaxing benefit of surya namskar during exam time is an added advantage for kids.
5. Surya namaskar for glowing skin and healthy hair
Surya namaskar improves the blood circulation to each part of the body and provides a healthy glow to the skin. It keeps the wrinkles at bay and helps the skin to retain its firmness. As it relaxes the mind, it provides radiance to the skin. Increased blood flow to the scalp reduces hair fall and enhances hair growth. It improves the texture of hair.
6. Weight loss benefit of surya namaskar
Surya namaskar gives an intense level of exercise to each part of the body. It is a high calorie-burning workout. The bends and stretches help you lose fat evenly. You can gradually increase the number of rounds and pace and see the extra pounds disappearing significantly. It boosts your metabolism and tones the abdominal muscles, core, legs, back, and hip muscles.
7. Better immunity and great respiratory system
Surya namaskar enhances the overall health especially the health of inner organs. Thus, it significantly improves the immunity system. The emphasis is given on the breath while performing each sequence. It opens up the chest, enhances lung capacity, and strengthens the respiratory system.
8. Build stamina with surya namaskars
The regular practice of surya namaskar is great at curing insomnia. As the body gets the proper rest through sleep and better nutrition through nutritional absorption, this increases the stamina. Muscles are built during the practice of surya namaskar and one gets control over the breath.
9. Detoxification and joint pain reliever
During the practice, the lungs are thoroughly ventilated and blood gets highly oxygenated. Oxygen is supplied to all the organs through increased blood circulation. At the same time due to intense workout toxins are flushed out through sweating. Thus, complete internal detoxification is done. As the lymphatic system is also stimulated and joints are relaxed pain and inflammation are reduced.
So, it is highly recommended to practice Surya Namaskar regularly and rip its benefits to revitalize your body and mind. You can ace the Surya Namaskar and other yoga asanas with our expert yoga guru.