How old are the Sun Salutations we practice today?
You may think they are thousands of years old buy Surya Namaskara was introduced to yoga around 1900 and was first depicted in a Vinyasa Flow by Shri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya in the nook “Yoga Makaranda” Krishnamacharya’s first book on the topic of Yoga, published in 1934.
Surya Namaskara is an ancient way to begin the day with the worship of the sunrise. This page is dedicated to ancient prayer flows to and deep appreciation for each day.
All of these Surya Namaskara flow with the breath in continuous movement. At any time you can hold a pose and explore it. This can be done before flowing through the whole Sun Salutation continuously or after doing it continuously a number of times and then flowing once again or at the end of the salutations. One pose may be held or many postures can be held. The secret is to always explore many methods and monitor the response within.
If sun salutations aggravate your lower back it is essential to mildly tilt in the backbends because your whole upper bodies weight falls upon a few discs. It is also important to lift mildly during in the Cobra Flow part. This will make a big difference causing the Sun Salutation to be either beneficial or harmful to your health.
I hope you enjoy these Sun Salutations as much as I did. What a beautiful way to practice spirituality.”
Demonstrates energy being pulled from the sun into the heart chakra. Balancing the energy and moving through the chakras is an important part of yoga and many forms of meditation in Buddhism.
Sun Salutation involves challenging balancing poses. They are blended in a flowing sequence with the breath.
This variation is even more challenging than the last. It involves balancing on one leg for many postures.
Side Pose Surya Namaskara. This is a nice way to tone the Quadriceps and stretch the hamstrings. There is only one balancing pose and that is Halfmoon.
This Sun Salutation is named after the sage Koundinya. It is a more advanced Sun Salutation that’s a little harder on the wrists than the arms.
This Sun Salutation allows you to become a little adventurous during the back bend phase and will hopefully open many more doors and choices for you.
This Sun Salutation shows a very nice basic flow. It is very healthy for the spine and can be performed by all levels.
This Sun Salutation shows a challenging step back from Tree pose and Warrior 3 pose. There is also a challenging transition forward from Reverse Half Moon pose to Tree pose.
This is called Bound Hand Sun Salutation because of the 2 interlocked arm positions. Be gentle if you have a shoulder injury.
This Sun Salutation opens up the side of the body as well as opening the shoulders when the arm is rotating.
This flow shows a Sun Salutation that really opens the hamstrings. Three movements in the lower part of the movement.
This Sun Salutation is named after an ancient Indian sage called Astavakra who was aid to a legendary king called Jananka.
This flow shows a sequence with Anjaneyasana also known as Crescent Lunge Pose. In this flow we unwind from the spinal twist called Parivrtta Trikonasana into Anjaneyasana.
Rising Anjaneyasana Flow shows a rise from the low Crescent Moon pose. Rising Crescent Moon with Triangle
This months flow has a lot of hip action. The leg takes many large motions one way then the other which is why it is named Pendulum Hip Flow.
This Sun Salutation shows a repetitive flow from Triangle pose to Warrior 1 pose.
This is a sweet yoga flow that creates flexibility in the hips and also strengthens them. It strengthens the gluteus muscles on the One Leg Downward Dog and Half Moon pose.
This Sun Salutation is interesting because on the way back it has a spinal twist. It is sometime nice to do postures like this before doing deeper spinal twists like Revolved Triangle when both legs are straight.
This Sun Salutation involves a very dangerous flow into a pose called Ganda Bherundasana.
This Sun Salutation is named after an ancient Indian sage called Astavakra who was aid to a legendary king called Jananka.
This flow shows the traditional Warrior sequence done in a flow. The sequence shows a complete flow. Each movement is done on an inhalation or an exhalation.
This sequence is called Falling Warrior because of the high standing pose Warrior pose at the beginning and the Low standing pose Crescent Moon at the end which represents being brought to the knees.
This vinyasa sequence was named Winding Round because of the way the arms move in circles like hands on a clock.
