Sun Salutations - Surya Namaskar

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."

 -  Winston Churchill

Regular practice of Sun Salutations can help to develop strength and endurance, and can be a powerful tool for meditation in motion or even self transformation.

Sun Salutations, or Surya Namaskar, can be a complete practice in and of itself. Often considered the core of hatha yoga practice, sun salutations are a graceful series of 10 or 12 postures linked by a continuous flowing motion and accompanied by deep breathing. Sun salutations warm, tone and energize the body and are especially popular with those that desire a higher energy level in their days. Namah means to bow, to bow to the sun, the earth, your heart, our universe.

Hatha yoga teachers often say that if you do only one asana a day ... make it a Sun Salutation. Sun Salutations are often incorporated into a yoga practice to limbers up the whole body in preparation for other more difficult asanas. For people with limited time, Sun Salutations can be excellent because it stretches and strengthens all the major muscle groups in the body and exercises the respiratory system. Each position balances with the one before, stretching the body in a different way and alternately expanding and contracting the chest to regulate the breathing.

Start by doing three rounds and gradually build up to twelve rounds. As always in yoga, do it slowly and consciously for best results and maximum benefit.

The following is an excerpt from the book Yoga Poems: Lines to Unfold By Leza Lowitz; Published by Stone Bridge Press; Copyright © 2005 Leza Lowitz.

Surya Namascar / Sun Salutation By Leza Lowitz

Everything she touches

turns to gold.

They say that now.

They didn't know her then.

She spent the first twelve years

of her life locked in a closet

and the next twelve

trying to break down the doors

that were no longer there.

She learned that nothing changes

but the changed.

She has all the character that one gets

from suffering.

She is tired of suffering.

She is tired of telling her story.

She's survived.

Now she just wants to live.

She knows that Midas died

broken and weak.

She knows she can't live on gold.

All she wants to do is

touch the sun.

Leza Lowitz, is a published author, yoga instructor and the co-owner of

Sun and Moon Yoga Studio located in Meguro, Japan.

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