Practice Sun Salutation as meditation for 10 minutes a day and feel the immense benefits to your internal balance and happiness.
Sun Salutation Improves Your Life
Do you feel life is too hectic ? Do you lack vigor and inner fire? And that your heart sometimes beats faster than is good for you?
Modern life tends to upset the balance between heart, body and mind. An irregular schedules, deadlines, worries and the emotional challenges of everyday life create a lot of stress. Regular practice of Sun Salutation Meditation, or Surya Namaskar, offers the possibility of a more balanced, fulfilling, and rewarding life.
The ultimate asana sequence, Surya Namaskar, practiced in slow meditational mode can be a life-changer if you practice consistently every day. It aligns your physical posture, strengthening your muscles and back and relieving back tension. It reduces blood sugar and improves metabolism as well. It helps regulate the nervous system and glands, and improves blood circulation (producing a glowing skin). For women, it promotes a more regular menstrual cycle.
In my personal experience, daily practice of Sun Salutation Meditation works wonders. It gives you energy, focus, and peace of mind right from the start of the day. It is a shield against the challenges thrown at you during the day. If you stick with it long enough you will feel and look younger.
Variations of sun salutation
Sun Salutation Meditation has many variations. In my experience, it is less important which asanas you include or exclude. Rather, it depends on what you set as your intention for your morning practice. There are therapeutic inventions for people with back problems and for pregnant women. The forward bends in sun salutation can severely harm a person with disc issues and give discomfort to pregnant women. What matters most is the way in which you practice the Sun Salutation Meditation.
With regular practice you can expect:
- Physical health benefits such as weight loss, strength, muscle growth and flexibility, or
- Inner peace, calmness, energy flow in your muscles, blood vessels, organs and indeed every cell in your body.
The first results come if you practice at a fast pace, the second come from practicing Sun Salutation as a dynamic or moving meditation. The first mode of practicing is often found with Astanga and Vinyasa yoga. The second, however, can be life-changing and is closer to the original form of yoga.
Sun salutation meditation
Because of its popularity, sun salutation has become subject to scientific studies. Science has shown how a quick practice has similar benefits as cardio exercises and is in particularly beneficial for weight loss. A fast pace practice of sun salutation for 10 minutes induces more weight loss than a 10 minute run.
However, if you are looking for the more profound yoga effects you are better off practicing sun salutation as meditation. Think of it as a dynamic meditation. The everyday mindful practice of sun salutation will increase your level of flexibility, give you mental strength and revitalize your organs and every cell in your body. You will become more focused on your work, more balanced in your everyday life, and experience a significant improvement in your health and immunity.
Success with sun salutation as meditation depends on your efforts. You need to be regular in your practice which means practicing minimum 10 – 15 minutes every day in the week, and if you skip one day you should ideally practice 5 – 10 minutes extra the subsequent day.
Practicing sun salutation
Evolving sun salutation to a meditational state is simple once you practice in flow and master the movements. When you inhale and exhale through the full sequence you are moving into meditation mode. All you need do is close your eyes and focus on the breath as you gradually move into and out of poses.
The benefits of regular practice
Sun salutation as meditation is a dynamic yoga practice where the yogi dynamically moves through 12 asanas making an cyclical rotation between 8 different asanas:
When to practice
The ideal time to perform Surya Namaskar is during sunrise while facing towards the sun. But even if you miss the dawn you can practice later in the day or in the evening you can still benefit. Be sure to practice on an empty stomach.
It is important to know when not to practice Surya namaskara. Do not practice sun salutation when intoxicated, be that alcohol, sugar or sickness. It is not beneficial to practice when having your period. Choose a modified version if you experience disc or serious back problems, hernia, hyper thyroidsm, peptic ulcer, high blood pressure or heart conditions.
Take a minute to envision how you can gain all these benefits from devoting 10–15 minutes of your day to the practice of Surya Namaskar. The sun is the source and bearer of life on earth. You are a living being and a child of the Sun. You are quite literally made of stardust and live by the energy of sunshine, in one form or another. Like plants your good health and vitality come from the sun.
October 7, 2024 
