Yoga Insights: Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutations), Part 1

By: Paul Jerard
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:19:52
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher | Social Bookmarking
Rating:
 

Surya Namaskar is now accepted as part of Hatha Yoga, but it was not always this way. Historically, traditional Hatha Yoga styles did not contain any of the Sun Salutation sequences, seen today, as an every day component of a daily Yoga practice.

The reason for the integration of Sun Salutations into the contemporary Hatha Yoga class is that the Sun Salutations have multiple mental, physical, and spiritual benefits. Hatha Yoga is an evolution in progress, and as such, embraced the many healthful benefits of what we know as the Sun Salutations.

Let’s cover the many benefits of the Sun Salutations and you can see why so many different sequences have evolved over time. Some of today’s popular Vinyasa Yoga, Power Yoga, and Ashtanga Yoga sequences are an expansion of Surya Namaskar. First of all, we will look at the physical benefits of Sun Salutations.

Physical Benefits of Surya Namaskar

Much like other forms of exercise, the blood is oxygenated by the practice of Sun Salutations. This one fact is great news for your heart and the cardio-vascular system. As a result, Sun Salutations can be practiced by anyone who is interested in maintaining his or her heart.

It is generally agreed that your heart is the most important muscle in your entire body, so this is, most likely, the most important physical benefit of all. This oxygenation of the blood also occurs when asanas are held for a longer period of time; much like you would see in an Iyengar or Restorative Yoga class.

Regular practice of Sun Salutations will improve and help regulate functions within the Endocrine Glands. Of course most of the studies about Yoga’s heath benefits have been performed in India, the birth place of Yoga. It seems that we must spend millions of dollars to research information that doctors in India have documented for generations.

The Endocrine system is very complex and is composed of glands that stimulate responses in one way, or another, through the use of chemicals, transported through the blood stream. These responses can be emotional or regulatory.

The Thyroid, Pituitary, Parathyroid, Adrenal, Testes, Ovaries, and Pancreatic Glands are components of the Endocrine System.

If you perform a chin lock during a standing forward bend, you will increase the blood flow to the Thyroid and Parathyroid. In turn, this would help regulate Thyroid and Parathyroid functions. This is just a small example of the many benefits you will discover from regular practice of Sun Salutations and Yoga.

© Copyright 2006 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. To receive a Free e-Book: "Yoga in Practice," and a Free Yoga Newsletter, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html

Article source: Expert Articles

Most Recent Articles in Yoga category

  • The Yoga Life Style Challenge - I Dare You to Increase Your Happiness - By: Yogeshvara OM
    The following story illuminates the balance that is critical to a healthy yoga practice.
  • 8 Prehypnosis Tips For A Good Hypnotherapy Home Study Course - By: Jec Gonzales
    The challenge on every selfhypnotic experience is on tapping into these states and infusing the goals and missions we want to achieve. The potential for positive change is only limited by the extent of your preparation. How you format your own growth formulas will determine the level of your success. In this light, I prepared 8 preparatory reminders for a meaningful selfhypnosis.
  • How Distant Energy and Chakra Healing Works - By: Michael Mohoric
    Distant chakra energy healing is a method that can heal, balance and align the chakras. The chakras are vital energy centers in the spine that affect all areas of life and have been recognized and written about in many ancient texts.
  • Classifying Asanas, Levels, Methods, Mastering Them - Part III - By: merry parker
    Slow and controlled, Yoga asanas are very different from the fast, bouncy motions so popular in Western aerobics, gymnastics and other forms of exercise. Asanas (physical positions) progressively achieved or mastered in 4-levels, help one to achieve the body and mind’s natural condition of being in a relaxed state of being.
  • Physiological Benefits Of Yoga - III - By: merry parker
    Apart from benefiting sufferers of respiratory illnesses, regular Yoga practice also helps manage pain as in sore joints, arthritis, rheumatism, including other aches and pains.
  • Yoga Benefits - Part I - By: merry parker
    As any enthusiastic practitioner of Yoga will tell you, physical and mental therapy is the most important benefit of yoga.
  • Yoga and Obesity - Part I - By: merry parker
    In today’s technology dominated world, decreased physical activity and exercise has resulted in global obesity, whether physical, mental or emotional, which by itself is the main reason behind various diseases that ail the human society, at large.
  • Healthy Mind & Mind with Yoga - By: merry parker
    Blood flows through the body at a certain pressure, but if the pressure is higher than the normal range, then you can say you suffer from High Blood Pressure, and if it drops below what is considered the normal range, then it is called Low Blood Pressure.
  • Yoga's Bestowal Of Psychic Powers (ESP) - By: merry parker
    If, you have read any yoga books, you will know that practicing ‘Vashitva’ gives you the ability to control objects, animate or inanimate. And finally, ‘Ishtatva’, the last power gives one the ability to create and destroy objects at will, a power that almost rivals that of God. The ultimate power, it can be attained with dedicated practice of Yoga techniques.
  • Yogic Truths - By: merry parker
    A Sanskrit word meaning ‘yoking’ or ‘union’ , yoga is one of the six orthodox systems (darshans) of Indian philosophy, with widespread influence among many other schools of Indian thought, one can find its basic text contained in the Yoga-Sutras by Patañjali ( c. 2nd B.C.).