Surya Namaskar

Surya Namaskar is a sequence of twelve positions performed as one continuous flow, each position joined to the next by one breath. Twelve positions, from standing back to standing, make a half round. Most schools, including ours, then repeat the same twelve leading with the other leg, and call the pair one full round.

If that sounds like accounting, here is the practical version: step the right leg back the first time, the left leg back the second time, and you have done one round. Count that way and both sides get equal work, which matters more than the terminology.

A beginner does three rounds. Someone practising daily for a few months does six. Twelve rounds is a full traditional practice and takes roughly fifteen minutes at a steady pace. There is no prize above twelve, and plenty of injuries below it done badly.

The rule is simple: you inhale when the body opens and exhale when it folds. If you can only remember one thing, remember that. The full pattern for a half round:

• 1. Standing, palms at the chest. Exhale.
• 2. Arms overhead. Inhale.
• 3. Forward fold. Exhale.
• 4. Low lunge, right leg back. Inhale.
• 5. Plank. Hold the breath out, or exhale.
• 6. Knees, chest and chin down. Exhale.
• 7. Cobra. Inhale.
• 8. Downward dog. Exhale.
• 9. Low lunge, right foot forward. Inhale.
• 10. Forward fold. Exhale.
• 11. Arms overhead. Inhale.
• 12. Standing, palms at the chest. Exhale.

The breath sets the speed, not the other way round. If you are gasping, you are moving faster than your breath can carry you, and the answer is to slow the movement rather than to breathe harder. In class I ask new students to move only when a breath begins, which usually halves their pace in the first week.

Traditionally each of the twelve positions carries one name of the sun, chanted or said silently as you move. This part is entirely optional. Nobody needs it to get the benefit of the practice, and plenty of good practitioners never use it. It is offered here because students ask.

• Om Mitraya Namaha. To the friend of all.
• Om Ravaye Namaha. To the shining one.
• Om Suryaya Namaha. To the one who moves through the sky.
• Om Bhanave Namaha. To the one who gives light.
• Om Khagaya Namaha. To the one who travels the heavens.
• Om Pushne Namaha. To the one who nourishes.
• Om Hiranyagarbhaya Namaha. To the golden source.
• Om Marichaye Namaha. To the rays of light.
• Om Adityaya Namaha. To the child of Aditi.
• Om Savitre Namaha. To the one who brings things to life.
• Om Arkaya Namaha. To the one worthy of praise.
• Om Bhaskaraya Namaha. To the one who makes things shine.

The translations above are plain readings, not scholarship. If you use the names, say them silently at first: saying them aloud while learning the movement gives most people one thing too many to manage.

These are starting points from teaching, not rules. Adjust down without embarrassment.

• Under forty, generally active: start at five rounds, build to twelve over two months.
• Over forty, coming back to movement: start at three rounds and stay there for a fortnight. Build to six. Twelve is optional and not a target.
• Over sixty, or carrying stiff knees, wrists or shoulders: three rounds at a slow pace, with the back knee down in the lunge, is a complete practice. Consider a chair supported version instead.
• Anyone with high blood pressure, a heart condition or a history of dizziness: talk to your doctor first, then practise slowly, and avoid the fast, aerobic style entirely.

Slow and fast versions are not the same exercise. In a controlled study comparing them, the fast version behaved like aerobic training and the slow version behaved like yoga training, lowering diastolic pressure and cardiovascular load. Choose the one that matches what you are after, and be honest about which one your body is ready for. This is the same principle behind the approach for beginners over forty.

Almost every sore back I see after Surya Namaskar comes from one of these four.

• Throwing the head and shoulders back in position two. Raising the arms is not a backbend from the waist. Lengthen up through the sides of the body first, then let the upper back curve slightly. The lower back stays long.
• Straight legs in the forward fold. If the hamstrings are tight and you insist on straight knees, the lower back rounds and takes the strain. Bend the knees generously. The fold comes from the hips.
• Pushing up into cobra with the arms. Cobra is a back muscle action, not an arm press. Keep the elbows bent and close to the ribs and lift only as far as the back itself will take you, which for most people is not very far, and that is correct.
• Sagging hips in plank. If the middle drops, the lower back compresses under your own weight. Put the knees down. A plank on the knees with a straight line from knees to head is worth more than a sagging full plank.

A fifth, less obvious one: rushing. Nearly all of the above happen when someone is trying to keep up with a count instead of with their own breath. Steadier is safer, and it is also harder.

Add rounds slowly and only when the current number stops being an event.

• Weeks one and two: three rounds, as slowly as you can manage, five days a week. Learn the order well enough that you stop thinking about it.
• Weeks three and four: four rounds. Add the back knee up in the lunge only if the front of the thigh is comfortable.
• Weeks five to eight: six rounds. This is a genuinely useful daily practice and many people stop here permanently. There is nothing wrong with that.
• Months three and four: add one round a fortnight up to nine, then to twelve.

Two tests tell you whether to add a round. Can you still breathe through the nose throughout? Has your breathing settled by the end of the standing pause between rounds? If the answer to either is no, stay where you are for another week.

Finish every session by lying down for two or three minutes. Standing up and walking straight off to the kitchen wastes half of what you just did. If you are assembling a home routine around this, the home practice guide sets out the order.

Skip it, or replace it with something gentler, in these situations.

• Uncontrolled high blood pressure or a known heart condition, until your doctor has cleared you. The repeated up and down of the head is the issue.
• Any acute back injury, disc problem or sciatica flare. The forward folds are the wrong movement at the wrong time.
• Hernia, or recent abdominal or chest surgery.
• Pregnancy after the first trimester. The prone positions and deep folds do not work. A separate standing practice is needed.
• Wrist injury or bad wrist pain. Plank, cobra and downward dog all load the wrists. Fists, forearms or a chair based version instead.
• Fever, active infection or genuine exhaustion. Rest is the practice that day.
• Vertigo or fainting spells. The head moves below the heart repeatedly, which is not helpful.

If you are unsure, come to a class and be seen practising rather than guessing at home. That is what a live online class is for.

Twelve positions, seven distinct asanas, five of which repeat on the way back up. Here they are in order, with what each one is actually asking for.

1. Pranamasana, the prayer position

Standing still at the front of the mat, palms joined at the chest. This is Tadasana with the hands together, and the round begins when the standing is settled, not before.

2. Hasta Uttanasana, raised arms

Urdhva Hastasana. Inhale, sweep the arms overhead, lengthen up first and only then allow any curve backwards. The ribs stay down.

3. Hasta Padasana, the forward fold

Uttanasana. Exhale and fold from the hips with the knees bent as much as they need to be. This is not a hamstring test.

4. Ashwa Sanchalanasana, the low lunge

Ashwa Sanchalanasana. Inhale, step the right leg back, back knee down if you prefer. A folded blanket under that knee removes the only complaint anybody has about this position.

5. Dandasana, the plank

Dandasana. Step the second leg back and hold one straight line from heel to head for a breath. Knees down is a plank; sagging hips is not.

6. Ashtanga Namaskara, the eight point salute

Ashtanga Namaskara. Knees, chest and chin down, hips lifted, elbows in beside the ribs. Forehead instead of chin if the neck prefers it.

7. Bhujangasana, the cobra

Bhujangasana. Inhale and slide the chest forward and up, only as far as the back muscles carry you.

8. Adho Mukha Svanasana, downward dog

Adho Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, lift the hips back and up, knees freely bent so the spine can be long.

9 to 12, the way back

The lunge with the other leg, the forward fold, the raised arms, and standing still again. Positions nine to twelve are four, three, two and one in reverse, which is why seven asanas make twelve positions.

The sequence belongs to the hatha tradition rather than to any modern school, so it turns up in Hatha yoga classes, in a faster form in the vinyasa comparison, and in a fixed count at the start of every Ashtanga practice. Rest in Balasana whenever a round has been more than enough.