Vedantaanga

Surya Namaskar- Sun Salutation, a sacred and powerful yogic technique. Its paying respect or expressing gratitude to the Lord Sun who is the source of all forms of life on the planet.

Suryanamaskar bridges this connection- from the active physical movement of dynamic Asana ( posture ) to the subtle breath and onward control of the mind-body complex through the senses. This helps one live as a part of nature and in rhythm with the universe to bring about oneness with that universal consciousness, of which the Sun is representative.

The yoga scholar-practitioner Norman Sjoman suggested that Krishnamacharya, “the father of modern yoga”, used the traditional and “very old” Indian wrestlers’ exercises called dands (Sanskrit: दण्ड daṇḍ, a staff), described in the 1896 Vyayama Dipika, as the basis for the sequence and for his transitioning vinyasas. Different dands closely resemble the Surya Namaskar asanas Tadasana, Padahastasana, Caturanga Dandasana, and Bhujangasana. Krishnamacharya was aware of Surya Namaskar, since regular classes were held in the hall adjacent to his Yogasala in the Rajah of Mysore’s palace. His students, K. Pattabhi Jois, who created modern day Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, and B. K. S. Iyengar, who created Iyengar Yoga, both learnt Surya Namaskar and flowing vinyasa movements between asanas from Krishnamacharya and used them in their styles of yoga.

 

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