Of late I am beginning to hear people boast about the number of Suryanamaskaras they do in one session. Some yoga enthusiasts claim that Suryanamaskara is all you need- it is the gist of all yoga. One friend tweets :"Finished 100 Suryanamaskaras this morning. Feels like a new life!!"
While I myself do incorporate atleast 10 suryanamaskaras in my daily yogaabhyasa, I cannot understand how doing s.namaskara alone- an ungodly number of times, can help all round health!
Would like to hear your opinions about this. Also what other ‘capsules’ would you prescribe besides s.namaskara for a daily practice list.
First if someone boast with how many surya namaskar he/she does it means he has a big ego and is not doing yoga yet.
You can feel best whats best for you , if you ask me 10 is more than enough.
Instead of thinking if they can be right, why dont you extend it to 20 and see how you feel? experience is the best teacher. We all are different and what works for x will not work for y. So we cant generalize it.
I know i would be straining my self with too many surya namaskar so for me it would not give any benefit , but thats me and we are all different.
Suraya namaskar stretches most part of the body but not all muscles. But if you do only that you still get lots of stretch of many muscles. So if you cant do asanas or dont have time for it one day surya namaskar is very complement as it doesnt take so much time but still work through most of the body.
If someone says he does 100 of them i wonder if it is a full sequence i think not as it will take many hours. Maybe it is a quick one where you do not stop in each position to get maximum benefit. IF you stay in the positions you get static exercise if you do it speedy you wont.
Also yoga is mostly internal and asana is a small part of yoga, where you have social disciplin and social codecs etc. Many people think if they are good in asanas they are good yogis and good in yoga but it is not like that.
It is oh so easy, so alluring, so tempting to bathe oneself in the doing and accomplishment of that which is physical. It is so compelling to engage in the subtle art of oneupsmanship with others to be seen and recognized. It is so easy to gaze upon one’s own reflection and rationalize it as an endeavor to find the profundity of alignment. It is so powerful a draw to determine who we are by something outside of ourselves.
And this stuff is not an absence of Yoga but merely a reference point for one’s practice in much the same way a passing truck during Savasana can either draw you out of the pose or be used to go more deeply.
And so people boast and strut, hoist each other up in the air in the hallways during conferences and wear tiny bikinis while doing their practice in front of a mirror. Human beings. Go figure.
Surya Namaskar is a robust sequence of postures and it does get at all of the major muscle groups, joints, and systems. Its lovely. It’s helpful. It’s important. But it is not the end all, be all. The more important element of the physical practice is that it have a palpable feeling. Churning out 108 rounds is one things but not feeling each of the 11 poses (classical SN) in each of the rounds makes the doing almost entirely meaningless. It becomes an absolute “who cares” landscape.
In the yoga in which I practice, train, and teach there are many series and they are ALL prescribed, especially for our 2,000-trained teachers. Students get cut a break 
The wrist series, the hip series, the lower back series, the Tibetan rites, the morning series, the spinal rejuvenation series, the foot and ankle series…they’re all important…but not much:-)
108 sun salutations is also called Yoga Mala. 108 is a sacred number in the eastern spiritual traditions. It’s not uncommon to practice 108 sun salutations during the solstices (not sure about the equinoxes). Our yoga studio has been doing this for the last 3 years. I agree with fakeyogis…it’s definitely not something to brag about. It’s a meditative, spiritual, physical practice that burns away impurities and leaves the body/mind pure for the new season. It is very physically challenging. On the solstices, our studio does about 12 sun salutations, rests for 2 or 3 minutes, then repeats for 9 sets. It takes about 2 to 2 1/2 hours to complete. We usually get a pretty good turn out, and people are always being mindful of avoiding injury or over-exertion, resting and modifying as they need to.
In yoga quality is more important than quantity. The purpose of suryanamaskar is to warm up your body so that you can do other asana easily. Also suryanamskar is done keeping twelve names of Surya (Sun) and normally 12 are more than enough to remain fit. Ask question to yourself about what you want to achieve from yoga, Normally people who do 100 or more are oriented towards workout than yogic side.
12 mantra are:
- Aum Mitraya Namah
- Aum Ravayre Namah
- Aum Suryaya Namah
- Aum Bhanave Namah
- Aum Khagaya Namah
- Aum Pushne Namah
- Aum Hiranyagarbhaya Namah
- Aum Marichaye Namah
- Aum Adityaya Namah
- Aum Savitre Namah
- Aum Arkaya Namah
- Aum Bhaskaraya Namah
Suryanamskars done as a purely physical exercise are good for the body but one misses out on the spiritual aspect. The SN should be done with “Bhava” -feeling - concentrating on the various muscles being brought into play and feeling the asana- at its best, you are not doing the Asana- the Asana does itself and you are only a witness.
In achieving this state, the Namaskar becomes the dance of Shiva and one round takes several minutes.