SUN SALUTATION
Have you ever seen yourself starting with a favourite yoga practice by jumping directly into your pose? Sometimes, we are so excited to get into asana practice that, in the process, we eventually skip the sun salutation practice.
Yoga leads to many injuries, but people say it’s just a regular thing. This is due to inadequate warm-up before getting into a Yoga pose. Due to the demanding poses, people suffer from stretching pain only because they skip the sun salutation. The forward and backward bends lead to pain in your body. That’s why traditional yoga classes begin with Surya Namaskar, or sun salutation.
There are various ways to measure the right amount of warmth and duration, which leads to sun salutation benefits. These include cardio, stretching, and core stretching movements, often increasing blood circulation and body temperature. A warm muscle contracts more forcefully and relaxes faster, increasing the muscle’s function. Various sun salutation poses increase blood flow in the spinal cord, which helps in sound nerve transmission and activates the deeper muscles and tissues.
There are a few reasons you should think twice about skipping your sun salutation:
Giving your body a complete warm-up is essential to reducing the risk of injury. Sun salutation can be performed for 5- 15 minutes, depending on the total length of your Yoga practice, and it will provide a complete warm-up of your entire body. Another critical aspect of warm-ups is that you should be perspiring lightly and breathing slightly faster, yet you should not feel exhausted or catch your breath.
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HELP IN INCREASING OVERALL FLEXIBILITY
Sun salutation helps lubricate our joints and decrease muscle tension. It also increases the elasticity of muscle and connective tissue, decreasing the risk of injury. Regular sun salutation also increases the spine’s overall strength and flexibility.
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INCREASE BODY-BREATH COORDINATION
In a traditional practice, the movements are coordinated with the breath, and each moment lasts with a full breath, which maintains the coordination. We tend to hold our breath during challenging poses, so when coordinating such challenging moves, the sun salutation helps in body-breath coordination. This leads to maintaining your proper breathing pattern throughout the yoga practice. So, one breath-to-one motion flow for optimal safety should be maintained till practice.
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PREPARE AND FOCUS YOUR MIND.
Concentration and focus are the two things that make you the most dedicated person throughout your life. This is your primary requirement for every task. Your mind should stay tuned and prepared for the upcoming asana practice. Sun salutation creates awareness, which is essential for fruitful Yoga.
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INCREASE THE ENDURANCE OF ALL THE MUSCLES
The overall endurance of the muscles increases when the temperature of the blood travelling through them also increases. The increased temperature increases oxygen availability to the muscles throughout the practice.
These compelling reasons lead to doing the sun salutation for good health, as it builds physical strength and endurance. Sun salutation has been practised for thousands of years to celebrate the sun’s life-giving energy and acknowledge the same energy within yourself, which makes you physically fit and gives you core strength.
