The Sun Salutation in Kundalini Yoga – Sūrya Namaskāra as a Gateway into Life

The Sun Salutation is an awakening and a gesture of reverence for life on all levels of human existence. Few exercises in yoga are as universally adaptable: whether young or old, healthy or unwell, it can be practised safely and meaningfully throughout all stages of life.

In Kundalini Yoga the Sun Salutation is regarded as a purifying and preparatory practice that opens the way to deeper work. But once mūla bandha is drawn between the postures, or the sequence is practised together with kapālabhāti, it turns into a powerful tool for awakening energy and drawing it to the centre.

Sūrya namaskāra illuminates and strengthens on every level of being – body, mind and soul. Before we turn to the forms practised in Kundalini Yoga, let us look at how it works on the five kośas, the sheaths of which a human being is made.

What is Sūrya Namaskāra?

Sūrya is the sun, namaskāra the salutation. Literally, then: a greeting to the sun. But the practice is more than a bow towards a celestial body. It is the acknowledgement of whatever makes life possible at all.

The sun is the origin of all life on this planet. Every gust of wind, every wave, every plant that grows goes back to its rays. In the yogic view it is at the same time the outer image of an inner force: sūrya is also the rising, warming, clarifying energy in your own body – the power that dwells in Maṇipūra Chakra, the navel centre.

So whoever practises the Sun Salutation is not practising something foreign. They are kindling within what shines outside anyway.

Where does the practice come from?

The twelve linked postures as we know them today are a comparatively young form – they were systematised in India in the early twentieth century and spread from there across the world. The veneration of the sun itself is far older: the Vedic hymns already know the salutation to Sūrya, and the Gāyatrī mantra is at heart an invocation of sunlight.

The version shown here follows the lineage of the Bihar School of Yoga of Svāmī Satyānanda Sarasvatī – with the additions that Kundalini Yoga brings: mūla bandha, kapālabhāti and the twelve bīja mantras of the sun.

How it works on the five levels of being

Annamaya Kośa – the level of the body

Health is a state that arises naturally when the body can move freely through life.

The freedom to move and to breathe is not only good for mobility itself – it is a gateway to participating in life, and therefore to the ability to receive what life offers.

On the physical level the Sun Salutation is therefore above all a gateway into life itself. When this gate opens, everything good can enter – the fertile challenge and the gift of life can unfold.

It makes you flexible, stimulates circulation and opens you to the day. It is hard to imagine staying tired or downcast after practising 12 to 24 Sun Salutations in the morning.

It creates a fertile tension in the body – and that tension is the ground on which life can be carried. Fatigue and confusion find no room in it.

Prāṇamaya Kośa – the level of the life force

On the level of prāṇa, the Sun Salutation creates space for dealing with emotion – it grants composure. Yet this composure rests on inner strength and on consciously placed tension.

Where power is used consciously, relaxation becomes possible.

Emotionally, too, the practice opens: it allows a constructive aggression that helps you move forward in life, let go, and take part in its challenges with joy. Yoga is the unity of opposites.

It frees from depression and turns it into activity. It frees from fear and turns it into strength.

Manomaya Kośa – the level of the mind

On the level of the mind, the Sun Salutation frees you from unnecessary thoughts – they are burnt in the fire of movement.

Thoughts are like clouds – behind them there is always the sky, and behind the sky there are always the stars, and there is infinity.

Whoever practises the Sun Salutation daily develops a clear mind, one that can tell the unnecessary from the essential, that recognises the goal and moves towards it with confidence.

Vijñānamaya Kośa – the level of wisdom

Whoever practises the Sun Salutation from the heart overcomes themselves. At some point you leave behind what you believe you have to be.

When you forget what you are, you move from wanting into being.

Then you already are – and this being is your repose in the world, your silent knowledge of the path, of the soul. From there the unarticulated knowledge flows into the articulated – that is the source of your convictions, and the source of your real knowing.

Clear your conscience, practise in devotion, and find peace with yourself.

Ānandamaya Kośa – the level of joy

The fifth and innermost sheath is rarely practised; it is found. Ānanda is not the happiness triggered by an event, but the joy that remains when nothing happens at all.

At some point – maybe in the twelfth round, maybe after years – the Sun Salutation stops being an exercise. The body moves without anyone moving it. The breath carries. And in the middle, where you would not have expected it, there is suddenly a quiet contentment without a reason.

That is the real reason this practice is called a salutation and not an exercise. A greeting expects nothing in return. It is the gesture itself. And precisely in that freedom from purpose the innermost sheath opens.

The 12 positions of the classical Sun Salutation

The traditional Sun Salutation – as it is also taught at the Bihar School of Yoga – consists of twelve positions. Each posture is assigned to one of the twelve names of the sun and reflects one of its aspects.

1. Pranāmāsana – prayer pose
2. Hastottānāsana – raised arms pose
3. Pādahastāsana – hands-to-feet pose
4. Aśva Sañcalanāsana – equestrian pose
5. Parvatāsana – mountain pose
6. Aṣṭāṅga Namaskāra – eight-point salutation
7. Bhujaṅgāsana – cobra pose
8. Parvatāsana – mountain pose
9. Aśva Sañcalanāsana – equestrian pose
10. Pādahastāsana – hands-to-feet pose
11. Hastottānāsana – raised arms pose
12. Pranāmāsana – prayer pose

The second half mirrors the first. That is no accident: the Sun Salutation forms an arc – ascent, turning point, return. Precisely in this lies its calming effect on the mind.

Forms of practice in Kundalini Yoga

In Kundalini Yoga the Sun Salutation is not a fixed recipe but a vessel. Depending on what you place inside it – breath, bandha, fire or sound – its effect changes completely. In our school we practise four forms.

1. One breath per posture – flowing breath

The simplest and at the same time most beautiful form of the Sun Salutation is the one where the breath carries the movement. Not every posture is rigidly assigned one breath – rather the breath leads, and the movement follows.

First comes prāṇa, then follows the body. The breath is the soul of the body.

This form can be practised quickly or slowly – as the flow of your breath dictates. In the last position you can guide your hands from the cosmos back to the heart, accompanied by a loud or silent OM.

Breathing sequence (orienting):

2. Two breaths per posture – with Mūla Bandha

In this form you take your time to immerse yourself in each posture. The gaze is directed inward, the breath becomes calm and controlled.

Mūla bandha transforms the meditative effect of the exercise into a strengthening one. As soon as mūla bandha is drawn at the end of each exhalation and each inhalation, the prāṇa expands. After just three rounds a feeling of magnetic power gently sets in.

Where is mūla bandha?

Where mūla bandha is precisely located is less important than the sensation of the root lock itself. The muscles of the anus, genitals, perineum and cervix are all equally involved in what constitutes the lower lock of power.

Imagine drawing the power to the centre in the middle between the breaths. If you feel the power rising, you have found the bandha. This is the gateway to Kundalini Yoga.

• Inhale – you go into the posture.
• End of inhalation – draw mūla bandha in fullness.
• Exhale – you expand the power of the posture and relax.
• End of exhalation – draw mūla bandha in emptiness.

Each posture becomes more present. Immersion in stretching and stillness becomes possible. The practice with two breaths per position is calm, meditative and regenerating.

It works on the level of manomaya kośa. Mūla bandha expands the prāṇa; when the mind remains calm, without agitation, the gateway to the great power opens.

3. Kapālabhāti – the fiery purification

This beautiful and powerful practice came to us from the lineage of our teachers. It purifies and builds the base and the strength for deeper work. In each posture a short kapālabhāti impulse is set from the navel.

Power

This form is energizing, purifying – physically and mentally – and freeing from unnecessary thoughts and emotions. The focus is on udāna prāṇa, the ascending life force that strives towards expansion. In Tantra, udāna prāṇa is also understood as a manifestation of Kuṇḍalinī.

The movements are gentle and quick – like a dance around the centre, not like consciously placed stretching. Each posture is fleetingly touched, almost like a kiss.

Speed

Start slowly and carefully, setting each kapālabhāti impulse mindfully. When you feel confident in the movement sequence, you can gradually increase the speed so that the movement becomes a fiery dance around the centre.

The mind often has two forms of blockage:

• Either it is afraid to sink into the depth and cannot perform a movement slowly and consciously.
• Or it stiffens and cannot let go in the flow of speed.

This practice invites you to yield to the flow of power.

Closing

At the end of each round, when you return to pranāmāsana, chant a mantra – it brings you back to your centre:

Oṁ Śrīma Sūryāya Nārāyaṇāya Namaḥ

This practice is like a shower of light, a fire ceremony of the breath. The same technique carries the Divine Mother’s Sādhana, where the Sun Salutation serves as the warming.

4. Mantra in the Sun Salutation

The sun is the origin of life: all things move around it, everything will dissolve in it again. Every gust of wind, the waves of water, the growth of plants – everything goes back to its life-giving rays.

This form is not used exclusively in Kundalini Yoga; however, Kuṇḍalinī is mantra-śakti. She is the divine in the form of sound (Śabda Brahman) and therefore the vitality of all mantras.

When movement and mantra are united, it becomes a powerful tool to honour the Goddess. In the devotion of the mantra she vibrates as the electric force that gives the mantra its life.

The 12 names of the sun

You can recite one of the twelve names in each of the twelve postures, or sing a mantra in pranāmāsana before each new round to centre yourself. At the end of each round – moving from hastottānāsana to pranāmāsana – you can sing the corresponding bīja mantra (Hrāṁ, Hrīṁ …) during the exhalation.

If you would like to go deeper into the sound dimension, our YACEP Meditation Workshop is the place for it.

How many rounds – and when?

The numbers

• 3–6 rounds – as a warm-up before a kriyā or an āsana practice. Enough to open circulation and joints.
• 12 rounds – the classical daily practice, one for each name of the sun. About 10 to 15 minutes.
• 24 rounds – the strengthening form. Here the Sun Salutation begins to change metabolism and mood noticeably.
• 108 rounds – the sādhana. 108 is the sacred number of completeness: the mālā has 108 beads, the Goddess 108 names. We practise it together outdoors at the solstice during our retreats in the Wachau valley.

The best time

The Sun Salutation belongs to the morning – ideally to brahma muhūrta, the hour and a half before sunrise, or simply whenever the first light comes. On an empty stomach, at least three hours after the last meal.

Practised in the evening it stimulates rather than calms. If you practise at night, take the Moon Salutation instead – it is the cooling counterpart and works with viśuddhi rather than with the navel fire.

Warming up first

Stiff joints in the early morning are normal. A few minutes from the Pavanmuktāsana 1 series – the joint series – prepare ankles, knees, hips and shoulders well. This is especially worth doing if you practise the more powerful forms with kapālabhāti.

Sūrya Namaskāra step by step

Let us now walk together through the individual positions of sūrya namaskāra – the gateway into life.

The postures themselves stay the same in every variation, whether you practise with flowing breath, with mūla bandha, with kapālabhāti or with mantra. So it is worth looking at them closely once.

Note: in each round one leg leads when stepping back and forward. In the first round the right leg begins, in the second round the left. That keeps the practice symmetrical.

1. Pranāmāsana – prayer pose

Stand tall with the feet together. Press the palms lightly together in front of the heart. Feel the strength of your centre.

Oṁ Śrīmaḥ Sūryāya Nārāyaṇāya Namaḥ

Dṛṣṭi (gaze): toward the horizon, with your inner focus resting in the heart.

2. Hastottānāsana – raised arms pose

Inhale and lift the arms above the head, opening your palms to the cosmos. Keep the legs active, the chest open and the arms slightly spread.

Dṛṣṭi: into the cosmos.

3. Pādahastāsana – hands-to-feet pose

Bend forward from the hips. Place your hands beside your feet, fingers aligned with your toes. Bend your knees if needed to bring the belly to the thighs. Then gradually straighten the legs, bringing the forehead toward the knees.

Dṛṣṭi: toward the navel.

4. Aśva Sañcalanāsana – equestrian pose

Step the right leg back. The fingertips remain on the ground next to the toes, the palms lift slightly. The pelvis sinks and the left knee stays above the ankle. Open the chest forward, the head gently tilted back.

If you are firm in the posture you can slowly raise the arms, palms facing inward, holding the golden disk of the sun – this is ardha candrāsana.

Dṛṣṭi: ājñā chakra, between the eyebrows.

5. Parvatāsana – mountain pose

Step the left leg back into mountain pose. Feet together. Hands, shoulders and hips form one line – avoid hollowing or rounding the spine. The knees may remain slightly bent to free the pelvis.

Dṛṣṭi: toward the navel – feel the strength and spaciousness.

6. Aṣṭāṅga Namaskāra – eight-point salutation

Lower the knees to the floor, then the chin between the hands. Slide the pelvis slightly forward until the sternum touches the ground. Eight points now meet the earth: feet, knees, chest, chin and hands.

Dṛṣṭi: toward the horizon – forward, not down.

7. Bhujaṅgāsana – cobra pose

From the eight-point salutation, slide the chest forward and extend the arms, lifting the upper body until the pelvis rises gently. Gaze upward toward the sky, then bend the elbows so the pelvis rests again. The elbows remain close to the ribcage, the shoulders away from the ears.

The cobra is the turning point of the Sun Salutation. Here Anāhata, the heart centre, opens – after the lowest point of the sequence comes the widest opening.

Dṛṣṭi: into the cosmos – open yourself.

8. Parvatāsana – mountain pose

Push the upper body back into mountain pose again, feet and legs together. Slightly bend the knees if needed to maintain a straight line between hands and hips. Take a conscious moment of length in the spine here.

Dṛṣṭi: toward the navel – turn your gaze inward.

9. Aśva Sañcalanāsana – equestrian pose

Step the right leg forward; you will switch legs in the next round. The fingertips touch the ground, the palms lift slightly. The hips sink, the chest opens and the gaze rises.

Dṛṣṭi: ājñā chakra.

10. Pādahastāsana – hands-to-feet pose

Step the left leg forward. Keep the knees bent if it helps to bring the belly close to the thighs.

Dṛṣṭi: inward – into stillness.

11. Hastottānāsana – raised arms pose

With bent knees and a straight back, rise up. Open the chest, spread the arms slightly and turn the palms to the sky.

Dṛṣṭi: into the cosmos – it is your home.

12. Pranāmāsana – prayer pose

Bring the palms together above the head and slowly lower them in front of the heart. As the arms descend you may chant the bīja mantra of one of the sun’s aspects, or simply OM, to honour the connection between cosmos and heart.

Dṛṣṭi: inward – toward the heart.

This completes one round of sūrya namaskāra.

Common mistakes – and what helps instead

• Locking the knees in the forward bend. The back rounds, the hips stay closed. Better: bend the knees, belly to the thighs, and only then extend the legs – as far as they go.
• Overextending the neck in the cobra. It gives a feeling of depth without being depth. Lift the sternum instead and let the neck remain the continuation of the spine.
• Pulling the shoulders towards the ears. This happens almost always in mountain and cobra. Draw the shoulder blades down and together, and the chest opens by itself.
• Too much too quickly. Twelve clean rounds do more than twenty-four rushed ones. The pace may rise – but only once the sequence lives in the body.
• Forgetting the breath. If you notice you are holding your breath, you are going too fast. Slow down until the breath carries the movement again.
• Always starting with the same leg. Switching the leading leg between rounds is not a detail – without it the practice becomes asymmetrical.

When to be careful

In its quiet form the Sun Salutation is suitable for almost everyone. For the powerful variations, however:

Kapālabhāti is not indicated during pregnancy, with untreated high blood pressure, acute cardiovascular conditions, epilepsy, or shortly after abdominal or eye surgery. Practise with calm, deep breathing instead – that is a complete practice in itself.

With disc problems, acute back pain or knee injuries, practise the forward bends with bent knees and take the cobra only as far as it stays free of pain. With high blood pressure and glaucoma, keep the head-down positions short. When in doubt, speak with your doctor – and with us.

The Sūrya Namaskāra PDF

We have put the whole sequence together as a PDF – with all the drawings, the breathing notes and the twelve mantras – to print out and take to the mat. It is freely available in our downloads section, together with many more Kundalini Yoga kriyās, mantras and handouts.

Would you like to use this PDF, the drawings or the text?

Simply link to our website and it is all yours – that way you also support our project:

www.yogamatsya.com

Frequently asked questions about the Sun Salutation

What does the Sun Salutation do for the body?

It moves every major joint and every major muscle group in a single sequence: forward bend, backbend, extension, weight-bearing. It brings circulation and breathing into motion, mobilises the spine in both directions, and massages the abdominal organs through the alternation of flexion and extension. That is why twelve rounds are enough for a complete morning practice.

How many Sun Salutations should I do each day?

Twelve – one for each name of the sun – are the classical daily dose and take about 10 to 15 minutes. If you are short of time, do three conscious rounds rather than twelve rushed ones. If you want more, go to 24. The 108 are a sādhana of their own, not an everyday goal.

What is the difference between the Sun Salutation in Hatha Yoga and in Kundalini Yoga?

The postures are the same. The difference lies in what is added: mūla bandha between the breaths, a kapālabhāti impulse in each position, the bīja mantras of the sun. That turns a warm-up into a tool for awakening energy and drawing it to the centre. How the two paths relate to one another in general is described in Hatha and Kundalini Yoga.

Can I practise the Sun Salutation as a beginner?

Yes. Start with the quiet form: one breath per posture, knees bent in the forward bends, cobra only as far as it stays easy. Three to six rounds are plenty at the beginning. The powerful variations with kapālabhāti come later – best under guidance in one of our yoga classes in Vienna.

What do the 12 names of the sun mean?

Each of the twelve names describes a quality of sunlight – friend, protector, nourisher, golden womb of life, creative power. They are not twelve different gods but twelve angles on the same force. Singing them in the postures colours each position with its own feeling.

What is mūla bandha and why does it matter so much here?

Mūla bandha is the root lock at the pelvic floor. Drawn at the end of each inhalation and exhalation, it holds the energy that arises in the body instead of letting it escape. Without it the Sun Salutation is a good exercise; with it, it becomes the entrance to Kundalini practice. More on this in our article on the Mūlādhāra Chakra.

Sun Salutation or Moon Salutation – which one when?

The Sun Salutation in the morning: warming, activating, out of the navel fire. The Moon Salutation in the evening or around the full moon: cooling, turned inward, out of the throat centre. Together they form a pair – day and night, piṅgalā and iḍā. Whoever practises both knows both sides of their own system.

Do I have to believe in the sun or in gods to practise this?

No. The salutation is directed at whatever makes life possible – you can understand that religiously or simply as a fact. The effect of the practice does not depend on a conviction, but on whether you are really present while you do it.

Can I use the Sun Salutation in my own teaching?

Gladly. The PDF is freely available in the downloads section. If you would like to teach it with all its background, it is a fixed part of our RYT 200h yoga teacher training. For already certified teachers there is the RYT 300h training and the YACEP Kundalini workshop.

More inspiration from us

If you would like to discover more, have a look at our downloads area – you will find many Kundalini Yoga kriyās, mantras and other beautiful things there.

You can read on here:

• The Moon Salutation in Kundalini Yoga – the cooling counterpart
• The Divine Mother’s Sādhana – a whole class in which the Sun Salutation has its place
• Pavanmuktāsana 1 – the joint series for warming up
• The Chakras – the map behind the practice
• Kriyās and Classes in Kundalini Yoga – our handbook

And if you would like to practise with us: you will find the dates under yoga classes in Vienna, longer formats in our retreats in the Wachau valley and in our teacher trainings, which are also available as online and hybrid formats. For any question, reach us through the contact page.