Is Sun Salutation & Surya Namaskar the same thing? 🫨

Before haters hate , I know there is no technical or historical distinction that separates Sun Salutation and Surya Namaskar into two different practices. Sun Salutation ☀️ is the English translation of Surya Namaskar 🌞. So they are the same thing. But as I say in my latest reel, they are the same technically (sort of) but in practise I don't see them as the same thing. At all 😵‍💫

Through my lens 👀, the Sun Salutation stands for the prescribed, externally learned sequence. A set of prescribed and programmed postures with counted breaths.

"Surya Namaskar" (again in my eyes) stands for the same sequence once it has been internalised and is no longer executed under condition. The "flow" is in fact inhabited almost unconsciously. Here we enter a state the old yogis would call "awareness & presence," where the student goes beyond the mechanical repetition and towards a more organic, felt experience - bringing them closer to yoga.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/c1de07_b0fed4a4ecb34258a80eaf5b31887520/720p/mp4/file.mp4

I appreciate that in the early days we need the counts and the structure. Without structure there would be no yoga, to a point. But as the wise oracle of my life (the missus) often says in our teacher training, you have to learn the rules to break them 🤔. You learn the counts and the postures in class and you follow that pattern when in class for sure. But every now and again, just flow through the sequence alone at home. As I do. In the dark, with no expectation from others or from yourself. And just allow things to take shape. I told Laura just yesterday that in my last surya namaskar sequence at the studio (alone and in the dark), I didn't even know how long it had been, or even if I stepped back with the same leg each time. It didn't matter though. I just went through the layers and the motions in complete harmony with myself and with no concept of count, breathe, technique or time. It is truly a liberated feeling to know that you study for all these years (the tradition and the science) and in the end it's not to have all the knowledge, but it's to have the confidence to let it all go. To no longer be dictated by science or tradition but guided by your own feeling.

If you are interested in all things sun salutation, the history, the tradition, the biomechanics, check out the following blogs.

How to do - The Sun Salutation (Sūrya Namaskāra): The Anatomy Part 1

A History of the Sun Salutation Sequence

Namaskar

Zahir

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