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 Surya Namaskar is one of the ancient and powerful exercises to keep the body fit and flexible. Since the moves of this exercise offer a complete body workout, it is beneficial in toning the muscles and stimulates body metabolism.

Each pose or posture is in essence offering salutation to the Sun God Surya, also known as the keeper of good health. This has been adapted into our modern way of life as a natural way to derive the many benefits of this exercise. One of the most popular approaches is practicing Surya Namaskar for weight loss.

Some Important Tips

Do warm up stretches before you start the series of asanas in Surya Namaskar. This prepares the body for the upcoming postures.

Perform each pose with awareness. Since various postures in Surya Namaskar activates a number of muscles and releases energy, it is important to do sun salutations with awareness.

Do each pose gracefully and slowly. It is essential that you breathe normally when doing each posture. The body and the breath must be in harmony.

Yoga experts opine that twelve rounds (six sets) of Surya Namaskar is sufficient to keep a body fit and flexible. You can do up to a hundred and eight rounds (nine sets) or more for weight loss. Get comfortable with a smaller number of rounds before you can start practicing more sets.

Relaxation is also important aspect of Surya Namaskar. Do not skip this step since Surya Namaskar is not complete without shavasana. Few people do not realize the importance and skip this step due to lack of time. Shavasana lets the body to recuperate and gives you energy to face the rest of the day.  You must spend at least five minutes in this pose before you can resume other activities.

The best time for you to perform Surya Namaskar is the time of the dawn or the dusk. Your stomach must be empty for at least four to five hours before you start the routine.

Each round of Surya Namaskar burns about ten calories. You can easily aim burning about four hundred and fifty calories for a forty-five round routine.

Start practicing this routine at least five times a week. Gradually aim for all the days of the week for faster weight loss.

This routine is best done listening or chanting the Surya Namaskar Mantra, which makes you do the postures slowly and gracefully. Fast music is a strict no-no.

Surya Namaskar Mantra

Chant the following verse before the start of the routine.

Dhyeya sada savitra mandala madhyavarti narayana sarasija sanasanni vistah |

Keyuravana makarakundalavana kiriti hari hiranmaya vapura dhrtasamkha cakrah ||

Chant or listen to the following mantras that are specific to each posture:

Om Mitraya Namah

Om Bhanave Namah

Om Hiranyagharbhaya Namah

Om Savitre Namah

Om Ravaye Namah

Om Khagaya Namah

Om Marichaya Namah

Om Arkaya Namah

Om Suryaya Namah

Om Pushne Namah

Om Adityaya Namah

Om Bhaskaraya Namah