Since childhood we have been taught in books the importance of sun for sustaining life on earth. It is the ultimate source of light by which plants are able to prepare their food and release oxygen which is beneficial for survival of human being. Sun is considered sacred in many religious texts and people worship sun in many religions, people in India usually offer water to sun early in morning as a respect and one can also see mention of 108 names of Surya (SUN) in Hinduism . Some of the temples built for worship of Surya (SUN) are Konark temple in Orissa and Sun temple in Gujarat.

"Surya Namaskar" or Sun Salutation" as known in English is also a kind of respect, a form of gratitude we owe to source of energy on this planet. Surya means sun god and namaskar is a hand mudra (prayer position ) so Surya Namaskar means offering prayer to sun. It is a combination of 9 Yoga asanas with 12 different postures and each posture is beneficial for the body.

The 9 different asanas which together form 1 set of Surya namaskar are:-

1.Pranamasana (Payer pose)

2.Hasta Uttasana (Raised arms pose)

3. Hasta Padasana (Hand to foot pose)

4.Ashwa Sanchalasana (Equestrian pose)

5.Chaturanga Dandasana (The Stick pose)

6.Ashtaga namaskar (Salute with 8 parts or points)

7.Bhujangasan (Cobra pose)

8.Adho Mukha Savasana (Downward facing dog pose)

9.Parvatasana (Mountain pose)

One round of Surya Namaskar consisting of 12 steps burns upto13.90 calories. As a beginner one can start by doing 5 sets and gradually increase up to 12 sets, when you practice 12 sets in one go you can loose 166.8 calories. One can also aim for practicing 108 times that is 1501.2 calories.

woohoo!!! That' s too much calories being burned.

One can loose a lot of weight when practiced daily and properly.

Surya namaskar is also known to be the “Ultimate Asana” it boosts blood circulation in body and strengthens your back bone and muscles ,it also improves blood circulation in body and hence brings natural glow to skin when practiced daily.

China has been in news recently for creating an “Artificial Sun” which has a temperature of 15 million degree Celsius and mimics the energy generation process of Sun.

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